The aim of this article is to trace the referential value of juffrouw Lina (1888)as part of its narrative organisation by means of the narrativist historical theoryof Frank Ankersmit. This starting point demands a confrontation of thisnaturalist novel by Marcellus Emants with the contemporary medical biographyof the French writer and politician Chateaubriand by the Belgian physicianErnest Masoin on the one hand and with some case studies of hystericsby the famous French docter Jean-Martin Charcot on the other hand. lt willbe argued that the narrativity of the novel plays a key-role in the constructionof its referential value on various levels.
