Freudian Literary Theory Research Papers (original) (raw)

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- Psychoanalysis, Southern Studies (U.S. South), Trauma Studies, Sigmund Freud

From the ancient times onwards, the definition and the concept of dreams have always been open to discussions and various interpretations. They have been defined as the messages we receive from the macrocosms(heavens or the forces warning us from up above) until Freud disbanded their stereotypical perception by which they were considered as the reflection of individual's hidden self and all undisclosed desires. Before that time of the crucial breakdown about dreams, the approach towards it was a way more primitive and metaphysical one, leading the individual to observe them as a message, a lesson to be learned, and a more meaningful term rather than a flash memory card which is to reveal our obscurity, as some of us still utilize them with that manner. Until this shift of perception, dreams have also been the indispensible element for literature, guiding the characters to recognitions or simply affecting them in all terms, especially in Shakespeare's plays. So this paper is going to extend the title and analize the "dream" as a vital element by means of Shakespearean drama, with regards to Romeo and Juliet, Julius Caesar and Macbeth. Biography: Sena Hilal Zaganor is a third-grade student at the department of Western Languages and Literatures at Kocaeli University. She participated in the 5 th Student Conference at Karadeniz Technical University in May 18, 2016 with a paper titled "Romanticism and Christianity in Rime of the Ancient Mariner". She is one of the board members of the English Language and Literature Club at Kocaeli University. Her literary concerns are poetry, drama, English Romantic Poetry, English Gothic Literature, Renaissance art and subconscious through poetry and she also studies works of Shakespeare as an undergraduate student this year, which has a significant impact on her to attend the conference which will be held this year.

- by Sena H Zaganor
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- Psychoanalysis, Literary Symbolism, Literary Theory, Psychoanalysis And Literature
- by Lena Magnone
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- History Of Psychoanalysis, Virginia Woolf, Sigmund Freud, Freudian Literary Theory
- by Robert C . Evans
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- Cognitive Psychology, Literature, Literary Criticism, Jungian psychology

Anyone surveying textbooks designed to introduce students to the psychological study of literature will be surprised by the narrow range of psychological approaches typically discussed. One of the best of such books-by Ann B. Dobie-concentrates (on the one hand) on Sigmund Freud and his follower Jacques Lacan and then (on the other hand) on Carl Jung and a related critic, Northrop Frye. Freud was the founder of psychoanalytic theory, while Jung was the founder of archetypal (or "myth") theory. Both kinds of theory have significantly affected the study of literature, and so it makes sense that most surveys of literary theory focus on Freud and on Jung. It is Freud, though, and more recently Lacan, who tends to receive the lion's share of attention. In fact, in some books (such as the superb survey by Lois Tyson), Freud and Lacan are discussed at length, while Jung is barely mentioned. Likewise, Terry Eagleton's landmark study of literary theory mentions Freud repeatedly but Jung not at all, and much the same is true of such fine other representative books as those by Barry, Castle, Fry, Klages, Parker, Ryan, and Anne H. Stevens. These texts-chosen more or less at random-are typical of many others: Freud and Lacan are clearly in the spotlight, while Jung is deep in the shadows (if he appears at all). This emphasis on Freud and Lacan in introductory texts to literary theory reflects a similar emphasis on Freud and Lacan in numerous critical books and articles by practicing literary critics. Freud and Lacan are generally the major figures of interest in psychological approaches to literature. Other perspectives-such as cognitive and Darwinian psychology-have, admittedly, begun to attract some recent attention, but in advanced classes and in graduate schools, Freud and Lacan still prevail.

Representations of death both articulate an anxiety about and a desire for death. In so doing, they function like a symptom, which psychoanalytic discourse defines as a repression that fails. In the same displaced manner in which art enacts the reality of death we wish to disavow, any symptom articulates something that is so dangerous to the health of the psyche that it must be repressed. At the same time, it is so strong in its desire for articulation that it cannot be repressed. In a gesture of compromise, the psychic apparatus represents this dangerous and fascinating thing by virtue of a substitution, just as the aesthetic enactment represents death, but at the body of another person and at another site; namely in the realm of art. A symptom hides the dangerous thing even as it points precisely to it. Fundamentally duplicitous by nature, a symptom tries to maintain a balance of sorts. Yet it does so by obliquely pointing to that which threatens to disturb the order. In respect to death, one could say, it names one thing ('I am the spectator/survivor of someone's else's death, therefore I can tell myself there is no death for me'). Yet it means something else ('someone else is dead, therefore I know there is death,). In short, representations as well as symptoms articulate unconscious knowledge and unconscious desires in a displaced, recoded and translated manner. At stake in the following discussion is precisely this strategy of double articulation in respect to representations of feminine death, and the implications this has for our culture's attitude towards death.

- by Elisabeth Bronfen
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- Feminist Theory, Jacques Lacan, Lacanian theory, Freud and Lacan
- by Itzhak Benyamini
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- Psychology, Psychoanalysis, Social Psychology, Uncanny Valley
- by Robert Lucci
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- Shakespeare, Trauma Studies, Titus Andronicus, Freudian Literary Theory

The aim of this paper is to closely investigate the psychological aspects of the surrealist film: Un Chien Andalou, produced by Louise Bunuel and Salvador Dali. Bunuel was an intimate friend of Andre Breton who is known as the founder of Surrealist movement in the 1920s. The emergence of surrealism was coincided with the emergence of Sigmund Freud’s theories in the field of psychology which was a sort of revolution by itself regarding the way he redefined “unconscious mind” and how human psyche operates. Andre Breton was interested in the works and theories of Freud and was deeply influenced by him. This influence overshadows his works and thought. In his Manifesto of Surrealism which was published in 1924, Breton asserts some demands and methods for surrealist artists that is all in accordance with the principles of Freud. As both Bunuel and Dali were influenced by Breton, following a discussion based on their dreams, the two men decide to produce a short film. Bunuel revealed his vision of a cloud moving in front of a full moon like a razor blade slicing an eye, and Dali told of a hand crawling with ants. Despite the fact that the intention of this film has been to inspire and symbolize nothing and Bunuel stated in 1983 that “No idea or image that would lend itself to a rational explanation of any kind would be accepted”, he himself, again, in 1983 states that “the only method of investigation of the symbols would be, perhaps, Psychoanalysis”; therefore, in this paper the revolutionary methods of the psychology of Freud, Freudians theories and concepts of castration complex, Fetishism, Dream, Oedipus complex, etc. will be applied to the imageries found in Un Chien Andalou, in an attempt to derive a meaning.

- by Oliver Moreti
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- American Literature, Queer Studies, Literature, Queer Theory

Drawing on Freud's three aspects of the psyche, this paper explores the two charactertriangles in John Fowles's "The Ebony Tower." Henry Breasley, Anne and Diana on one hand and David Williams, Beth and Diana on the other are respectively tied up to the Ego, Super ego and Id. The paper negotiates how the novella can be seen as a fictionalization of the quest of the ego to satisfy the artist's urge for creativity which can potentially be realized by romancing the id drive. The artist's innovative elocution can either be hindered or helped by its inevitable contact with realm of the id where repressed desires restlessly reside. In effect, not only does the Freudian conceptualization better illustrate the triangle character relationships but it uncovers the anxieties of the artist's psyche.

Among all the books classed as “boys’ literature,” Jules Verne’s 1870 novel, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, maintains its position as one of the most-read and best-remembered adventure tales. Despite truncated and inept translations, and indeed, despite the strictures imposed on Verne by his own publisher, this novel, and its dark hero, Captain Nemo, transcends genres and continues to be read by a wide audience of both juveniles and adults. The power of the book derives partly from the ingenious ways in which Verne casts four principal male characters and portrays their homosocial relationships, and partly from Verne’s use of the imagery and symbolism of the ocean, representing both the repressed female and the savagery of Nature. Indeed, within the double claustrophobic enclosure of submarine and ocean, the interplay of the characters forms a complete mythos of filial (as opposed to familial) conflict and heroic quest. This narrative form excludes females — a perfect analogy to the psyche of the pre-adolescent boy.

- by Robert J C Young
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- Psychoanalysis, Gothic Literature, Sigmund Freud, Psychoanalysis And Literature

This article argues that Freud's oedipal model of intergenerational masculine conflict is not really suited for the Hebrew Bible , especially the family stories of Genesis, where fathers rarely express aggression and the most acute tension is between siblings.
By drawing attention to cultural difference this argument shows the limitations of Freud's universalist vision, while also textualizing his personal conflict with the Jewish male type represented by his own father, Jacob Freud.

- by Yael Feldman
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- Psychology, Gender Studies, Biblical Studies, Freudian Literary Theory
- by Itzhak Benyamini
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- Religion, Ethics, Feminist Theory, Marxism
- by Robert C . Evans
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- Cognitive Psychology, Social Psychology, Literary Criticism, Trauma Studies

The paper is about Vedic culture of Namboothiri society. Culture is ordinary; every human society has its own shapes, its own meanings, and its own purposes. Cultural studies are interested in lifestyle because the lifestyle is about everyday life defines identity, influences social relations and bestows meaning and value to artifacts in a culture. The Brahmanas of Kerala are known as Namboothiris. Historical evidence, as well as their own traditions, suggest that they came from North India and settle down in Kerala, migrating along the west coast. In fact, one sees this tradition all along the WestCoast from Sourashtra on; and the Brahmanical traditions in the Canarese (Karnataka) and Malabar Coasts are nearly identical to one another. Rigveda is a collection of poems, hymns, and invocation of deities, reflecting myths, rites, battles and insights of many kinds. Texts are procedures for rituals and rites of Brahmanas are generally derived from it. In yagam, Hothan through a chant of Rigveda manthrams invokes the God into the yajnavedi and their divine virtues into our souls(minds). The Vedic culture in Kerala is unique and self-contained. The Ghats, with an average elevation of 5,000ft; and roughly parallel to the west coast, some 30 km from the sea in the northern and about 60 km in the southern part of Kerala. There is one main gap, through which most east-west communication takes place. There is one main gap, the Pallakad gap, through which most east-west communication takes place. The Namboothiri are probably unique to have a sub-caste of Brahmanas who are excluded from vedams. A.D. Devoted to their rituals, tantric as well as Vedic, from which outsiders are excluded, they were relatively unaffected by modern education. Most Namboothiri's have been settled as peaceful villagers, country aristocrats, small landowners, connoisseurs of literature and the traditional arts (like Kathakali) scholars and gentlemen. The most conspicuous characteristics of Namboothiri are simplicity and exclusiveness, obviously, the former predicate does not extend to their rituals.

Politics is entrenched in the process of creating, sustaining and erasing memories. It is in the interest of any state that attempts to coagulate a sense of ‘self’ to invest in cultural memories of the past. Likewise, a counter-movement of resistance may also benefit from establishing identity through memories, perhaps traumatic. Shared memories forge a sense of consanguinity, they can be tools of states or of minority groups, and in this sense, they are sites of power, multi-directional in nature. Waltz with Bashir by Ari Folman and Spirited Away by Hayao Miyazaki are the two films interrogated in this paper. As animated films, they are of interest in an exploration of the ‘politics of memory’ in that their seemingly antithetical content belies the shared processes of memory making with which they engage. Both of these films, I argue, create and play with individual and cultural memories. Both use symbolism and other filmic techniques to evoke particular responses from particular demographics, and they make implicit and explicit commentaries on contentious political issues. This paper will focus on the ways in which memories of trauma are visually and aurally represented in these films, and place them in their particular political, historical and social narratives in order to ascertain the ways in which these ‘memories’ interact with the off-screen world. By attempting to explore both pieces simultaneously, this paper aims to explore the similar and dissimilar ways both films represent ‘memory’, and the political ramifications this entails. A range of scholars will be used hailing from primarily psychoanalytic and political traditions, such as Freud, Reider, Mansfield and Elsaessar.

- by Richard McDonald
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- Psychoanalysis, Japanese Studies, Visual Studies, Media Studies

Sanctuary is about the wound of Temple Drake – her traumatic rape. However, the readers are prohibited from accessing the hyper-visible and invisible rape. Filled with distractions, repetitions, silences, and highly elliptical in structure, the novel prohibits the literal enactment of Temple’s rape. Firstly, this paper examines how the novel’s style and content are framed by a series of prohibitions. The prohibitive nature of the novel forbids the readers from “accessing”/”assessing” the characters, crucial events, and ultimately the trauma that occupies the core of the story. Secondly, this paper aims to show how the precise structure and act of prohibition becomes the exact site of trauma. Finally, this paper posits that the interplay of prohibition and trauma in the novel reflects the prohibition of the unspoken taboos associated with gender and race transgressions in the society.

- by Wendy Ng
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- Psychoanalysis, Theodor Adorno, Rape, Trauma Studies

Freud scrive questo testo nel 1937 all’età di 81 anni, verso la fine della sua vita. E’ un testo che offre indicazioni molto preziose rispetto alla prassi psicoanalitica. Già nel titolo Freud mette in gioco un paradosso, mette insieme due termini che sono contraddittori tra loro. Non dice Analisi terminabile o interminabile, dice Analisi terminabile e interminabile.A cosa punta Freud? E cosa potrà dirne Lacan?

Este trabalho apresenta uma síntese de um clássico de Freud (1912) sobre a dinâmica da transferência. São também efetuadas reflexões sobre as redefinições da transferência e a sua contemporaneidade, sobre a transferência fora do contexto... more

Parafraseando “As versões homéricas” de Borges, nenhum problema é tão consubstancial com o psiquismo humano e seu modesto mistério como o que propõe uma tradução. Este ensaio freudiano já recebeu algumas versões, com estratégias diversas para o seu título enigmático. Neste volume, organizado e anotado pelo tradutor, a opção – advinda de sua experiência clínica e de uma correlata investigação filológico-lexical do português – é pelo incômodo, que nos guia por onde literatura e psicanálise alternam suas luzes e sombras. Se cômodo é onde se guardam segredos de alcova, pode o leitor ajeitar-se em sua poltrona e, com os inusitados sentidos aqui propostos, iniciar a leitura. (Susana Kampff Lages, contracapa).

- by Paulo Sérgio de Souza Jr.
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- German Literature, Literature, Sigmund Freud, Teaching Translation

The focus of this paper is the analysis of Amélie Nothomb’s (born 1966) novella Tuer le père (‘Kill the Father’) (2011) regarding its classical influence. This work is a recre- ation of the ancient Greek myth of Oedipus. The author transfers the myth into a modern story. Therefore, the focus of this paper is comparison of Nothomb’s Tuer le père and the Sophocles’ ancient Greek tragedy, the most paradigmatic work concerning this myth in the Classical Era. Nothomb’s recreation of the myth undoubtedly takes influence from Freud’s remake of Oedipus myth, although it combines it with classical elements. Consequently, this paper shall elucidate how the parricide and incest taboos are performed in a contemporary work by Amélie Nothomb.

- by María Sebastià-Sáez
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- French Literature, Classics, Greek Literature, Greek Tragedy
- by Maryem Lassoued and +1
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- Greek Tragedy, Ancient Greek Mythology, Freudian Literary Theory, Freudian Psychoanalysis

A thesis presented on the history and rise of the “literary” zombie narrative. The purpose of this thesis is to explore how contemporary governmental crises and cultural anxieties are mirrored in Max Brooks’ World War Z and Colson Whitehead’s Zone One. These post-apocalyptic zombie novels, which are set in a dystopian landscape, examine postmodern issues by exposing present- day socio-political concerns, such as societies that perpetuate a race and class exclusionary agenda, by envisioning a zombie-apocalypse as only possible outcome if these concerns keep being neglected. Moreover, this thesis explores in which ways dissonance of the Self and the Other, Jameson’s concept of proletarianization, and the relation between the abject and Freud’s Unheimlich, all have become primary concerns that impede the reconstruction of a harmonious post-apocalyptic society.

- by Fabienne Martens
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- Marxism, Apocalypticism In Literature, Freudian Literary Theory, Unheimlich
- by Michael O'Brien
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- Critical Theory, Discourse Analysis, Psychoanalysis, Human Evolution

What follows here is not a definition of art by decree. Nor is this some kind of art manifesto. We are not saying this is how art should be, or could be, but how it is, if you let go of the prison of aesthetics, and follow an infinitely more interesting conceptual trail. This is about uncovering and identifying an approach to art which avoids the triviality of sensory-based aesthetic theory and moves instead towards exploring the experiential worlds that art presents us with. And this approach is not about diminishing the sensory enjoyment of artworks, but about placing them in a much richer context, where they can work a far greater magic.

- by Jakob Zaaiman
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- Psychology, Clinical Psychology, Psychoanalysis, Psychiatry

What is psychoanalysis? We are sure that question has been wandering inside your head. So, what is the relationship between psychoanalysis and literature, especially children literature (since it becomes the main discussion of this paper)? Through this paper, we will help you getting clearer understanding about all of that.
As we know, the founder of psychoanalysis theory was Sigmund Freud. He was (6 May 1856 – 23 September 1939) an Austrian neurologist who became known as the founding father of psychoanalysis. According to his profession, we can simplify the definition of psychoanalysis; it is a talking cure, which the language and narrative are fundamental to the curing process. For further information, according to Merriam Webster’s definition:
Psychoanalysis: (noun)
A system of psychological theory and therapy that aims to treat mental disorders by investigating the interaction of conscious and unconscious elements in the mind and bringing repressed fears and conflicts into the conscious mind by techniques such as dream interpretation and free association.
Psychoanalytic is the adjective form of psychoanalysis. To make it simple, this theorydesignates accordingly three things:
1. A method of mind investigation and especially of the unconscious mind;
2. A therapy of neurosis inspired from the above method;
3. A new stand-alone discipline which is based on the knowledge acquired from applying the investigation method and clinical experiences.

FROM THE BACK COVER: What is the essential nature of meaning? . . . . . This book answers by examining interpretive theories from the past and present. It finds that an historical struggle with meaning has been underway since the Reformation, a struggle that reaches crisis proportions in the 20th century. On the one hand, this crisis is mollified by Heidegger's hermeneutical phenomenology, which argues that we are always already in a meaningful relationship to the objects of the world. On the other hand, this crisis is exacerbated when phenomenology, structuralism, and aesthetic theory directly make meaning into an object of study. . . . . . . . . These historical developments culminate with the psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan, whose non-hermeneutical phenomenology delimits a cause of meaning said to be closely linked to the core of subjectivity. Intriguingly, Lacan's work reveals meaning to be sexual in nature. By integrating his notion of sexual difference with his work in discourse theory and topology, this book demonstrates how the subject's struggle with meaning can be suspended.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . GENERAL DESCRIPTION: Broadly speaking, the majority of books on Jacques Lacan focus on the earlier periods of his career. They also tend to target the psychoanalytic clinical community, or else discuss his work in various political, social, and cultural contexts. But in almost all cases these books refrain from a detailed exegesis of his actual texts. They instead prefer to comment on his theoretical apparatus as a whole before turning to its practical implications. . . . . . This book positions itself against this grain. Firstly, it closely analyzes some half-dozen key Lacanian texts. This analysis is organized under a single thematic – the question of meaning – in order to advance the reader's understanding of the trajectory of Lacan's thought across his entire career, as well as to promote the book's thesis that the field of meaning can be suspended. Accordingly, an initial chapter takes up the hermeneutical tradition from Flacius onward. This is then supplemented by a chapter which surveys phenomenological, structuralist and aesthetic theories of meaning and their differing methods of textual analysis. Together these two chapters provide a unique context for the sustained analysis of Lacan's texts which begins in the third chapter, an analysis that forms the bulk of the book's content. This contextualization potentially widens the book's appeal to any scholar wishing to explore his relationship to those textual objects he interacts with on a daily basis. And because this book assumes the reader has little to no familiarity with Lacan, the reader will find patient explanations of the basics of his theories before slowly being led up to the more difficult theories of his late years. Again the argument is that Lacan has something to offer all scholars. His work is not just reserved for psychoanalysts. . . . . . It is with his late theories that the serious student of Lacan will find the book's most original contribution. For in the fourth chapter a detailed account is provided of how Lacan derived his infamous formulae of sexuation from Aristotelian logic. These formulae are then extensively discussed against the backdrop of interpretive theory and textual analysis, showing how these formulae capture much more than just the difference between the sexes. Strikingly, this difference is also found to run through meaning itself, something the final chapter aims to demonstrate. It does this by amalgamating three key components of late-Lacan: sexuation, discourse theory and his use of topological spaces. This amalgamation is a first in the literature. But this amalgamation is not just useful in demonstrating the book's thesis. It further suggests how seemingly divergent aspects of late-Lacanian theory can be made to work together.

- by William J. Urban
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- Discourse Analysis, History of Linguistics, Philology, Languages
- by Jean-Michel Sourd
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- Cultural History, Cultural Studies, Psychology, Psychoanalysis

Part of a lecture series on polyglot/multilingual literature organized by my Freiburg colleagues Weertje Willms and Evi Zemanek. A much revised and expanded version appeared as: "'Eine durable Technik des unendlich=klein=Polyglotten?': Interlingualität und Etym-Theorie in Arno Schmidts 'Zettel's Traum'." Polyglotte Texte: Formen und Funktionen literarischer Mehrsprachigkeit von der Antike bis zur Gegenwart. Ed. Weertje Willms and Evi Zemanek. Berlin: Christian A. Bachmann Verlag, 2014. 233-258.

This hyperlink takes you to the complete text of LACAN AND MEANING, Chapter 3: Lacan on Meaning

- by William J. Urban
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- Discourse Analysis, Psychoanalysis, Gender Studies, Philosophy
- by Kazuyuki Hara
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- Lacan, Jacques Lacan, Sigmund Freud, Lacanian theory

The 20 th century literature was greatly influenced by Feminist theories and psychological models of sexuality. This involves works like Sons and Lovers by D.H. Lawrence which were completely centered on psychoanalytic fiction. In fact, Lawrence is one of the modern authors who included Freudian theories in his work. Such theories have made it possible to understand the varying behavior patterns in males and females. This broadens one's concepts about the structures of femininity and masculinity. This research paper intends to study the Oedipus complex as presented in D. H. Lawrence's Sons and Lovers. At the end, you will be able to understand the psychology of the two main male characters of the novel, William and Paul and what made them take certain weird decisions.

- by Julia Gordon-Bramer
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- Quantum Physics, Self and Identity, Inner Alchemy, Poetry

"ABSTRACT:
This study assumes the subject's pursuit of meaning is generally incapacitating and should be suspended. It aims to demonstrate how such a suspension is theoretically accomplished by utilizing Lacan's formulae of sexuation integrated with his work in discourse theory and topology.
Part I places this study into context by examining scholarship from the established fields of hermeneutics, phenomenology, (post)structuralism, aesthetic theory and psychoanalysis in order to extract out their respective theory of meaning. These theories reveal that an historical struggle with meaning has been underway since the Reformation and reaches near crisis proportions in the 20th century. On the one hand this crisis is mollified by the rise of Heideggerian-Gadamerian hermeneutical phenomenology which questions traditional epistemological approaches to the text using a new ontological conceptualization of meaning and a conscious rejection of methodology. On the other hand this crisis is exacerbated when the ubiquitous nature of meaning is itself challenged by (post)structuralism's discovery of the signifier which inscribes a limit to meaning, and by the domains of sense and nonsense newly opened up by aesthetic theory. These historical developments culminate in the field of psychoanalysis which most consequentially delimits a cause of meaning said to be closely linked to the core of subjectivity.
Part II extends these findings by rigorously constructing out of the Lacanian sexuated formulae a decidedly non-hermeneutical phenomenological approach useful in demonstrating the sexual nature of meaning. Explicated in their static state by way of an account of their original derivation from the Aristotelian logical square, it is argued that these four formulae are relevant to basic concerns of textual theory inclusive of the hermeneutical circle of meaning. These formulae are then set into motion by integrating them with Lacan's four discourses to demonstrate the breakdown of meaning. Finally, the cuts and sutures of two-dimensional space that is topology as set down in L'étourdit are performed to confirm how the very field of meaning is ultimately suspended from a nonsensical singular point known in Lacanian psychoanalysis as objet a. The contention is that by occupying this point the subject frees himself from the debilitating grip of meaning."

- by William J. Urban
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- Discourse Analysis, History of Linguistics, Philology, Psychoanalysis
- by Rita S
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- Literary Criticism, Madness and Literature, Freudian Literary Theory, Porphyria’s Lover

In der vorliegenden Arbeit wird eine Re-Lektüre von Freuds Essay 'Das Unheimliche' (1919) angestrebt. 'Das Unheimliche' ist zwar nach Freuds eigener Aussage in erster Linie eine Auseinandersetzung mit einem ästhetischen bzw. von der Ästhetik vernachlässigten Gegenstand, erlangte aber nicht zuletzt durch die (Psycho-)Analyse von E. T. A. Hoffmanns 'Der Sandmann' Berühmtheit – eigentlich „nur“ ein, wenn auch das ausführlichste Beispiel von vielen, um das Unheimliche zu beschreiben. Das in Anführungszeichen gesetzte „nur“ weist schon auf den Kern des Problembereichs hin, der zugleich Freuds Analysetechnik von Sprache darstellt: Das Nebensächliche, vermeintlich Unwichtige ist von allergrößter Bedeutung, und somit auch das, was im Unheimlichen vor und nach dem Sandmann passiert, und nicht zuletzt auch, wie es passiert. Sowohl das „Was“ als auch das „Wie“ lässt sich zum einen mit Literatur beantworten: Das Unheimliche ist und arbeitet mit Fiktion; zum andern mit dem
Doppelgänger, der nicht nur eines unter vielen unheimlichen Beispielen, sondern gleichsam Machart des Unheimlichen ist, eine Art von widersprüchlichem Schreibmodus, dem der Autor unterliegt. Dieser Widerspruch äußert sich in einer Mischung aus Distanzierung und Annäherung an das Unheimliche von Seiten Freuds, wobei er als Erzähler verstärkt versucht, auf Distanz zu gehen, und dabei vom Erzählten überwältigt zu werden scheint. Dies wird von mir als das Phänomen des literarischen Doppelgängers, das Unheimlichste am Unheimlichen, bezeichnet. Das Unheimlichste deshalb, weil das Konzept des Unheimlichen, das Freud untersucht, sich während des Textes bereits zu verselbständigen, unheimlich zu werden beginnt und sich damit als etwas sehr Resistentes, Undefinierbares erweist, das passiert, bevor es noch festgehalten und beschrieben werden kann. Während Freud dabei ist, das Unheimliche ein- und sich selbst auszugrenzen, zieht es ihn gewissermaßen mitten hinein in die Materie, und stellt sich selbst nach außen: aus dem unheimlichen Objekt der Untersuchung, dem Unheimlichen, wird ein Subjekt; aus Freud, dem Subjekt, ein unheimliches Objekt. Diese Bewegung auf struktureller wie auch thematischer Ebene nachzuzeichnen, ist das Ziel der vorliegenden Untersuchung.

- by Sandra Folie
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- Psychoanalysis, German Studies, German Literature, Sigmund Freud