The "uncanny" has had a long and contested seat at the table of European literary history. Defined by Nicholas Royle as the psychological experience of something "strangely familiar" (1), the "uncanny" has been the subject of various discussions, both old and new, academic and non-academic. In his essay, Sigmund Freud establishes what some critics consider the standard definition of the "uncanny" or what he terms "das Unheimliche." Rather than simple describing a feeling of strange familiarity, Freud locates the sense of eeriness in the ordinary. In his analysis of E. T. A. Hoffman's short story "The Sandman", Freud writes:
Ich muß aber sagen, – und ich hoffe die meisten Leser der
Geschichte werden mir beistimmen – daß das Motiv der
belebt scheinenden Puppe Olimpia keineswegs das einzige
ist, welches für die unvergleichlich unheimliche Wirkung der
Erzählung verantwortlich gemacht werden muß, ja nicht einmal
dasjenige, dem diese Wirkung in erster Linie zuzuschreiben wäre.
I cannot think - and I hope that most readers will agree
with me - that the theme of the doll Olympia, who is
to all appearances a living being, is by any means the
only, or indeed the most important, element that must be
held responsible for the quite unparalleled atmosphere
of uncanniness evoked by the story (5).
What is striking here is the idea of appearances, how the uncanny gives its reader the eerie sense of being "robbed of one's [own] eyes." This, he suspects, is related to the German etymology of the adjective "Unheimlich," whose based word "Heimlich" denotes something that is concealed, hidden or secreted away. Could the "uncanny" be interpreted as our super-ego being threatened by our Id (our repressed, forbidden impulses) with symbolic castration? In his book-sized study, Dennis Lim writes:
A study of dreams, phantasies and myths has taught us that
anxiety about one's eyes, the fear of going blind [as used as
a central theme in "The Sandman"], is often enough a substitute
for the dread of being castrated. The self-blinding of the mythical
criminal, Oedipus, was simply a mitigated form of the punishment
of castration – the only punishment that was adequate for him
by the lex talionis. [...] All further doubts are removed when
we learn the details of their 'castration complex' from the
analysis of neurotic patients, and realise its immense importance
in their mental life.
It's worth mentioning (albeit briefly) that Jacques Lacan too had something to say on the "uncanny." In his seminar on "L'Angoisse", Lacan shows how the uncanny, after seducing the subject/ tricking him/ her into a narcissistic impasse, places him/ her in a "field where [he/ she] does not know how to distinguish bad and good, pleasure from displeasure." Thus, for Lacan, the "uncanny" resembles a dissonance, an inability to distinguish self from other.
Let me know if you have read any examples of Freud's "das Unheimliche." How do you understand its function within the text?
Freud, Sigmund. "Das Unheimliche." Imago, Bd. V., 1919.
Lacan, Jacques. "L'Angoisse." Seminaire,1962-3. For more, see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncanny#cite_note-1
Lim, Dennis. David Lynch: The Man from Another Place. Amazing Publishing/ New Harvest. 2015.
Image credit: Thomas Hills, Ph.D. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/statistical-life/201504/my-son-is-afraid-the-uncanny-valley