The Uncanny

Abstract

Freud’s exploration of the uncanny in his essay of 1919, ‘Das Unheimliche’, remains the single most influential source of thought about this elusive topic. His starting point is an examination of the etymology of the German word unheimlich, which shows that the uncanny is ‘that class of the frightening which leads back to what is known of old and long familiar’ (p. 220).¹ Heimlich means belonging to the house, not strange, familiar, tame, intimate, friendly, etc. It also, however, can mean concealed, kept from sight, or withheld from others. The implication of secrecy within an apparently open and friendly term is intensified by the addition of ‘un’ to produce a term for the eerie and frightening, which finally leads Freud to Schelling’s definition of the uncanny: ‘“Unheimlich” is the name for everything that ought to have remained … secret and hidden but has come to light’ (Freud’s italics). Similarly in English, the Oxford English Dictionary shows canny to mean not only ‘cosy’ but also ‘endowed with occult or magical powers’.