Jentsch and Freud on the Uncanny: Origin and Influences

Abstract

This study presents a review of two essays on the idea of the uncanny by Jentsch and Freud. In his essay, Jentsch concentrates on the notion of “uncertainty” and its psychological effect on the subject in the process of perceiving an unfamiliar phenomenon, an idea which inspired Freud’s further elaboration on the term. However, Freud relates the uncanny to the intrusion of the ''repressed familiar'' in the form of the unfamiliar. In other words, he uses the idea of repression to explain the different instances of the uncanny such as the castration complex, confrontation with the figure of the double, and fear of death in the form of the return of the repressed.