German Literature, Critical Thought and New Media 1900-1945 (403-0-1)
Topic
The Uncanny (Unheimlich) in Theory and Literature
Instructors
Samuel Weber
847/491-8296
Kresge Hall, Room 3335
Office Hours: By email appointment
Meeting Info
Online: Mon 1:00PM - 3:50PM
Overview of class
The "Uncanny" -- the sense of something being simultaneously familiar and yet strange -- can arguably be understood to be one of the distinctive features of modern experience. It is the English language version of the German word, , Unheimlich, -- literally the "Unhomey" -- which hints at the ambiguous status of the "home" as a place of shelter but also a site of danger. This course proposes to investigate three of the most influential attempts to think through this ambiguity, in the work of Freud, Heidegger and Derrida. And since all of these thinkers base their considerations of the Uncanny upon literary texts, we will also consider the texts to which they refer: -- E. Th. A. Hoffmann's novella, "The Sandman," and Sophocles' Theban plays -- and whether the experience of the Uncanny can be limited to the modern period. Comparisons of texts from different languages and different historical periods will allow us to explore this question.
Registration Requirements
None. Reading knowledge of German desirable but not required.
Teaching Method
seminar
Evaluation Method
Attendance
Class participation
Paper, final
Class Materials (Required)
Freud, "The Uncanny," "Inhibition, Symptom, Anxiety" Heidegger, Hölderlin's Poem The Ister, (Part II) Sophocles, Theban Plays (Oedipus Tyrannos, Antigone, Oedipus at Colonus) E. Th. A. Hoffmann, "The Sandman" Kafka, "The Cares of a Family Man," "The Silence of the Sirens" William Tenn, "Child's Play" (story and radio play adapted by G. Lefferts) Robert A. Heinlein, "The Green Hills of Earth"
Class Attributes
Synchronous:Class meets remotely at scheduled time