Uncany

The word ‘uncanny’ comes from the German word: ‘unheimlich’, ‘uncanny’ is only a rough English translation. It is very difficult to define exactly what these ideas of the ‘uncanny’ or ‘unheimlich’ mean.

The Uncanny experience is something that we can encounter ourselves, and when we do experience it, it is a very uneasy, and in the extreme, terrifying situation, which is worsened by the fact the it cannot be explained. The uncanny can be portrayed in literature, thus creating the same sense of discomfort among the reader. The way that an author provokes this can be by ‘straddling the line between reality and unreality within the fiction itself’ Sigmund Freud, ‘The Uncanny’, in The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud.

Sigmund Freud also concludes that this terror created by the uncanny is due to the ‘collapsing psychic boundaries of self and other, life and death, reality and unreality.’

Uncanny can be defined as either, too strange or unlikely to seem merely natural or human, or, in contrast, unexpectedly accurate or precise. It is frequently described as dream-like visions of doubling and death. These themes are very sensitive and would generate fear and unease within the reader. The ‘double’ particularly provokes the uncanny. ‘The ‘double’ has become a thing of terror’ Sigmund Freud, ‘The Uncanny’, in The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud.

The uncanny when present in literature is often exaggerated, as there are more ways of creating it in fiction,