The Uncanny Chapter Summary & Analysis - The Uncanny Summary

The Uncanny Summary and Analysis

This essay is divided into several parts. In the first part, Freud explains the subject of the essay, namely the uncanny. The uncanny is frightening to us; allow it is hard to define precisely. The uncanny or the eerie is the species of frightening things that evokes something familiar. This understanding, however, seems at odds with both the normal use of the term and the linguistic roots of the uncanny, which are mostly related to foreign or alien things. Through detailed analysis of the German roots of the word, however, Freud believes he can show that the uncanny is actually more related to the familiar than to the unfamiliar.

In section II, Freud gives an example of the uncanny that makes sense of his connection of the idea with the familiar. One thing we tend to find uncanny is a doll or robot...
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