Freud’s essay ‘The Uncanny’

    Freud’s essay ‘The Uncanny’ turns on a close examination of E.T.A. Hoffmann’s ‘The Sandman’. Explain how Freud interprets the text and how he uses it to advance his claims. Do you find his interpretation credible? Are there elements of the story that he overlooks or misunderstands? A number of the texts we have studied this term could be understood in relation to Freud’s concept of ‘the uncanny’. Explain what Freud means by that term and examine how it might help us interpret at least two of the texts we have studied since Week 6. Shakespeare’s Othello and Edgar Allan Poe’s ‘The Purloined Letter’ both address the theme of deception. With direct reference to specific characters and / or events in both works, compare and contrast their respective examinations of this theme. A number of the texts we studied this term examine the relationship between philosophy or science, on the one hand, and poetry or literature, on the other. Discuss with direct reference to at least two of the works studied this term