The Uncanny (Paperback)

Nicholas Royle

ISBN 10: 071905561X / ISBN 13: 9780719055614

Published by Manchester University Press, Manchester, 2003

About this Item

Paperback. This study is of the uncanny; an important concept for contemporary thinking and debate across a range of disciplines and discourses, including literature, film, architecture, cultural studies, philosophy, psychoanalysis and queer theory. Much of this importance can be traced back to Freud's essay of 1919, "The Uncanny" (Das Unheimliche). Where he was perhaps the first to foreground the distinctive nature of the uncanny as a feeling of something not simply weird or mysterious but, more specifically, as something strangely familiar. As a concept and a feeling, however, the uncanny has a complex history going back to at least the Enlightenment. Royle offers a detailed historical account of the emergence of the uncanny, together with a series of close readings of different aspects of the topic. Following a major introductory historical and critical overview, there are chapters on the death drive, deja-vu, "silence, solitude and darkness", the fear of being buried alive, doubles, ghosts, cannibalism, telepathy and madness, as well as more "applied" readings concerned, for example, with teaching, politics, film and religion. This is the first book-length study of the uncanny, an important topic for contemporary thinking on literature, film, philosophy, psychoanalysis, feminism and queer history. Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability.

Seller Inventory # 9780719055614

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Uncanny (Paperback)
• Publisher: Manchester University Press, Manchester
• Publication Date: 2003
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 071905561X
• ISBN 13: 9780719055614
• Binding: Paperback
• Condition: new

About this title

Synopsis

This is the first book-length study of the uncanny, an important topic for contemporary thinking on literature, film, philosophy, psychoanalysis, feminism and queer history. Much of this importance can be traced back to Freud’s extraordinary essay of 1919, ‘The Uncanny’ (Das Unheimliche).

As a ghostly feeling and concept, however, the uncanny has a complex history going back to at least the Enlightenment. Royle offers a detailed account of the emergence of the uncanny, together with a series of close readings of different aspects of the topic. Following a major introductory historical and critical overview, there are chapters on literature, teaching, psychoanalysis, deconstruction, film, the death drive, déjà vu, silence, solitude and darkness, the fear of being buried alive, the double, ghosts, cannibalism, telepathy, madness and religion.

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About the Author

Nicholas Royle is Professor of English at the University of Sussex