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13th out of 15 books
—
5 voters
The Uncanny
Freud was fascinated by the mysteries of creativity and the imagination. The groundbreaking works that comprise The Uncanny present some of his most influential explorations of the mind. In these pieces Freud investigates the vivid but seemingly trivial childhood memories that often "screen" deeply uncomfortable desires; the links between literature and daydreaming; and ou...more
Paperback, 240 pages
Published
September 30th 2003
by Penguin Classics
(first published 1919)
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An excellent, not well-known work by Sigmund Freud. I refer excactly to the essay under the title,"The Uncanny" (Das Unheimliche). Many awful pshychanalitic interpretations are fortunately absent. Many older freudian motifs return, but the way the writer proceeds from one matter to the next is so slight, impreceptible.
It can be included among the freudian works of literary criticism, especially as regards the genre of imaginative literature. As usually, many human believes are revealed to be il...more
It can be included among the freudian works of literary criticism, especially as regards the genre of imaginative literature. As usually, many human believes are revealed to be il...more
The introduction to this book is certainly interesting -- praising Freud while poking holes in some of his theories.
The collection involves a few different writings by our Sigmund. One involves false "screen memories" that we create around real events. He also mentions studies about childhood memories, which is personally intriguing to me because I have such gaps.
It includes two works on art -- one about Da Vinci, notable for Freud's insistence that his mother gave him a complex (despite the la...more
The collection involves a few different writings by our Sigmund. One involves false "screen memories" that we create around real events. He also mentions studies about childhood memories, which is personally intriguing to me because I have such gaps.
It includes two works on art -- one about Da Vinci, notable for Freud's insistence that his mother gave him a complex (despite the la...more
Freud frequently gets a bad rep, admittedly not without good reason (being a Victorian, he wasn't very kind to the ladies). However, if you're willing to look past his flaws, Freud had some really intriguing ideas about the unconscious and basic human drives (I particularly enjoy his theory of the Eros/Thanatos drives).
"The Uncanny" is a remarkable work that explores how the familiar made strange can fill us with a sense of unease. Digging deep within the theory can give an understanding of how...more
"The Uncanny" is a remarkable work that explores how the familiar made strange can fill us with a sense of unease. Digging deep within the theory can give an understanding of how...more
I'm going to start this review out by saying... I think Freud was a little bit of a whackadoodle. Just putting that out there.
That said, there are some things in this book that make sense - in an uncanny way (see what I did there?). The first essay on Screen Memories had me scratching my head and questioning my childhood memories. The essay on Creative Writing and Dreams had me looking at all those creative sorts around me with a new insight.
Then there is the Uncanny essay.
First, let me say tha...more
That said, there are some things in this book that make sense - in an uncanny way (see what I did there?). The first essay on Screen Memories had me scratching my head and questioning my childhood memories. The essay on Creative Writing and Dreams had me looking at all those creative sorts around me with a new insight.
Then there is the Uncanny essay.
First, let me say tha...more
i love freud. i love the way he writes, the way he thinks, the tools he uses to decode the human interactions, with the self and with the others, with the society.
but what i loved most about this book is the his title, the concept itself.
it's very rich yet precise, clear yet confusing.
in french, it's called "l'inquietant familier",and freud built the presentation of his concept upon a short story by Hoffmann, "marchand de sable".. it is published with "the uncanny", i read it, IT IS UNCANNY. heh...more
but what i loved most about this book is the his title, the concept itself.
it's very rich yet precise, clear yet confusing.
in french, it's called "l'inquietant familier",and freud built the presentation of his concept upon a short story by Hoffmann, "marchand de sable".. it is published with "the uncanny", i read it, IT IS UNCANNY. heh...more
The essays that comprise this edition are basically Freud's answer to literary/art criticism. Included here is an introduction that doesn't exactly encourage reading the book, and which is actually half the size of the five essays contained in it. Haughton describes Freud's theories on creative motivation as poorly researched, vague, and inconclusive. He certainly finds it to be a minor contribution to the Freud canon. So, my question still is, is it?
As far as psychoanalytic theory goes, yes, be...more
As far as psychoanalytic theory goes, yes, be...more
Anyone with even the most basic understanding of logic will probably be bothered by the way Freud draws his conclusions here, particularly in the "celebrated" Da Vinci essay that makes up the bulk of this volume. Even the goddam translator can't help but point out some of Freud's more glaring mistakes, though he does so in the most laudatory way possible. I'd say that logically speaking, most of the book is about on par with the following conversation from the 1966 Batman movie:
Commissioner Gord...more
Commissioner Gord...more
Four of Freud's other essays are collected here as well as "The Uncanny." I found his "Screen Memories" essay to be the most illuminating in reference to ideas that I had not heard before. "The Uncanny" was really interesting, but takes an angle focused more on aesthetics than direct psychology, the relation of case studies, etc., and doesn't quite provide for the personal attachment a reader can garner when dealing with Freud's texts. In other words, it wasn't quite as much fun to read because...more
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This collection of essays is a masterpiece. It provides the key creative approaches to Freudian psychology. He touches on screen memories, creative writing, and family romances before giving a beautiful psychological study of the childhood memories of Leonardo da Vinci. The title essay provides numerous tools for writing magical realism.
This is one of the difficulties of rereading stuff that was important to you when you were younger: I knew exactly what this essay was about and the important advice it gave about writing in general and writing horror in particular. Really useful stuff. And I went back and read it and it said nothing of the sort. The first section sort of hints at it, but mostly it's just teenage Lisa's wacky reinterpretation of Freud. Which I wouldn't mind, except that it makes it bloody hard to use for an anno...more
Bißchen zäh, aber durchaus sehr interessant. Ich kann niemandem empfehlen, nebenbei ein Fantasybuch parallel zu lesen. Man fängt an, wirklich alles zu hinterfragen.
Stellt sich mir nur die Frage, was ich als Nächstes von Herrn Freud lesen soll oder ob ich das besser bleiben lasse ;). Wie ich mich kenne, wird die Neugier siegen.
Stellt sich mir nur die Frage, was ich als Nächstes von Herrn Freud lesen soll oder ob ich das besser bleiben lasse ;). Wie ich mich kenne, wird die Neugier siegen.
Freud's interpretation of Hofmann's "The Sandman" may be idiosyncratic and incomplete, but where would literary studies be today without this book. (Not that they are in a really great place, actually, in this post-Said, post-Butler moment.)
We've all had that feeling of deja vu, or the ominous sense that we are temporarily not in control of our lives. Freud explains why using Hoffman's short story "The Sandman." Yes, it has to do with castration. It is Freud after all...
This is a remarkable contribution from Freud that is almost entirely ignored by psychology on account of its lack of applicability. But that is a tragedy, because this is a work of first-rate thinking. Freud explores the `Uncanny,' the no longer being at home, and traces its dimensions through literature, dreams, and childhood memories. He also contributes a brilliant speculation into Leonardo Da Vinci, later coined as an exercise in `psychobiography', in which he magnificently uses a single mem...more
The Uncanny is my primary theoretical interest; Freud, per usual, provided me the first (albeit pretty general) reading in a long list of theoretical approaches on the subject.
vraiment agréable à lire, par rude du tout.
I had to read it for my major, doh
Typical Freud
I would like to dismiss Freud as silliness. He was clearly a brilliant fellow in his own way, his diagnoses are creative and detailed, and they are in a way enjoyable in their freakishness. But the implications of his ideas are so disturbingly significant and fundamental to what it means to be a human and an individual that I can call him nothing less than a monster. The man's ideals make me sick, thoroughly sick. I will exercise restraint and leave things here, while there is no limit to my dis...more
I read this book for a class in college that discussed the uncanny. It was a confusing, mind befuddling class, and that's how I found this book as well. I had to stop and process what I was reading several times. Reading The Uncanny was an uncanny experience. I had to step out of myself, become my own doppelganger, and watch my new self try to get through Freud's voice. Confused about what I just wrote? Yay, me too. All and all, interesting, but just not for me.
You're a bloody puppet!
Nov 20, 2010
Amandria
added it
I'm reading this after I read The Sand-Man for class.
I really didn't care for Freud's interpretation of Hoffman's Der Sandman...it's a great fairy tale with, I think, a lot of societal implications, but Freud succeeds in reducing it (like he does all things) to the oedipal complex. Very frustrating.
I cannot emphasize enough on importance of this text and its influence on Western collective intellectuals...I hope somebody is out there capable of translating it for cultured Iranians...
Just when his insights start to get interesting, Freud whips out his penis (theories) again.
Oct 02, 2007
Curt Bozif
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
Artists, Writers, Musers
Shelves:
psychoanalysis
Love is homesickness.
Uncanny Zigi!;)
May 23, 2013
Pernille
is currently reading it
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Sigmund Freud, born Sigismund Schlomo Freud, was an Austrian neurologist and psychiatrist who founded the psychoanalytic school of psychology. Freud is best known for his theories of the unconscious mind and the defense mechanism of repression. He is also renowned for his redefinition of sexual desire as the primary motivational energy of human life which is directed toward a wide variety of objec...more
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Aug 23, 2010 05:16pm