503

Freud:sTIas Unl:reimlich~' .' the intricacies of textMo.l uncanniness

L rxx I' .Jt.NO CO;o.;TF:,('l s

Until fi.liriyrcr:enily, Freud's essay ulla .. Unheimliche" [" he I Tncaony"'J (1919) did nor receive ali much auentien as these works which had .aa uudispured importance or rhe lW'nlu ti 0]] Dr p~~'chllil na.lys:f:l as a d iscipline, lh[l&(' wriTIng:; that seemed In comti~iJOC: m~ur U!7-:!.ktftroUgh8, in rheorctH::al imigbl, meh a.~ 17IoJ'iJlltr/mta'ifl1l rff lJrroms" JJrJ)'fJrul rk Pltaru.Te hinripltJ and lirhiln'lums, _ l'fn/JlJttru, and :tn.tlt'!" to mime. jus l tJ1 ree nl.JVi [J L~~ exarnpl ' . 'TIas Unhcimlich ,n ~.~ not only a short and, as we shall see, ill IlllliIty \'v~1'!l tru 1101 ed text; it also St.'C'f'n. j II be SOm cwhai marginal in i.h . Freudian corpus. in thai it deals with lID issu . who aesthetic roundation \'Ioulci appear m he at leasr : importam.as its p.." hW!3nalyric resonance. It hm; I:b-e misfarlune, as. well, 01" pn"~ding the genuiudy r .\'O]H!tionary Bf!)'OlI.d tllf Pha.rut~ PrimiJlk (19201 b}' such it short time-span lJI'tal Fr~ud's jr.m·rpren::rs han' tended ~o "leap over" me e~ay onthe LlllnmU) so as tn meet the later texi, wrt"h its itl,trigrring LL'leori~atiou of Ihf' "repetition compulsion" and !.he "death drive," .irlJ;at.i-rm. TI:i1 ~i,tuaLi(m r-h.u1gt~d as of I he n!l'7OS and early Ig3rn;, when both l'o:nr:h and •. \.ogJO-i\men!.;illi"l scholars b gan to St:'"C in 'LDa nheimliche" far me ·n than its N\Jnact: argumcnr e:xhi'bi d. Ta LL~C; Sarah Kofinan's te:rtninolog}':, r.nlir.s ofvariOJl· m lhodologica1 [I '~uasioll,,<1 began t read [he ~ay 9111{11wnnily.' Rather than IDC'I'eiv eomment on. FreH.d~~ argumc.:nCs Ii ]I" the impnrliml . .e of the LlUC<lllilY a. .. a cane pr within psycl1lOanalyric Lheo1')~ the newer fit 'II-preters (:unce.lJlr.iwd en the signilicant besinJliohS. conrradirtions,

d .irnpa::-;.<; s tba1 seemed in vitiare f'TeUd~s ·frons tn conrrel his (lW11 rest, "Das U nbe~mlkhe" eame Pc be read a.<i a self aemns ~ ructmg wnrk in which uncanuinesa as such was equated with the' essence ofthc.liJ:eJ'p ary; and the jj~tT<liry w,JoS considered to be Lila!: destabilizing lon-e which doomed to failure all "reducti rust" psycl1oanalytica1 attempts to understand the um:,anny.

[I HU.UO'· fS,S;,\\· "n,\1'l l.NHflMl'.ICl'U. ...

1 he Ol:lTI P"I.1I"pOi5e of Freud'a essay Is In examine 'me strange ~e:rri~ry ilth nncarmy ia order to discover its meru.lli:lll't and deepest lIllpli?,tif U~ for pli)"'hOi1nalytir theDry. The essay itself is a era roads at which tht uucanrr ~ as ~"'t11CtiC ph enomenon , eneounrers the language of

54

psycboanalysis.Jn this scheme, the unranny is. rhe foreign or OUllT, while the (c\'cr-cll'"VC'llopingl concepts orp~yt:hoo.n;llysj!l are the Ihmiliar turtle, which Freud repeatedly returns. Aruaeus-like. to regain strength and comfcrt in his struggh- with rho elusiw object ufhitl scrutiny. At the same time. the \":cry notion of the IJIwaLlny is based upon a concarenaucn of the foreign and the familiar; so that Freud's agMI as wracr mirrors Or doubles the doubleness of thl! uncanny

1n rnncernratiag Illy nrtemicn on selected pa~~" of "Das Unbcimliche," I 11m essentially interested in Freud's use of language :;Inri in the:

T'['("U1'TeIlC~ of certain key terms or phrases which emerge "syrupiomaily' frurn his text. These expressions, in their tum, engage in a far-rr:udtiug iutertexural II'l'h which 1 shall examine later in this chapter Since tbc overall structure of "Oa5 Unheunliche" has been analyzed painsl>\kingly in the critical literature (the moot detailed rrcarmenr beiug that of Cixom},l shall indicate cnly ill passing-some otite points ofnrticulaucn a1 T proceed to my buerpretaucu.

The essay is divided inm three parts. each of which P"lss~~ at Ihe bighcn Ievcl of gClle.r.ality. a cfJhercnt focus. In the lint pan, Freud examines [:he linguistic fleld of"das Uehcirnlkhc," ginng us a preliminarv df"finicino - "the uncanny L<; that class of the friWuen.ing which leads back to what L~ kno .... 11 of old and Icng f;lmiliar'" {TU 2~O)'l followed by a remark on the ambiguity of thr word /:nmJid:: "ill general we are n-rninded that the word 'hrimlich' is nut unambiguous, but belongs to I\W) :)l.'1::S cf idcas, which, without being contradictory ,Ill: yet \'CT)' different: cu the une hand it means: what i.~ familiar and agreeable, and on !.he ether; whar is concealed and kept out of o;jght" (SE 2:2'4 2!)}. And in the concluding paragraph of the first section, we have this synthetic statement- "Thus ktimiuh is Ii wllrd the meanmg of which develops in the direction of ambivalence, until it Iinally coincides; with il.i opposite .. IInJu:wb'dI. (lnIWI,dich is in some way or other n sub-species of lu:imlidr rVn.h~imll£'h i~t irg(;f!dldi l:me.J.ri llQfI bMlich]tI (TO 2~Cij DU 257).

The following sections nf tlu- essay build upon t11~· linguistic data furnished initially and. FlT'ud hopes, illuminate with dte "lenses" of psychcanalytic insighr the curious complecry of UIlJ,rimlirkktlt. The second part 1$ a (ompJex concatenation of examples (If the urnanny taken from literature and Irom life- experience' (,""C mall rerum to the most hnponantofthese examples ill dUI! course). And in the third part. Freud, in aucmpting 10 r~nd co the objr:(tioos his reader might 1U1\<t" 1..0 his rneLhodology, makes a final etfon at. circumscribing the domain of we uncanny by proposing a definition of it in psychoanulyrical tcrms and by

FmJ.d's .& UnhnmluMn

55

,!i~tIDgui!lhingiUllitl'nrrymanifesration9 trorn its appearances.in e .. wryrlay le:1tiry;

lreud's confidence in hi, interpretive enterprise i .. nO{ constant Il.u'D1lgho111 t.ht: ;;l;s;ty. ho .... 'l:'r'tr. The most consequential problem h" faces

15 <I. lug-inti nne how to subsume thr "examples" (the words Fall and Hn.~pitll'ecur with obsessive regularity} he chooses under the general laws

or thr- p",),(,hoana1Y1j(·thcory he- has been developing until the yr..ar 1919" WllI'lL he saY!! thaI "Unlrcirnllcb i:s.L i-rgrrldwi(" cine An von beinilich," 11111 (lIlly is his statement completely larking in assertive Inne, bn the t'xprc~<;i(lp "t-ine .4n'von.heimlichr Jilrtar.t.lly. a ... kintJor~irJi" is Ilf\t a.~ pl1'(L~e or as "''I('i~ntifiC''':'I phrase as (he English. tral1S.Iauoll.("a.mb· \IIt,clI~ ul hcimlid:") wouLd have us believe. \\-rut freud would [ike to do is

h) make certain that all the e.'Ulluj)lo of'thc uncanny he will eire in pans 1\\11 and three can hI" eneornpasscd, included within his psychoanalytic theorv Put the other waYl the uncallny ~ such would be one of ma:o:y pbencmeua mar would illustrate the truth of his theory 11)' not exceeding Ihrir status as "sub-species," But what if mere ace so many "kinds" or unCllllll), phenomena and ,ti\tLlatioll. s that uie vrJ)' notion ofuncanniuess becomes resistant to subsumptionf If'this were the 1;d.'It,', Fwhat U~ is Ih, psvrhoanalytic arsenal Freud brings to bear on the uncanny which Includes, I').'LI)$l nol;lbl>~ the Oerupus eornplcx, me reperiticncompulsion, nd the omnipotence ofthoughL..? LI .~jf'3lcgir (mili,ary) terms, Freud ~ (.l,·k, the uncanny with weapom. bcrrcwed from psychoanalysis. hut is this i'l:"l)' borrowing an inuocem act of Jt"uWlJfh¢. or does it, rathexprc-

,. red from the force of a desire the impulse to dominate and reduce the

n' Illy /here, me uncanny) to servitude, to the tight reins of'tbe oontTP&--'

[1' WI.' return 1(1 ml' beginning of pan one we read ill the very tim senn-nce. "It is only mrdy 'hat a psvtho-analvsr frcl.s impelled to iovesdgare 'u" subject 01 aesthetics [Dtr Psyc1I1J~1iXn unlnrrl mu ffl/m dmMlrilh z.u t1jlhrl~frhnl fJrltmrJeJpwwn). even when aesthetics is undersceod to mean 1101 merely the tlll'm)" or beauty but me qualities offeeHllg" {'IU 219; 1Jl, :.I29J. hom the start, we learn ilia, Freud fcan aesthetics as foreign «a-ucry and makes his incursion onto this unfamiliar are-a only I:W:caU5t"

lit is "impelled" or rfr£vM ic do so (Antn'e-li.is dose tc Drane, another term W~ shall encounter- later}. We are nor dealing here with the disinterested, rli.>pa. ..... ionare s-earch for Jmo.. .. -Iedgc tif such a thing ex.iSl.'r. outside Qf a cerrain rarionalisuc i(knlugy ojsdence), but \\1.t:h an impuisu that carries sts I humn n !Hilijecl beyond his or her own field, In Greek, tllis is called hubris} .nd nm ll1f' least inu r resringfcarure of=Das Unhcrmliche" ls Freud's ethreal awareness of his hubris, hb. ambivalence about treading on foreign

/fanl. RDmaniil: itrury,. UI1Mimfidilrril

57

soil, tbr inextricable combinaucn of modesry and uggresaiviry mal fuels Ins ~pt"'Cutllivt' undertaking,

It is bad enough rhnr Freud, to encounter the uncanny, must do!i(1 in a fil'1d (that of aesthetics) which is not his own, Compounding his sense of estrangement (audcompcritice Dmng .. is the fact thin he i:, [oliliwinl; in tJl(' rOOts[~p!i ?fa previous explorer; E._,lt:'ntsch, whOllt· "Zur Psychoillgit, des. Unm-lI1ilic.hen" had appeared iu Ig06 Since." as \0\.1': lau-r learn in Freud's esilaYi the uncanny manifesn iw:Ifin the rrnubling phenomenon or fJlJppdgiincer, till' problem, from rhe OUI5et.., is tIml Jt'ntsch, wheIJu;~r 1111' author of the .1919 ");,~<ly likes it 0]" nor, whether he :u"knov.'kdge.~ 11. or ant, j~ Freud's own distoned image. Now in order to retain one's own ego-iruagr- when faced with an uTIcanny mirror-doubling, a, rapid ami rlefiniuve act III" dlllcrcntiation .1; 1I[':(('~5;UY: the "1" must splir itself Iorcibly and unambjguuusly from UIJ: other that resembles it roo much fer counon. Thi. Preud does uy characte.fi7.:illg J'nr~ch's coutrjblHirm <Ill It "fertile but .n c rt exhaustive P.'lJX'I·" {inMltmidlE, ahlT niihl mdliil!fald, JblutJlJii,m~ (TIl ~19; DL'" '.'3(1). If Fccnrl's own paper. is In go ~'OUl.1 ~{'msch'~ 'nsigh, s, it m~1 not only he rich in rnntcru (which it certainly III), lnn, m SOme wa'!-; I~ must exhaust the field; It: musr not simply add uICrernt'nl:t1J)'roJe.nMI, IllIt itmusctake limn ihedomain of'lhf' uncannv all of ib rich nourishment. Here, of ruurse, Is <111 alle~Ol'V of acadf'mi~ seholarahip which, (0 use the vceabnlary of Fnhcimlirllkit, is a bit "100 dose to Jwmi." Each j;t'holar writing on the uncanny an r freud (or reall); after Jt'7lt~:h. Or reall); aficr .E. T. A. H tfmann, and !;Q on in infinite regress) will be guilLyofauemp~ lD exhaust afield which uwir predecessor has not quill!" exhausted. 11'K:re will iUw3V9" be something left, C'\-'e1J ill a field that bas been as picked-over as thal'orLht' uncanny.

11 is si/:.'lli6cant, 1 think, that the ~7;'rb mdziipji:1I recurs near lht' ton-elusion n~'"Das Unhciniliche," in a \-1':l)'inn:reslingse,tioll where Freud has been lnduJging ill what might be: called "fiction ~1\-Y;" He has been describing the peedc license Or~lorytc.lJen in em·iou.~ terms, com .... asring the j{1'C'111 freedom of the fiction. writer with the Hmits imposed lJprUi the psychOolUnl)'St as man of science by the experiential framework of the VnCaLlny as it is encountered within the coufiucs ol'realhv W~lh apolngiee for,jllmpiug forward somcwbar in myanalysis, I would like 10 quote rbc passage that ccndudes this Iin[' of ITMQnin;; SCI ll5 10 emphasize the problematic nf".field exh.:"l_ll'jlioo" in Freud's CS~l;

\\c .have clearjy not c xhausted we p~ibili:ries of poetic licence aud rhe priviLc.gca enjcyed by ~lory ... writers In e ... oIcing or in ooc.iLldillg R.U uncaan} feeling

[f...i i,j I!ffmlewuiig, doJ.w rTtifwmt4s fJirhtro IiltdJomrJ di~ ~Mnmtt:tin Fikium ill dg IffJT'II"lJJjime zmJ Jlmmrung do univimlil:hDl G4i&l.i d~ W INmll'llnl~ lkmI:tfamcm ~d:J ax},iipfl~], In the main we adopt an lln~·.lr)'tng passwe attitude towards [c ... [e-qaricncc and ilrc~l1bj('C1 U) the iufiurnc(" urollrpl.y.'tcal en\'lronmal(_ 8111 Ih.· -torv-teller has.:apmJun!r directive power ever us I hirdM.lJ!rhlrr linJu:v (lim Irr I;a~ rl,ilY lmA:h.u]: ~·mr·:m~ ofth,..moorls he can pn{lH una, he l> •. ,blc to ",uirir the rurn:nluruUrl'lIll,>uon$. datil ic upin unrdi~onanrlmakrit{]ow in 1.1l'. ther.andbe OftO:II ubtllin.~ ill(fC,n \"oIri("ll' urdlntsliumdu:: same-material, All I Ill.; t;;. Tl(lliringnl."\l.'. anrl ha\dnuhllt'_'t'S.longllin('(": br:rn fullyrnkrn inro account ht rmfcssoni uI ~suU'tit'!!.IDW ul aikJ /.anJ.~1 IN'J.mwj rouI u:clmm:mlidt t'!!I'I dr.n 6tf'11./"nlEn A'!h"iJ;nrl~rp~r~l·\\j.M:'('driftt'dim{}'h'~fil'!dofl'C.",('";rn:"hhalf jl1l~,lunturili' [J VI! ll:tui lJJJfdUl-tJ Gchl'rl dt:llW'!.l~ alw1G.hll ~ Il.u1lJagrrwnt uxxrJroj, rhrouah the It"MPliH.iu[1 10 e'lplairl u:rt."'!il1 oetarces whn:11 contradicted our lh~{)I')' of the causes or the unl"anny. Alld arrnnl-ingi)' wt' will now I1"lUm tn the r~aluina.l.U:lIl ora rt:w Q[lhooe instances. (TU '251 5] ~ OU 266--&]; U"ll.IISIaLdr·~ ~mph<tSi~l

III laoki.n~ back ar me movement of his: argument (in which, tu add d;9r1IY 10 hi~ anidY'i~ lu- had anempn-d to distinguish between the '1C1~ I :.luny in life and in literature), Freud is obliged to conless that Ire has nut "exhausted die possibilities 01' poetic licence and the privileges Id~ r:,1·r/lfhl'1" Orf>IQrytcllrr;, In mhcrwcrds, in hi. examination nfahl!pntrtitiOlwr~ ofthe d.t,."s.lhl'lil, lit' has bern no mort- sureesslcl than 'N3SJe.nUw:h UI his survcv of aesthcncs I.I,S tbeureucal field: both readings end w -ithn .. closure, ·v.'ithouc conceptual envelopment. There i~ an unmistakable sen-t- (,r melancholy, dl'fi~aL :-II1rl pcrhap~ ecr-n resentment {lUunullnmll J..S "Das Unheimliche" reaches its ending. What Freud envies in the fielinn writer .is his or her creative freedom, which he: describe! nor as the resulr of a srruggle with artistic expression, but mthr-r 3.'. a gn"rn righI,

r iWll'dl1, or right before all enabiishing of rigbl.S: Freud the commom:r \1TljU;::: Inerarv aristocrats. Freud express.es his gru~~ admiration for J the lil,'r.lJ)' anisr hy emphasizing tbr 1;1ll("T'~ "pmt.hnrlJ directive power,"

I, hit h is said to contrast with our "unvarying passive altitude towards real experience.' This i~ a rncst ruricus staumeut, since it .... -nuld be c:a~y

III assert rhe exact opposite: lhaL we live lire, 'Nt' struggle against it, we IHJoK. to succeed in it; whereas W(' .m: fivu rc resist d1C charms Qr~:v;sthl,:ti( fn'~llla;; which, aflcr .aU, Iall under: the domain ofour moods, the m-oods

""c nursulves pf)'>l)f'~.

Ill!': pm+-er of the stcryrellcr resides in it certain animistic em>rgy.

When \0,11.: fall under We spell I1f Iictioual narration, we. participate i.n whar a~~t.hrLic theory calls "the willing suspension or disbelief" i.e., ,,' art: ",,-ming to be directed (u.1T wmffll /nJi,;.bary, we bn:wne passive,

in ceder to enter thr- story. in order til transgress the boundary bel'wt'lCn me real and the Iictmnal. Thr- difference between Freud the J»)lclmanalyrical theorist and the writc:t"I he unwillicgly achnin:s is that 1,(" has attempted to make the uncanny an example. a case fur Inclu~11Il within Ihl" field ofpsychoanal)'!l,i;., while the lcllcni ortale~faJlinJi) 1M 1OJI41D!1. The uncanny is rhar which cannot merely be an example (lin Fa'~. but wl·lith is a fall {Wj FnU) into literarin r- .w and w hich is; also 3 Imp (twe JIalk) (OT the analytical thinker as: fabricator of clear

tdC;rin~tilJllri

I am IIUggt'i'>tin~, therefore, that+Das Unhesaliche" as (aestheLic) totality i~ framed brUltO pmblematK:ofthl" net-ro-be-exhausted field, Betwer-n the initial mnfidcnlCOmll1f'Ilt3MJcn!.srh'sanaiytical insuffieiencies and the (:undudin,g somew hd!: dilq)irit("d paragraphs, the large and rich middle "'Il:CtiOD of the t' '!jay consists Ilf manifold dram LO echle v e this vr-ry I~.hal.l:o;tivt' ana.I~ 1-irttd·~ own ClSay m the rompubion to repeat - to Tept'B.1 the- military gesture of exhausung the adversary's. (t.h~ aestbetidan"o;) 6d.d. The ~I ~-a'J' 10 do 50' to outdo the aesthetician en hie or her \'t_'ry own tJ.J.rC Iflil.(_·rary critU-15m ill <I 'sub-species" of aestheucs, and if criticism in U'!l. cxegrtica1 rUllcUon serves lei illuminate textual nhsw.riLy. rhen the best way Cor Freud to triumph in hi! account of ~ uncanny III to read an uncanny texr (uswg thor I;mguage of P¥hpilna1ysi:!l) more i.Jluminatingly than the acstheticians can with their UWIl paltry science and insufficient \.'OCab~ Among menumemuscxamplCll-(FiJlIl) ofthe UDOlnny in pan two of me ~Yi certainly the master-example is. thai .of E.. T. A. HOffinann'8 "Dcr Sandmann" (J817). a short story which Freud summarises and, confining himseff to a complicated footnote, ventures In arml}'1.e in a highly CTfPUc manner; Since "Der Sandmann" bappcns w be a prime 1ru'1illH'.t''1 Of:. one might say, an exemplary example, or Romantic::: -imny in ita dizzying pracuce, an examination of the' echoeJTI;IT'I jt eshibita wheajuxtapoacd to fuud·.§ "Das Unheiruliche' i~ Dr particular imeresc IO my own argumr:nl in the first three chaptc-u of'rhis book. If the uncanny 15 the unruly ~:cndantofKant'1i sublime, it is also the- mode ol'Remantic irony.lhI:-reby possessing ~mmg ele< tree aifinities with Kcrkegaard's early writingB.ln th-e- lcllcwing secricn, 15hal1 discuss nor only lilt" W'd.y in which Freud used (or misused) Holfinann's story to buttress his fUl{UIIlttlt in un", Unheeollrhe," but also the peculiar (unamny) manner in which "Der Sandmann" anticipates, fareshadcwa, and undermines fm.J.d's claims to analytic mastery and control, both ill his t.emporary Iimctlon as reader cf'Hoffmann, and in his larger role as clarifier of the uncanny.

59

III "1:0£1. SIol\PMANr.;"

E T. A. Hellmann's ironical talc. llOtwithStauding its ~Il\ r ohned ~I()I and rnulriplc narrative voices, is based upon Due orgamcng polerity. classical opposition between pIg,lis. (nature And rhe ~;u:'IlTai world) nd I£rJW (cultural artifice and fidiunality). The protagerust uf'tbe Ynry. , hantt'J, C'ontinu~l1y besin te in his affections between C1a~ u cl~·

ed (as her name indicates) orphaned young woman taken m by his amily and living :w. bis house, and oiL certain ~J)'mp~ a creature of ui~te bur strange beeutywbo elicits his Obses.sl~ Iascmaucn hut who ~ out to be 911 ':"ult)maIOn the unnatural, Iahrirated produ("t,pfhcr f r' Spa1.aImmi. whu made her body. and Gimseppe Coppola. who

ve her her eyes. Coppola, in his rom, is possibl~ the: $,llWC. _pcrJon ~. :,,1 least thor "double' of 1'1 man named c.o.PIJC1\1,lJ. whom 'Nathaniel lds rc;sp!:m!:liblc for his father's ~th. :nle ~\If' is pundu;.m·d I~

number of articulated mcmenrs m which Nathaniel turns, ahernarely, ard Clara or toward Olympia -which means. toward "real lite" iniD "I ural rhythms or toward <I rancif~, uIII:aJ.Cl1lity thar merely rtflccl.!_!

iastantiates !\alhanid'li own ercnc plOJCdluns.

r\lthough the final and literal dismanding of Olympia occurs. ue-~ end of the IILnT)', HQJTmanll pro\'id~ enough clues eariv on In his .. Live 10 indicate to the reader that the "mechanical" 8lrangenl'SlI of vmpia-: her dead ga:ze, herstiJIbearing, 00 "c.QD\Iersauco." ~oInFl'd

Ill v of cxdamalory rnono$flJahle! may m-eal a m«ham:un m the mological sense, a clockwork precision proceeding from her \"1..1"' .... humaniry. The uncanniness ofvDer Sandnlauo" ~ Jinoluf all, Ul I' human-but-net-really-human appearance of Olympia. NathamcL.!I iltatim:a between Clara. and Olympia i.~ a tiesnanon hclwr:cn clearly

ed nature on the ODe hand, and a oaturc-likt artifice on the othec tifil:C (and art a.~ ruch) owes. iu JXl"''cr nm.m its structural desi~ (only mise / litr:rary critics are interested in the inner mtthammt.oT a))

.1 ft..'(t). hut LQ ltljo capac;ity to mimic the living, to adopt a deceiving k which allows it to pass as real. In the secondhalf of the: story; the~c a multiplil':atlon of'subjtmetive and o:mdicionot! e.xp~cm: OIymPla

inhabas till' domain of the "ae if" in thai lIhe ~ only m the deluded

es of'Narhanicl. Her ~ are, lu Jacr, dead, but,uNathanicl view! her Ihruugh hi~ nwn telescope (or point ofviC\\ • .Pmptbiv), they «change":

lie [~.aiharucl] had nt'wr in his liIl: befcre hancDtd a gIas;. which brecght "j.",( rc the cyeo; ID sharpl)' and clearly deficed. lm-Oh.mL'l.rily ~~ IooiNl min SpalanZdll.1 S room. Olympia Willi. as usual, sinin,s befcre the Jillk llIhie, her

.mm lyinK upon it anti her hands fddro_ Ouly IKJ\Io did N<tlh.wicl behokl Olympia', heauliful face [rmmdD"di'l gr../mrJJeJ Go-.rid.iJ. The ~ a10nt seemed to him lj~~' med and dead, ~in ~ thr ~ in lru.. gtou:; grew sh:t-rptr and ~~arpa II seemed all mough beam.. of moonlighL bq.:an In rtse ",itbiu them fuhRf1lCla IIJ Olmti'Nn ~Jiucb J1"~ mifr~ It w-.u. ii:I i.rthf')· w ,.re at th.,1 ml;lI11eUI aN]wnnll:.hI: )XMerofsigtn [rtb-Z1-'DIN..utI crUd~ 'idWa/lfJlU;)JntbJ lninttJ.; and their a:lantt~· eva- ~ and mort li.vd~ 1Ur:wt I~ wd ~.ftammJnt,n,llIa:ktJ.Naihaniclm;,odbd"orr:tht:willdowlL1ifrootr.dLOrflt I'pOll·N.tIAauJ"., wiI~lI.bm iw.~, lO$l ill COllkmplltion QrOJympia'. heavt"l1i)' OOUI); (TS 110; DS 36)6

RJ. IlolJinKda'lc'~ smoorb and readable translation pas.~ over some details nr the German !M(I that ~1Vl" emphasis, OJympia'!I ·<b«-ilUtifuJ face" is, in rl'lcl, a 'wunderschnn f!!fotmkr Deeicht," which intrcdures . LO the PUl'lrall ofho!"r lovely appearance the suggestion of'artillce: the fUn' h~~ beeu formed, mad!:, but by whom, and for what purposef The cascade nr"<I~ if" dausesceurcrsnorjun on the Ii cmcoflighL in general, hUI an fu:t in particular; aud on lJr m~erizing quality of Olymp.ia'.~ RaminggianceJi. Nathanl ... 1 does neuse much standat the window as !kat ill edge, incapable of mcvemcm, blindt:db) the brilliance or what he sees as lh~POI+1:r ofber sigtu (&hAm.flJ, "V~ are in the dom'un of magic or- of the f~lIry tale here, ofsercery and spells: Hollingdalc'!i ".a.a;[rooted to the spot'" renders thephysical influence 6fOlympia on her admire-r, bur does not convey the magical dement which inhabit! "lag wie /'tJt¥..l.auhm,"

. Thi_~dcscript:n.,,:~isimportanlooljDStU1'ShowingthatOI>mp.ia 15 an empty 'Vuse1Ulto'Whw;h NaLban:icl pou~ a fanciful and lirerorilyin. spired 'life," Iau also in providing a subtle echo oflhestory~s beginning, The allusions to rlre and rc the forming of inert matter into LhC' false UcaULy cf man-made artifice remind the reader of the tart)' scene in which Nathaniel's father and the repulsive Ccppelius labor over an "alchemical" fire in a secret and n:rrifymg Promethean project Nathanid hides La D~ the nighHirne activiucs of hill father and companiou. (whom he ideaiifies ,:"ith me. drr:adfuJ Sandman of a nurserystory), bur IS caught by Ocppelius, The latlcl:, im..itating the chlldrea's MOryt fif1t threatens to tear our Nathaniel'! eyei. but respects the fathee's entreaty 1.0 spare them. Then, in :o(ilitlmnicl's words: ';.'md with mal he seized me M vi-01c.nUy that my jciats erucked, unscrewed Illy hands and fee, and fix.ed i.hem on agaio now in this 'Nay. new in Lha.t." ers 91-git). Not only is Nathaniel's life, like OLympia's mechanical "body, '. constructed around the prob1em of the presence and ~C11ce of ~~ and the attendant themarie of vision in gtnc:ral, but the grotesque

~ of the detachment and eearrangemeut of his.limrn foreshadows Olvmpia's filk in the latter ~ of the talc, when Spalan.:t;ani and ppcla, in Jigbring om her; finish by tearing her apart; by reducing r tn mm&bm mfifdtJ thar ran nCVM" b,. r~ornbiruxl lmO 3 totality, nrvadewhclc again. Thus, Nathamcl, who admires and thinb he ICM'lI \[ rmpia. IAUO has her as the object of his deluded affection. is also q~

~ ~T_' ~ rt'YmhtanN_lx'fWI':l'n a young poet lind an automaton js ] hI least of the :story':llIunir,aUy turned uncanny effects,

I Ii: resemhlance i!J of DO particular interest to Freud. however; who, r rent interrrretera of "DM Unbeimliche" have drmol"l~traU':d, turre h wr gaze resolutely a .... -ay from Olympia (and abo Clara, and aU other I I • le characters in the !itOryl and ~ upon 'Nathaniel as a 'kind Dr urodern-day tragic hero. The theme or threatened '1jgh~ of removable ~I and ofblindness is, ful I reurl. a literary transposition of the dread of

I ricn, and tberemre a sign of the protagonlsr's Oedipal anaieties at hands of'tae rat's father-figures In thi'l" scheme, Olympia iI redeeed ~JoI ·ng else than it. mal('I-ialrlatiou oCNailum:ieI'!I feminine attitude .rds his Iather in hill infanr .. ."Y. Her father .. s, Spalanzanl and Coppola, , alter all, notbin~ butncv .... editirms, reincarnations orN;lthanid'~ Fir

f he",' (ru 2,3:.!), The short story» a wholr~ inscribes itself in the

• ~ triangle, D(' more preciR'I)' m the Iarher-sen conHkt.., .... bile- the hee a.tt.d tht: oilier women are shunted aside, shoved outside the earM II the imposition of FJ'1:ud'$ rigid anrIIII.'Jr-justil}-ing imerpretwe ework.

in :he patagr.q>~ 1OIIowing his short and pon:iaI 5IlITU1W)' or Ih< ploi, Fn:ud makC"!l dear thai "Der Sandmann" ~ being [I.IIed to :JlOllU$ in hi'! polemic against Jentsch. Freud argues that the idea lUg rubbed of one'. era ("really" esscacon, as only the knewlor the inDghdUI peychcenalvsr can show) is a more 5igrJifical1t ex._. r the unmullY han "intcllrr-tual uocertainry" (Jentsch's central

nc ntmlty whether an objtt:t J3living or- inll11.irnatc-, w1rich admi~y applied I 'he doll Olympia. l:i qUIte irrelevant in COlmC'CbDn with thi! othcr~ won instance l/kr l)lJfIffr~ an on Bmtllhel.t, bit ltir Ott,m ~ ()~gA~ mlij'DI, h,mm,1 br" dirmn srmt.cm &ispirl Jq ljMnmJid:R II~ R.idJ( in 1 ITU .~o; DU '4')

\ "s}'lllpUJIoal" reading fir Freud's prt:«" in this pa..~ :iIJ~hly I IIc{J\TI'lj a 1argf- dose or aggresaivity which the author of=Das UchermII" allows to well up against the earlier explorer of me unC3D11Y's

7----------~--~--------------~ .... ------------------------ .. --

tcrrirory hisfiur ClWiTllL The problem {or Freud i~ thai lilt' III11.:ann~ mnnifcst, il~df in various guises (perhaps d!.l~j~C'~1 throughout HorT. m<UU1'~ rale, <Lilli .he psychoanalyst has the audacuy to call his own example - the l'}l" mtllif ;md its association with castruuou ~Irrmger (.Itii,.kd) than the lInCf'rt.dinl} b('mt"r-n me living and th.' inanimate, \\'hich ,Jentsch h,n] emphasis .... -d and which Frrud Il}U5lg,rudgiIl!:,rI), adrnir LO heve IOmi(small)"aluc: "Der Z\\cifdan dcr Bescchhcir. den wu bei rk-r Puppe Olunpia gr-kcn las-sen mr#lr:n~" If Freud is not awart- of the violeur ~res~ I~re with \~hkh he pl1~e~ aside hili predecessor and :11 bhrarily pn.fl:""-'> hi, own example (&lSj'lJ'/\ to [hat ofjemsch, l1is prose !'t~ If" eouceys this awurrm-ss and exhibits [t illO a symptom. II woull1l1ppear that LIlt' only wav to l'onunl the proliferation or examples (Fii1/~", Hnrpi.flt) iii 10 cast some out, dic.lalO1"i.'lIl>~ and clJUvse OUJ('11': which illuatraie morr ccnviuciugly Ihr already "prow-n'' theories ofp~}'(·hmlll:!.lysis JU its r\'o111rl011 IIp to 1~119.

The theme of iru r-llccrual uncertainty c-hich looms I:u'gl' III 1 ioff4 mann's "Ocr Sandmann," whether Freud likes ir or nut, is a ~lmnblinll:'4 block for lllt· r"yC'ho~UlJ.l)"5l .'> lin :mcmptJo m deny its significance. 1-'1'('lld ames moll IhL~ IIWrllt", whicb in his vicw belocgs lo.Jc'nl~'[h but ill facl brlollE.'" I'. Hoflmenn. anrl before him to the tcxm .. al uncanny ill ia muluph:- hi"l~Jri(,,-<l1 apparitions, "kommt tx_'j die-em srarkeren Beispiel tics L nheuulicheu 1J,li(l'hlllJpt Ilidu 01 BrtrnlhL" Imcllecrual uncertainty do ..... nor "eotne into view" because Freud hidr'l\ ir from us, and he does this bccnuso thr-rr- is so much iruellcrtual uncertainty in "Dcr Sandmann" and in the uUt-:mny that his own effbrts at analytinrlllJi\steJ)' and NJI14 t~1 will have been undermined, from the bcgiJluilll} 111(' lIIu:anny is a hidde-n bomb which de-torml"~ each time an imerpreter armed (lilly with [~e uc:fusjul,!: device of hi:. theory tin this case psychcanalyucal} mllkc~ Ius Il;\lve!y unpnllC('Lf'd entrance arlin iiw mined rerrkorv Freud's theeredeal "1('Iu;~" do nul guarantee him from blinducss nll~' mnrr [han Nathaniel's rr-lee-ope protects him from iillling mto dclusjoc, and finully, madness. 111C text Freud summarixcs briefly and "all:Jlyu)s" only in the space ol'onr- highly concentrated foounnc is far more dangemus lhan he would let us lalcroruer-readers think; endit rmm have beeu perceived H~ dangcmus by Freud's unconscious mind, given uw extraordinary cffbrrs he makes 10 mask and bury its perilous qualities.

HUI whur is h, wl.'n,abmIlL'Ucr Sandmann" asliterary text. as exumpk D~t:1w llrlcrurn)" dlilt i~ SQ cilTrarening tQ Freud's intl'rpf'f'oli\.l cmel'pri$c? F~rrl, the uncanny. a'i exemplar of Romantic at.~.thctics. is a s~rk .. flf dispar,lte fragmellts Lhm can be lol .. Iized only by <u1 <lei ur \'iolemr

'as \ .. ~ have seen: Freud's preference nf (In,!" form nr Ut(' \_1ncanny O,\,f'T ;Ulothl'r; his beule with Jellt'K'hl, -1111'1'1' an- doubdess Inany instances of 11]1' UIICInIl'.;' but thor field uf dus t: r,mwnilLiliCa.nJlO1 be fullv Of definitively Ull'\'r}---e-d.. Each rime one r-cenplc or I he- uncannv is r'1If'oun\tTt'd, Q{hc-rs 10ll0 .... ; uncannily jU~1 a. ... ill '''1)a.., Uuhennliche," hac i.llg denrcnarated to hi~ satisfaction tilt" uhitluitllU:' UJ5btenl pre!.ence- ct the cyr:k,ilSlT;J.tlOD theme.in "Der Safldm"nn," Freud .amply and hliLh('ly mnvr-s on {Q n discussion of the "double," wilidl is, ot'eeurse. another instanee of the um:-llnll}. In a nutshell: frf'l.Id i. .. 11 >·ing. very hard to write an analytical r-ssav in the classical sense, while the ohi("l't nf hi~ o:("nuin} 11I1dflC!l his 1:':1'for~ at r-onccprual r1~nty. JII~t l-I~ {lu- ll1111til)li~':lli_i(Jn ufthe oldgentlernen in Baudelaire's Parisian poem "I,(.~ Sept Vieillards" C3llSe5 the poe-! to lese his bearings and cling [0 the remnants of his Tt';,J_~()11. the unwinding ... Ftbe Sn-lI1t:;' nf1JT1c;.tIlI1Y evamph-s in Frncd'~ I·~~it.y exceeds the -compas~ nr::tn:alYI ical discourse as conceptual envelopment.

Second, UI(' threat Hoffumnn's Story poses to Froud i~ nCL IIIl'rd~' lhal it ironically anricipares his ~'VI'I)' f'rw("ln~~ing mn\'!", rhus defeating him in :UI nncllertuully relined ~i.Ltl1{' of hermeneutical chess; bUI it also "speaks" 1:0 him and througl. him OJl a personal level about me value of psychoanalysis as method ofhucrpretaricn. "Der S:'lnrimann" i",um~lfIn> rrmn a ll"lllj]nral perspccrivr: it furnishes au anticipatory critique of the \el) p~dlnanal}'tical tools which Freud lu-mgs to bear upon it. Icspc ...... '1 I.hrou!:,:h Freud in an aC[Qfm.'\f\'elou51v<;tTa_n~rvmmiloql!ism_ 7111' fatht'r orp;;yrho<malpis.I)('(;01nf"'I the cllumny!;.t new Olympia', whose brilliant in:;i$t is revealed to be as false and m(Th.lIlical as the dazzling bur dead C}'e$ of the auturnatou.

l!1 what follows, r shall fml t"mpha"i7.r I.'('rr.rin areas of "Der Sandmann" whir-h Freud pa.~:>I.'l; over ill silence; then 1 shall proceed to I!.UJl1.ine the ways in which Flofbuuuu's SlCJl), in these very areas, ullC'ilnnil}i bridges the-gap be-tween thc scll-rcferemial ficliou:Jiiryl)fRolJl:.wtic iron) ~d rre1Jrl'~ own ("'(;~Irnlial situation in L9'9. The .srory says firr more about Freud than Freud says about the SII'1l)'. \Vhe:reas Freud's conscious mmivation Wi!S 10 illuminate a small corner r,f the field Dr ac~jnclir;::~ with p~ydlOl1m:dJltlcal insight, il is my rnnn.minn tlmt his fascination with Hoffmann's text, at the unconscious kvells grocnded in the analvst'e narcissisr». Freud sees himsclfin "Dcr-Sandmann,' and hey-and the Ironic mlr hr- SCI'~ Dc'diplls nlll lilt, lhem-lzt:d ""Oedipus complex," hUl n,~dipus hrfmr tht'or-izatron, .1 mO~1 dilUl1;t:ffiUS a.nd diabolical ant.1.gnniE.L who crrmr'i ltat:'k to ru.lUnL hi .. imt'rpreler :lnd rock the rawl(lariaru. f,r LIre. psyc:hORll.ll.l~tica1 edifice itself.

1\' "DJ.R S".!.,KD\I'\"'IN",\S \llllROJ{

. \1 li~1 ghm('e, the narrative -rrucrure of Hoili:uarm's lak 1:W.II''! no resemblance In rhr- logical or,ganlz.atlotl of Freud's analytical di.<;COIlI ,{, on (he- psyc~oall~Yli.aJ significance of rhe UDc..ann)" As we h:\\1;' seen. "Des ~Ilht'unlu·h r. when n~\\"ed ,at a d&ancc and ill the hiHlu;,'!.1 levr-l of e;cneralI(Y· pow-sees <I rnpartne structure (lnrur:Hf;d quite explicit I" iI\ the Roman Humeral'! J, II, sud", in the lO:f\ whirh I hav .... described ~ fulllllVS: I. examiuauon of the linguiillC' poculiaruies of the \\Iunj~ hn'mlicn anrllntlll'/fIliirlz ill thr-it- interrelation; Do examples ot the uncaunv lhuulurra~e .~ld from m", the must important of which is "Ikr Snndmerm"; III, ~N'\1d s responses to possible objections to his rneth .. (L~ ami ecnclnsions. alrm~ with n s:ries ol finr- di~l~m_1:iol"l~ on [he origin,,. <Inc! Iypt·~ nr the UllGIL1Ll~, I lu-rr 1~ no apparent similcriry IWIWr('n (his quilt' classical scheme of ~LlI"~l""C prescntaricn and the broad ouLlilll'nrrfl(' Rcrnruuir novella, wh ir-l I, Sarah Korman desr-rib-s r·r.r1C1H'Ly:

fllt, t:u~t,pl~'''iry ~r the tale: h !Jcgm with an "'''W;UlgC "f lc::lll!l1'! berwrcn Nnlh';:lIllC'l_Lall.il~n Imn Cl.1ra .two char3t:ter:t 10 whrrm Frl'uu p.ilp hardlv anv ~I L~'nnoll\: 11 ~'Jn~u~_",iLh it direcr adrlJ:'tS':: b)' the amber 10 rhr- 1'(':h11'1'; f{u;ill) ~L unfolds ru;:m~rhng I" the raon banal aarranve (Omo:c:nt.lOlt:!. ("TIll'" 0.1111;1(' 1\/andthc:DI"\'ll,"IJ:l}

II.' ~ollnan's .... ir\,~ Hollmann also opted for a triparrire organization. but It rs much I11Qre «com~k'X" than dUll orr-reud. in thm there ica ,"ixin.~ of .hclelU~Cl?eOW' rtnrranve modes which fulloweach ether in a pure-ly mr lonymlCJlL,(laposilioll. \\'1; I,:I\"C, first, wbat eppeara 10 be an epblOlarv novella, rolJtl\~'f'd brusquely b~ tlu- intervcnricu of the "author" Of'l us sa.), ll'l;re P;Ud("I'IIi), 1111.' playfully o~li"",_'i('111 IIflf"TabJfJ. and concluding "\(I(~ whar Kofmn~ CaUN i< final unfo.ldingoftJu: !!.Iory "according to the 1ll0S,l h a noll narrauve conventions." (I shall leave aside, lur the moment. [he important question 0[tJ11; "banality" el rhc CQllvt.nliollS Hoffmann mnkl·s use 01. a "banality" which seems to disappoinl Kofiuan but which cannot br' shunted aside .. vith thf" d;.,.,iJlrulll1rr. she ellc ... .-~ rlt'rloelfhcre. To m:ak~, use of.ballal r-onvernions Is nut necessarily 1.0 fall into bUllality,;1~ rh~ :\orks (ll Flaubert and Ka.fk.;\ consistently dcmonsrrare.) Freud, in wrn II L~ about the l~ncal1l1}; seems to be adopting d "simpler" form of 1~:U'rntlye prcsemanou than Hnjlrrra nn, and In this sense, the form of hts_ essay confirms what he says in his ~"'~y about rhle weate:r frn'dom eruoyed ~ m(.· cremOr or ficliom, whosc poerir: lirm'lt' Illlm.~ him or h~r U) ~m .1 convoluted web which (".an rrap and hold a multipJjcity or di.s.p~l .. te pel~unage<: •• tCriOIl!i, il.lld \.'ok·~

Once rmr- descends beneath we bird's-cw .. i(-"", ho w ever; nnce OIU' adopts a Fmfreklit allowing a rlebl" l· .... iluauon of both Freud and HofInH\11n. one- 5r~d,> a prnlwrly uncauuv similarity between the [Woo u-sts at die level of ",holt 1 shall ,,,U rmCfJfl-MWW; nwliruiJon_ Bnrh writers an" nbsc:o:-;c;rl by the problem ufnarraliw Iraming and closure, and both strive rcl :T111C";;.;:h· 10 Clld","" we uncanny .... ithin a logical structure, l» fmld'$ case, we have the dogged efforts, in PdTi IhTL't· (lr·'I)a." Unhcim[iche," 1.0 distinguish bcrwrr-n imd :ulItmg I)m~ihl{' forms of'the unC'.umy. 10 dassif,' a phenumenon lll~lperl~ and ddiuili\'el) is to neutralizr- rhrwlSf'uling powerorthar phenomenon. Y(,I Frrurl ~lPm his rssay with an elaborate precautionary mO\"C ~In paraphrase: "1 as psychcunalvsr now enter a foreign lrrri(nr); am impelled to O{~ hll. and the field i'l in :In~' case small, just <J, small bit of UlC aesthetic"] and eoucludcs lJ)' evoking rlu- "ghllstlymull1plic-auon" ot'rrap-docrs in Nc~LI uy's.fu.n:c.rkr :iJ:niutJ-rt. and the theme ofghosu illgrJl{"l"al a.i theyrelatc to "the facrorsofsilcnce, solitude :.Ind darkness," The final sentence of'TI,1S UJlh('imlicht'" n_;ad!>:

f:.-m(,-·mir.g the- IULLur~ of silence, solitude- • .'lOn darkness, WI' can only My Ihal Llll')'!U~ lldJJally elements in lhl" prcrhutiou IlfLhc infamile anxietv irom wluch the m,llur-iry nfhlll1l:m twing-.ium: necer-becomc quite Iree. This problrm ha._~ b.', n di_,«"u~rn from iI. p~~dlO·nualytk poilU or~irho r!o:t'wht"11:', (Ttl :.l_1.21

The conclusion closes nothing. but, like Nestrcy's trap-doers, open ... mHwam to the \;lI'R!' general problem of the human ~ing's imprisonmem ill infantile an,''l:iely, and . as the editors of the SimulaTd Edition inform ill in a focnncte 10 me P.l'~g(' :ihicl.). 10 Freud's own Dni AhllfUvlbl1lgrn :;:ur .'Vc~liill'hf'f)J'1f ~t90!)), rhe- textual "elsewhere" which ccmains further r previously l-.L:lled) remarks ou the theme rapirll!o: alluded LO in {he final lines of "Da.'i Uuheimliche." The' desire III solve the aualyncal problem of the WlI,:anny t'xpl"(',~C~ il$l'Ir, meraphoricallj, as the unrealizable irnpulsion to dtlS~ doors, toslnn off that which csr-aTxo'i logir.t! coutainmem.

L'nrauuily. this desire !D close, In ronchldt· h)' dosing, this impulsion ~Jnlrirh, Drrmg)lr}W<1rd logical rornrol, is also the driving force or "Der Sandmann." Hnllmeno's tnlc begins with the word "W'\lciB"f'n-:rtain-'{') audconclcdcs, aflrT~athtUllf'rS demh, with what appears to be a 'b<lnal" iruppy ending in which the narrator ch-scnbes the domestic happiness OfC:JanL °In the follOl ... ing terms:

~h:ra.I ~\f:.ll"li later, )IOU ccmld ruwr ~Cl'ill OftT;\.. itJ:l di~'aJll pMt Qft11~C(J-UI1U)' 'l'Wlg\~ith an alfh:tion<l.rc: mall halld III hand I:~dure Ihr dDUf (l1'il.1Q\....,ly rolHllI) 11oU.~t" and wi.th two hJv,;:ly (Jlildren playing i.lt lier fet!.. (i'Om hrum it is 10 becnncludo:dthm Cli.lrd round in Tnt <"nd thai quiet dom~lit, h.appin=whi.:h h·as

66

'IO.ar.,tf'('("t'lhlr: to her du::crful dRp<hitroa and which rhr- in ... .udlv riven ..... .lIlh.\nlt'! could ncw-r have 1;!i~'["I! her. (TS uS:

"\i,lru Ilwhn:.Tt'n }.l.~rfn will ma~ in t-itter f'tHr<:fllt~1l G{'1~nd "Iar .• gesehen h1brl1, .... te ~JC run cUlc:m!T('llndl.du:n Mann Hand m I land \'01'& - 1' Tnre emce ,!;IlhulIl'n J ~'tnrlh;",!)t':,. saO und vor ihr "',We.! WUIW"C Knalx-n ~",!dteu. f:) um, drltI'Jlll ~u~dl/.Ufkn. d3A Kla'-d das ruhigc hguslirhe Gluck uoch Iand. dos ihrcw hcirem lrbtl~'~~l."ll Sinn nn..1gr'" lind das ihr dt:r 1»1 hmrm ::'rrrwmI YoJMn:u1 uicmals baw' ~w:tl1tcn kennen. IDS 19; my o:mpJIl:l.l!L~,

JUSt us the- Ilr"':r line of "Dcr Saurhnann" begius willi I/U' noucn of n'n:tinry; \\JLII the \\lll'd "gcwifl,' UI the S".JnU" way the last ';Clltf'IICC rrmIniu'i Ill(' verb "schlidkn," which. in this context, means "10 'vm:lwkt but which, Il~I'11 in the concrete '>lolling: {:if doors and wimtoc ... ,s, siE;nifies "ro close." This i-.::, wiLhnUl a doubt,"il "banal," couvennonal "lIciil'lg to a "tury thar is lru Itom bau!ll_ Il presents it.".l·rr:is a quite d:cpJorahly \~"tdk ending • ., an otherwise elltl"rtHillingljl upseuiug nerrarive (\,Jridl, I think, explains Ktlfifl:in'S criucal remark), Alit has Holfinanu lhllen into the- 11<IJI ~)1',oll\,t:nt:iollaJjly, or has. he used rnnYf'rrlinn;wt) J.:; U trappill~, me better In mrT":lp 1~ earnest interpreters (even 111(' most asnnc stu~ d~ntlJ. of J-rcucl)f A c),~' reading of till" German text canner help but hlghhghllhc conditional nmode in wllich UIt: "io;ion of happy dOJTW"fi{". ity L~ reprrv-med: "Nach mehnTf'nJahren lL7./IIlllJ!m in ("inc; eurfcnneu Gcgend Klare geseheu habeu," and "Es e ee daraus zu ,«·hJidlrn," Que might, if one wished, ir om' should bas .. 'l:' surh J wish, ellvi ... ion such happiness. Hoffmann is as cntijnu..; in his final picture ol feccud calm (and of the how, the Hl'illl:' as iii .Frrud in the beginning sentence, of "~)a,~ n~~iuiliche:' Hoffmann is just a. ... dU\lhtfuJ about conrainiug tilt dispcssevsingcffeci, ofUnimmli(h1mas is Freud upon cutcring rhe remote corner of the forbidden territory of rhc aesthetic which "houses" the UIIOWlIY.

Freu(J'!I problem - and II j" no small problem ils that 1 Inffiuann alr ... ady knew d'<1t1thl' uncanuy mrrlel be. contillned only by the arbitrary il~pt*jliol1 of Ii.! Worn-{'lU1 IIarr:Jt1ve c,.t)m·oelHion~ In a S.tOI), pcrrnrarcd ~\'lIh, de<rt~ and ghastliness, the final "triumph or lift" GU} onTy be ri'ad ironically III thc samewaythar in Kafka's "The Meramcrphcsis'' IJII"(on. vl ~L(!.iJlg f::UYli~y outing into !.lil' murltT)'Srcil'. with the revelation ofGret{' Samsa's blllSSQ~)ling wcmanhocd, constiunca an ironical counter-image to Gregor'lI abjection uud cic'J.lh!Hoffillann knew, in other words, Llh!.l tLw uncanny j_~ ihe 1C'1Tilary of death, o[wlConm.illil.ble, repe:ul"imt!tdving-.1 This is the U:rrilory into which FU_"ud entered in I919, a.Hd lhe <k;uh. [r,ance uf World "'ar T, bm II'hidl !.he pS}t'hoanaly:;t Lind inrl'rprctcr or

rcxrs also discovered, liu.;raril)" rranspoecd, 11'\ a Rcmanur- Fantasy wriuen nne C:TmUI)' before his lime,

If, 10 use Freud's own vocabulary; onr rni~1 say rltat Ihi" mnsnmrs purpose- of his cvav "Das Lnhr-imlichr-" was 10 remove the uncanny from thr- domain of the aesthetic. and reterruorialize it within the field or psychrnmalytiL theory: Its unconscious moti .. zannn would seem In Ixthe cisrantiarion of,ht' n-periuon ouupulsion in a literary mode. Freud's writing-s.t)lC' follows the impulse, the dnvt,lo say again. and repearedlw ",hill me unr.;..amry has already said througb .1 l11ullimdr" 01" texts. indu.d.iD.g. most strikingly, "Dcr ,s:tnt1m:mll," Aud what rhc uncanll)·:>.i.Iy:t Dr lc::~liii~~ 10, "(·I-m·IM.,I}. i~ death, IJ{JiUruJ 1i1~ PlMslitt PrimifJ/r bc<:~IT1lI'~ lilt· retroactively deferred theoretical justification for, he praxis uf"Ua~ Lnheunhche." Beneath rulrr\l!iw )ji'pt·iLram:e:s., beneath the crmtrastltJ]r rrip:m he "ILru{'llIIT!I Dr Freud's "theoretical fic.uon" and Hoffmann's lif·,imr !nul tnurt. lies IlIJ! j1au~ul of'nnrrurivc. whl(_'h i~ I' W IIn1'<lIIlI)' n:pr·· liliou::;.nr';.:;sof the AJlfrifiJ Dr Drrmg.7

Frcud's muh iplr- hcsituriun .... , deflnhicns, and n:c;kf.nitions, his ambivalcru rhrtonr of caution and Ol.f:l)£I'<'.ssidrr, in shan, the inldlf'rllt:tllllu'~'r~ tainry crnanauna from the analyst's inner divi~i()rl'i- rouceruing hi". elusive thcmc. mirror the anirulared paLLern beneath the 0\'01 structure of Huffmann's rale. 1115 a pattern Ihut can onlv mike fear inm ,he' heart of a medical pnu utioner whose dnmain js lh,' human mind; namely, me fulling in and rart nf health, thr- repeated apparent but deceptive "(.\.1["(."')." of the "patieru" Nathaniel. which end in anafytical failure an the analysand's dcarh. It is perhaps no coincidence ,hal Freud OOll(;~.u~ his description of the uncanny with an allusion m a work of literaturr- (r!'!ljiiN."l. Do Zr.rril.,lUl I Ibe TOTn Mac]. since the Last v."Orrl~ of "Dcr Sandmann" describe the unfcrtunnu- prol;'tgtJni'U a.~ "der hu Innern eerrissene Nathanael' -uhe man who loved an mncrnarcn rather than the clear-sighted and "lebenslustige" CIlJIil. h is precisely the inner division of'Nathanicl, a split which teutpu cthcr characrere ill the I100Tlh~ In make him whole, but which i~t in lact, irn-ural )It·. that provides "Dcr S<UlllmallD" with irs narrative lcconunion a mcvcrncru cfIhs.andstarts that is unccnrainable within any ITh.IU1.)-SltL.bC1w"~, whether uiparthe or otherwise delimited.

_r·;J.lhanid\ first HCtT\'{' inn-rwotiou in his domestic envircument occurs when he decides to ~py u~nl Iris father and Coppclius. This intrrvcntion proceeds not froui the clarity Qfa .alm, consdou ... choo~ing, but from an "irtt!l:il>Lilde urge": ';-\t: length. impelled by an iITooub!c Lrrg-e, I dt:L'idcd 10 ;.:oncea! nl}"'df \\ilhin my f;rthl~r"s room and l.hc.r..,

68

~rl

ill_ail the sandman" rEr.(!/ith. l'lJR 1J.11U;itlDJ"lthHclu:llI.Dmn$~tntll(ll, bt.rc/l0f) uk tm .?,immM.its lidos S~lh5t mirh Zu ~ lUld dtrLSaruJl1Innn':lt fflf rIr/clI\ ('1'. OU; DS 11).Il.ikc me: A1lIriiW Ihat mouvated Freud to cnu-r- rhc fOIdgu n-rrirory of aesrhcurs, me impulse to discover the unknown is at th(' oriQ;!ll of Nathaniel's assumption of his "ole as prowgoni'il.l I.ike: Frcuel tlu- rhecrist, .'\athanid is in fun poised between two commrv forces: em tlu- nnr band, an urgr- or drive roming from olll.,>id(' his con ... dtlll~ mind thar rnrrl's hun 10 make an incursion into d. hhln-rto protected domain; ()~ tilt' U1hr.-r. die conscious power of dccision-naa king. \\ bicb is cxpn-ssrd m the- verb "In conclude" hr._rc"lI~Jlllil:H Freud iiH~mpl~, v .... 11.11 monotonous regularity to conclude hi .. C'5say lin LIII' uncanuv, oulv In be caught lip in an c\'eI-lI'idco:nillg' spiral of illaerrauvc ~xampl('S, J.ll Ii~t, same ;Hly ~alh.lC1i«l, de.;'Pite Iris -slawd desire In ,li,nh·: the myslc''1,' of his fa!lwn; CV~ll.U~g [}L-C'UpatlQIlS." will end hi5 f.:1Jll.I~-e:t'lill'm·e splnJlJng~)U~ 01 cnurullnm madness. Hoffmann's inil.i;.il.jLl,.;:mpositiolJ nr[l1(' \-trb t'.nbm 111 me: pafi~h r voice tu the dtl'lsive !Jerrh.liE}Jnt. establishes tlu- 1i'11" SUm aUI 1If" which tbe u~~vdl<l in it~ entirety will evolve, 3'1;tn ahernauem Iw[we.ell, 1110111['1115 .of cahn <lilli, lucidity and Ill{' inevitability of the protagLl111~t 5 pl1)grel'.._~I(m lo' .... ard tblly and dcuth. \\11("11 f1'rud n-ad "Der Sandmann" he not only round, at the conscious 1t:\'<,'1 of his .. lIlal~II(";lr Ihinkillg, a confirmation nf'his ideas on UII: fear of casuurlon and me Oedipus complex, hUI he also dis-overed il psychodrama that I"nilid cnlv llcighll'n his anxiety about the Leal-world medical effectiveness nr hi~ new discipline: namd~ Lht" ~:IOry of a )uung man Who, d('~)ill' the IO\'in~ care nnd enalyiicallucidity orhi~ best Iricnds. cmnot bc cured.

If Freud's essay imitates Iloffimtrlll~~ novella in its hesitation hC',we-ell Iogkal ma.sloy and t,"corurollablc fragmcmauon, it is bccau ..... Freud sees himself in the siory and carmen extricate hirnv-lf from HolTmann's narrative logic and from the riloSC.nl;1ling power exerr-iscd over the Iwcntit"Lh~cemliry thinker by fi rional characters Dum the pnViOtL~ cemury, Freud is possessed by Hoflinann'5leXl: he carl only repeat, bUI 1l1"VPr rruly aher, tJ1C nr, .. icular obliqueness oflhe "example" ho uses. al'llong OLJ I(,I"S, in his di~"o~rse On the m~ming of the uncanny Freud is in lilfitl,l:l, aud he i.5"already I'rcud," cue 1l1lghrS<ly, in lhe chnrac-er of'Clura, whose dl·;)r~~ighkd,nc5_s. pocfiguT"c~!he analytical lucidity ot'tbe father III psyehoHllalysis~ This prefiguration :i5 ,nor based n1l'J"dy on ~ht ab-s(raCL notion ofiucidilY or dari~; hm.\o'E\,cr: it inKribes il~cJfinw the very styli' \Vith \~'hkh CJara o;peaks co her beloved NRtJHl.niel. which is unmi51akw ubly Ihe ~tyl~ of(ht' p5ycho."lnalysl. ft is uncanny inde(;d [0 be qUClLI·d one ce.IllUI"Y bt!.fort one uJ.'SwrineD about tILe llJ1{";wn)'j but this is wh;l[ hJppcru

La "Der Sandmann, ., wheu CIJ.[<k seeks [0 reassure Nathaniel about his fears ofClJPPdius_ "111(" lo;.';ror!ll·rargulncl'lr is based upon an unwaverirur disunction between the "inssde" of Xathuniel's brooding mind and th·" "ouu .. ide" of external reality. Xathanicl can find solace and be cured urhis ap:,_"inm: Iamaek-, Hbe i, abk-to ,,·.·ugnizc· thar his fears aJT Inerely imaL';nary.lha! whathe ··:'"i1W'" when he hid in his father's workroom had no b:lsc, ~l the real, but was the result of his own fanciful projecnous:

Lt-! 1ll!:' ~y ~tr-,t;ghl on whar if i~ 1 rhmk- rh:n .... 11 rhe t;h:rnly and terrible thin~ .. \DU 'IfI'1kc:: of Look place only within cou, and LIMI the .11'",1] uuter world kuJ little pan iL'l du-rn. Old Ccppclius rna)- hm".: been repulsive ;:n'J.ll~~h. bu~. II I"\'-:I!o> IIC'-"".lux he 1,:lIc'.-l .. hilrirl"n ~hnt)"C)lI chHrln:'" ":1m", II) n·d:m ll{·tHal revulsion fur hun

TIII~ G·iJl,ht.ening sandman in the 1l1.1r;c-ry tale TIJ,lurally berame uniu;d IW}.7I.iipjl~~ir-IiJ in }'("lr rhildi_~11111im-l whh 'lId Cr.llj1L·liu,-If; aliliougb you nolo~gcr l"l"ljMll.'d irl rhc sandman, CO[ljJt'lill~ wiL!l~t,ill W ,W.I.!l spec~mQIlSu:r l:-O'jJC'CM.lI.y daugeeccs 10 children. 'the un(allllrT1i~lll·t,ime- n.cli\fi~l"~ ~oJllh}"01)r Iarher \'.~T1:

I1D doubt nt/thing mmr thnn ~r('N'T :llrhrmr[;:ll rxpcrum:nU! wey were CIlalulIg ~~thl:r [Dn.~ wwnmJir.hl Tmhm rn~ }:)rU'L.m Ihla QI1 .\'"w:hl{tit It'ar uWtl mdus tmrim., als d4J /m·d~ulJ.eek:m aldllmlJlmm Ihlr,..~ ""',:himJ. :tnl'lyf"JHr morher eculd I",rdl .. hrnl' hl'l'n pleased 300m it, ~'nr.(" a l()\nrmollgr .... '!L~ undoubccdlywased unrl, morwvrr. il.5 is ri.l1\.IV~ supposed 10 he the case 'with such j~boTatQ,!· C:1"" pceimentera, \'QUC finhcr, alto~thc-r absorbed i~.lht' d('~rpQ\'(' .-lrm._:, for l'lI~h{-r mnh [guI-!.;:rontfIIlitri{gf'n$drl'1l [)rr1'l,I!!!IlI{J,.Jr"h" 11'li.I"/inltiflilllJ. would haw Ur:COI1lI;'" estranged Iinm his Call1il~ TS 95 gG, ns J I)

Like the psvchoanalysrwhosc methods lind vQ(:ahulary she anlici~lo~ rilv borrows, Clar-a ;>;C(. ... Out to demonstrate rhar the ·'ghastly and terrible things·· in her patient's mind do 111,)1 cnrrespend to facts and C\"CI'lI.-<: in the cuter wcdd, but have their origin in a union or "knnUlng" (Inhliiltfiuq:) 01 alfrTuve imagery deriving from the fi-ighteniug nursery ~J~ of.thl' Sandman. Fhis story has since become associated, ia Nat-hamel s mind, wilh the purpcrtedlv diabolical ecdvities of'thc repulsive Coppclius. who has lilxJurf'r1 his fhther rmo pursuing r('r!~in '!\IT.Jl1brr night-~e "expe-imcnts. ,. Clara's argument is a discourse of dcrrryscficauon III which the »ncannv quality clibese nocunual researcnes, uQj' l..i'lllWmlidM, iJS reduced to "111] I doulu ncthiug more than secret alchemical cspr-rirncrus." I .n c auniness is explained away as mat! altlltJl'!llin Kanrian terms, bftJ{J KiJ/~~t, simply :u-uulm:li. ... a play wilb the elemtJ1ls lhaE has no effect 01] ext~mal re<lJjtl!, sinCE. il..'J we nll know, .. 1chcmy, :15 pun· w~d:>LefuJ.ncs:s-. 111't'~1 1Lwh;, ru· pW"e and i_1'respons.ible rree-play, and as; ii false p["ll~io;e o[tran:.murauoll Dfbase realt{y ima a highrr e~~c:mi."tl form, akhenllcal '·};perimt:n[aricrnimp<:ls-itsad('"pt. ... L('lwan.lad~cepLi\~h'ght:rrruth.. TherP

I"

is a T>rWIIJ I,owa~ truth. bin the uncanny urging [01l.j' fmiu:rr:niiJ'ftll TmbOli de:"I'{IY~ the family and the horne [HClnlj. CI:1.ra dJld Narbanlel's mmher are e.uJi!it~ 10,prolel'l domestic mmquillity in rhe wide against male hubris, w~,d.l. III "Der Sandmann," Uik,'s the form of 1I compulsion 10 craie artificiallj; La Tcb the god'! of their f.rrc in order III make snme Ihing ()ulXidt- of en- bc)'OPd nature. In this ~cnst; the male union of SpiLlan7ani:and Coppola, !ik ... that or Nathaniel's ralhernnd Coppelius, can only "produce" pure artilirr- - au autmnntcn who bears no more resemblance to a rca] woman than the "brigl1l1y gleaming subeumees" {TS 91) in the father's chimney do 111 real gold. The domain of It4m~ is thai of the male artificer, whose "deceprice' (~h) kbyrinr.hine labor poses a threat to I"hical stability, to the straigln path ofnatcre and nurture.

The cemrel dramatic ooufli(,1 C!f"Der Sandmann," the connict that t;ivesrisr to the story's enrrauve t~II!"rgy, is i\Iathl\niel's hes .. itarion between the ;·1~aJ.'~sighl~d Clam and me doli Olympia, ,"",hose t:'yc.'i are <I lifde,~ L~et'llV(' surface. 10 terms o(llteracy reprtseumtioo, the malt' prntagorust caunur ar first decide between all ethically constructed world in whirh me "inside" or the imagination is allcued a finite and restricted space, and the universe: of Romau.ti{' irony, in which the unbounded power of rhc iouginadan's peoj-rtive caparhics causes the )'UUIlg man to find beauty and even lire where I..h(Sre is. or bas been. ouly ag~ rrsemblance tu Iif r- _ At the beginning cf'thr ~toJ1o: befQrr ~anirl assumes his rule as protagonisr, while he i~ still only a child unIong children within Ihe fiwtil); the choice between ethical stabilky and aeuhetic artifice is pored, si,l?;l1ificantly. in the form of two different "readings" of we sandman fairy tale nne provided by his mother; and the other elaberarcd "> the old woman who tares fbr his .sistcr:e The phrase "the sandman is coming" is used by the mother on those evenings when the father ap. pears gloomv and when a stranger's. fbcutcps are eventually heard in the house: it is a signal fur ebc children to go to bed. Before Naihaaicl has his lim encounter with Coppelias (before he tan make his first association of this men with the ~llJldrnan). he asks the question: "Marna, whQ is this san~ who ah"'~"5 drives us away from Papa? rEt, ~UQJNl. 1.(." ist dn", do bijJ~ Snmimolln. drr 1Ol'.r immer OOIi RzpaJOTttmh~]" (TS 86;. OS 12). The mother's answer i~ as follow.s:

"There is .nu sandman, my dear dlild." m~ mother replied, .. ,,'hell Lsay the qimdu.llul IS conung, all dint means i~ that you are s1Cl:PJo' ami cannQI keep vuurqT:S open. a.! !hough someone bad sprinldcd sand into rhem l.ah IriiJk trJllTi Cflril &nJ hinr.i~." rrs 87: DS )"2-13)

7'

1 )l1hu.pp), with Ius mtllher'4 prosaic answer; Nathaniel j;t.~ks another LJ".'rpretlfri.cm from the old servant woman, 'whose: folk-wisdom reply i ,-)Urr:m" sharply widr marernal I"'.itionalil)":

I nlcS<1ruimanJ is.a\,ickcdmao\\tlO('llRlCllatrt"r children ,~hC'n LllO:Y-WQO'lgo ILl OI;tl mdUIIU\Vl) lumdrub uf.5and inlh.L-irt')'Cl!,:!Iuthat lhC)'JumP()UI ofthclrhca!k L hl~i andthenLe Ilrru .... li them into his 3i.1ck nndcarrics them 1.0 1111: rreseem ',. .ouu a_~ frHld fur lris little cnildrrn .w he hsve- ,h('wncSl1.lp 1h<>!'1"" end ha.w;UVDkrd .r. b lik~owlsand peck up me e)~Qrthe lIaughty~n, ,TS87

Hoffmann's novelle begins at acrossroads. Nathaniel muslch~se bet\\ .. en a demysritied version of the folk sto:" mat "sees through" J~ crude Ull~L~Cr):: puriryi"s it of::.1t threatening violence, ::tn~ Lhc unseuliug vcr'ull efthe servant, which makes cf'the same "primitive" material a cauI! ' Ian. tale for disobedient children. In linguistic lC'Dl5. tilt diili:.r-en.Lc herwr-rn rhe two T'(';:\din~ rcsidps in rhe interpreter's ~lwnlki5m rrr belief i- IIII'l.aphnricallmnsporl as such. T~ mother's neutrallucidity dtri\'C~ [rorn her lingui ... uc agcosudsm: she knows that the talc of the sandman is to be read conditionally or rubjllnctivcly, in the «as if' 111oc1.e, of rh hi'l!lJl'II;'m., ("al~ hatu- man C'Ul~h Sand him~ingcstrtlU"). She, hke l..: wrkcg<lrmfsJudgc william, M:CS dearly me artifice offigura1 disco~ and is uct taken in by it, Much to his misfortune, howe-ver, ,NilUuull:J

t. ~ ~ no' find his mother's skeprkism convincing or appealing, bILl IS waved I)) the verbal picture painted by the servant ",:uman 3. pictu:rt'.: hat nDW places ilse1f within. his consciousness: "GrttBl1::.h malte sich n~ll ~ l nre-m mjr das Rild dl'!'; grausamen Sendmnnns au,," (DS 13). fur Xathauiel, then- is no "as if." Like the ynuug Romanucisr in Pan I of "'j/hnIOr,!.h1;: protagonist cfvDer Sandi nann" chooses to lJ.t~~~1u::'1"· h ,_j['h means that he lives in and among figural discourse. believing m us truusforrnatiw pfl\V("I', Tln- cerryingup orlll(' chitdn'n's ryt.';:; is metaphor .-h : ransport (iJ'hrrtrnguni). as me bridging of the distance between earth <lIHJ rnonu and the. transnnnaticn of dead ~ into now:ishment bvwhar Rimbaud called ['(1{'"1""' d1J' £I«k, Unfortunately for Nathaniel, be, like I'l~ father. is an alchemist, unable or unwilling to hear the reassuring advice of'his rnorhcr or me subsequent psvcholcgical admonidocs of~ ~a!h.:llliel'~ fall into aesthetics as the realm of unmastcred figuration 1S alsn a »lrdyingfrorn the laws olnature and fmm buman 'iOCiahility in its

-ilucally centered domestic expression. ,

'I'hrouahcut the nrrcella Nathaniel is surrounded by ..... h:R.L one might l.lil represectsuvcs of the ~thical life, whose fun~cion is ~ ~~~g him b.u::k to n sense of'boundarics, constraints. and his 'fe~POllsibiliues as a

).

member or society Clara and Lotharic play this role most obvio;l.lS..ly, and du so from the beJP.nning of the .!:tory until :irs. tragic cceclcsicn. Tliey are not alone, however; ""lmI1 Nathaaicl ICH1!C$ hj_~ home- fur we Iast time, thinking that he will return one vear hence to find Ius mother and to resume his happy relationship with Chua, he finds that Iris student TodgiIlgi have burnt downnhe alchemlcalfirc ofrhe father figures seems. uncanllily, to have oofLtamlnared the son's hlcJ, and, providentially, movr,!; into a De ..... d~Uin~ directly opposite Spalareani and O.lympia-.~ It is at this paint in the narrative, whCTI Clara is.no lon_gcr physically present fer Nathaniel, that Hclfmarm introduces, quite brusquely, a new character in[oh-ilotwe-a young rnan 1"1-1101 in his lucidity, his ethical demeanor; and common-sense gta"P of m.ality.:is Clara',!! male DopP"giilIger. His. name is Siegmund. The reader first encounters him at-a-crucial juncrure in the text, when Nathaniel, while writing a letter ro Clara, feels compelled In look up from his desk, seize: hill eewly ;,wquirtd telescope, and obSCno1; Olyrnp.ia. Ai. this vcrpmoment Siegmund intervecee and takes Nathaniel away fmm his compulsive vcjeurisric activiry:

Nov. he sat down to finlsh ha .L;tLer T;Q C1~ bUL one gb.w:e through rhe window convrncec him that. OIYUlpia W<15 stillliu..ring u,~, :1ln.d inen instant he !pl"ll.D!I; up, <Ill ifimpcl1lld by :'1.11 ~i.!.liblo: P(JW(;.r [wi ... von 'ffltWl~hbl:ljf':' ~lfIIt gl'tri~b"7i]" ~d~ CO'ppob'~ U"h:~pe; h(' could DOIIrn.r hiirudfu\wy from rae seductive i;!gin of OlympiaJ.WJ.il his friend and f"UQ\I'"WJdcm Sttgmun.d culled him tu rn:mr: 1,0 Profl'!I':WrSpalan;r.ani.'~ Iecrure, {TS II I; DS"57)

The leiirnorivof'rhe TTi.!b or Dmll{<t.ppc.a:rs once again later in rb.e WILe p~.raphlandJreaCb.ei!-jtScubui::n.acin~n;!Oint",,:henNalhani<!I,rrusmm:d at nmbtmgable to see Olympia behind me drawn curtain ofberwindow, "driven by burning desae" (ge~t f1!'iR Sd11U!i.rhl. Wid gliUltlldm! rhlangmJ (TS H2; DS 3-7), flees .into the! countryside, where Olympia's imageblots out all memory of Clara and crases all trares ofpb~c:il/natural n,l131ity_ From a.clinical perspecuce, Nat.hanicl's problem can' be summed up as follllws: when he is accompanied (the French would say m.crIiU("framed"] andkepr under ccmrolby Clar-a, Lcthario, or now Siegmund, me leJLl holds. out tin: JKl:ss:il.:riiity that the preragonisr can be coaxed back to a reasonable view of his ciecumstenoea and reintegrated uno [he community . .But when he escap~ such control; when Id"t to hill own devices, he succumbs to tht: unmediared power of poetic vision, a power !±Jat leads toward final madness.

Siegmund nat only replaces C]W-a.a:; lucid imerprerer of psychological phenomena, but he abo speaks ror the community and for its. sense of

I

I

r

73

dn·ofl.lID. [tift SiEb'1llUUU WOO, after Olympia's "debutante ball," speah ill the name of'the other guests ar mat cvenr and declares:

Wt have come to firld this Ot)'mpi:1 quire uuraruw [Un.! .. I.fl ,w .. e Olimpia 1'Jlfl!{. '!:Ilrimlitlt [llroordm]; we l,\IoOuld Iik~ to have nath.iil~ IQ M- ,"'ith her~ ,r seems m II~ th.1~ she ls only E!cUng Ii.L: <I living creature, and yn there is some .rC<:ISQO fur ellal which we cannot fu.rh_om. {TS u6; DS 42}

Tl1X' uncann,y is ciabclical not just in the sense of aestheric.cranpleaity Ill;9I'1'ath'J.: Irarcings 3nCI unframinga, till':' strange il.nticipaJ.ory mirrorin}! of "Des Uaheimlichet' performed by "Der Sandmann," Freud as Iluffm:!1m.'.!! IJapprJgiingdJ. bur als-o in the ethical sr-nse. Uneaunmcss is a dl~Labiliril1g threat to socia~ [;1CJmlS: and ccrweraicns, as Siegmund i~ the first tc reCQgn~. One of the moot humorous p~:'I-W's in "Der ~anrlm~Jtn" occurs in Hnffmann "s description af the days following the fL' .. elation that Olympia was, afier all, onlya.dell, The consensus.ot'publie opinion is malSpa1:'1n1,ani's nowdismantled artificial creation was "an ultogmber Impusmlssible piece of deception" rIS !'U l. Even members r,l' ~ f\e legal profcssica become involved in the retrospective judging of Spnlauzani, finding his "cllnningly conceived" [ibid.] automaton UU;)Cceprable in !he dl-vinwm~ .of its humen-bur-eot-buman ap_pea.r::mce. \\'1· lind here the same register-ofmoral outrage that obtained in Kamts criucol rcacdon [0 the innkeeper wllo deceived his gue;sc;, imo bt'lie-v-inA rhey had heard rhc ,,"i!l1 of a nightingale" when to fact a yQllrtg boy was rrnita!i[!g We bird's song an a reed or pipe (ry, p.c"lE -+"l). Unlike Kant, howcvce, Hoffmann irnme_! the expression of w~ disapproval with what ruigtll be described 3S!'~the revenge ot the artificial O\'cr the lelll.J The Olympia elise is T101 closed with the mere enunciaricn of a h,n1ih verdict again9:t Spalanzani'e artistic "crime." Hotfmunu concludes. hi~ diaression on the clhi!:aL implications of the aurcmaron's entry into sOt_lj·tywilh ecme cbservauonaon the "derectablemisrrcst of tbe human turm" (TS 121 J that has cow insinuated imclr iotc numy tov.-ru.peopl~, '·wcialiy those.engaged in eourchip.In post-Olympia soci~o/.m~ wish the female objects or their attention tc dance with some irreguJant)l to vawn intermittently rather than sneeze at clockwork intervals, ill short, in rxhibh the imperfection of the human.

Spalanaani has eflccred a properiyuncarmy reversal: rather than eoalnate rbe doll'S beauty by the closeness -of iu resemblance rn the human form. after Spalanaani one is obliged 10 redefine feminine be3uty in tnm~ of its nO"f1-mimeuc relation to thE doll's perlecoou. m Imiraror 'uJ.d .imirated exchange posiricns. and in so dciagineodcce an iW-'ltheLiI:

74

KmJl, Rnmaniit: i'MYl UnkJllllichkit

75

indctermluacy or iA:dJcidolJiliJi inro the communiry's attempts lO vrn"t' ~way {_forttTtibm) the arriticial, to make Olympia and her "progeuuor" mrc ~pegoat<;. Even when bani<;hcd,. Olympialives on as aghust among the II\mg, an obstacle to the fimilityofcthicalln1SOning. \ v iiiclt C311l"On. uol lu:.- only by equating her dismantling wnh the ahsnhu<= absence of death. Hut (he problem, all Hoffinann knows and Freud is repeatedly leaming as he wrires "Das Uabeirnliche," is that an automaton can never die. Perhaps what wccall dearh itselfin ill unJDl:ISlcn:d TW.b- death beyond the individual residing domestically in his or her ethical/social rr:lmC'-~OC1l1nlr1ir. but is nrucrurcdas an eternal/infcmal repcthinn, "- 7euftl!J<rri.l~ rhat would 1:If' das Unhtzmlidz.dr, thai would be the Iesson ofthe uuci.llmy.

If the UJ1CaJIn)l. in its ghostly appearance, can ue provisionally defined as an urrmastercd force which p<I..'lX{"~ between J.Jfc and draw: Olo:;hlug the bcuuelary human ratlennlhy establishes between these two domains, it represents LlMI which. exceeds trio:! control cf'tln- «genu ol'reascn that wili(',h blinds those WflO P03Se~ even t1,c strongest "lenses" with whi'th 10 observe and dassify the world and irs inhabirams. Thus it is uot surprising that even the faithful Siegmund cannot ccruml Narhanlel's (Badness. when lhe (alter discnven t.hat Olympia is an artificial rrrarure: "Strnng though he was, Siegm~d W;J_~ unable to restrain me madman rSugmUJId. .to sUITktt WIT, l1mflf}t:/rkmch(dm ~..,.biiHdigmJ. whocuntinucd lO cry in a fearsome voice 'Spin, puppet, spinl'" (TS UU; DS -Ij). This is lh~ moment in Hoffmann's :<itory which must have been the rnosr fearsome rOT Freud, and tbe most um:anny; in the sense ilial a fictional character posscssinghiscwn prteed qualities - analytical insight, ethical demeanor; the capacity {orruaJe.fri01whip .isncrablerocontrolhis "paticm .... is.not capable of substituting fbr the .. spinning" words QfNaLlwnjel alogicall.ine ofrcasol~thal would reestablish th!! boundaries oflhc real fora young man falling-into madness, The uncanniness is all the more uncannv so LO speak, m that the fictional character &l..JlI:J Ihl' distinguished practitioner of the healing nrts PQSstJl Jm ,J{l1rM Ramt;_, We only difference being that fme fictional Siegmund has all the letters necessary 10 enunciate the 5)'~boli(' value nfFrcud's name: nllmeiy, the man who a-chic,'e.'I victory {SIJ'g) through the mouth (Mund),IThis. of COUl"S(', is the dream of Freud ;.hc psytbQan~y~t to gain victory ~'er the dangerall'J fragmemation of the human mmd, to PUt back together the dismantled psyche, through the powerafthcword, through the "talkingcun.:." 13m Freud's problem in J!)[9,junaghc:is abour tn makcwhae bethinks is an importnnuhecrcrical breakthrough (the disc:m:~ry nft:he repetition compulsion, cl the dam

ill~rillct),just as he is aOOu1.l:O achieve anomer .imellecrual viclOry, is that the cerytextwhich anticipates hi!lc~ay"n~'t L"nhd~licht:"" (and in many "~)~ ;ll~. &ymui thr Plmntn PrmapILJ inscrlbes within its p....ges the final dcfr:n oJ the" analy:,;L hi:; undoing when faced .... fth a mental caDlplr·_ULy "I111 instability that rhreaien Ih(' foundation of his scientific pmj~L

v -I ~IE Ol'T[1l1010S1' I"RAMF.. 11\7>11> '['HI:. 11\.. ... I1!.I.M05T ~RAM£D P111.5U("Mnclly~ nne could conclude that the.mosr st~king result ora close le,lrun~ of "Der Sandmauu" 15 a reversal of narranve frames, whereas Fn-ud sct cur to useHoffrnann's novclla (t~ one exarnph-among ~'T31 nf rlu- uncanny thereby enclosing it within hs mom con~ep~ ~~rk. d". U'XLUal uncanniness of "Ocr Sandmann" consists m anucpeuug inmjzing. and enclosing 'Freud within it~ nwn tll.ll":rngc narrauvc lcgie, rrurrormg him in rhe ligul'l;s of Clam and his eponymous lJoppd.giinlJ!f'l :'=iiq.,'1r,und. Like Da ~url with us rrap-dcors, "Der Sandmann" CDl1~ '~Iim depths bclew depths into 'Which me psychoanalyst ~, C')nlj' to discover a distorted image or himself Then' is, In a general. sense, a "'j 1,1~ion of analogy that obtains bel ..... 'een the defeated would-be victor Siegmund and Sigmund Freud, and dU.s relation. ill thr unconscious level, is at.the origin of the seismic di'lnJl:KioJ'!'" and hesitations. that cIJ:ar.Ii io-rizy "O<'Lc, Unhcimlichr-" as an essay attempting hut not succeeding 10 master its own logical rooveruenr. 8U1 the uncanny link3g~ are not inured La textual generality: thry extend into the realm of'the particular <1-'1_1 Ill, real jntn the real-world roruext in which Freud ~I do w 'n 10 writ!:'" "Das Lnbeimliche," To be mort precise: me problem of victory 11l!1 defi::.ll which c.,merges from a confronuuicn ar"'D;lS Unheimlir:he:' with '·DI'T Sandmann" is al.w the prohkm that haunts Freud in his 1i1(: urrl m the Ianhest margins of'bls IYl9 essay, ar the edges of the frame IIPI encloses hili. rueditaticn on the Wlcanny ..... ilhin lhe G:wmmrll(' Tllrk .. and Lh(' SI(Wwrrf EditWn 3.'1 lhey appear (0 1I~ tulia)., in their bound and ddlriMe lorrns. I refer to the presence, at the end of beth the German ;Inri English volumes within whlcb "Das Unheimliche" appears. of two Il~'l_rnlogic~. (we homages to adherents of thud's new di_~linoC who dit:cl during !Ill" Gn'at 'War, and who are praised for their respective comribuuons to the: emerging Held of psychoanalysis. They are lames J Putnam and Vietor Tausk. They, like Hoffmann', Siegmund, mirror I rt-ud, but from the referential sphere, from an extra-textual area that impinges. uncannilj, on Freud's CS!i::i)' and on his double obsession with learh and with Vl(tlJry:

Krml, Rimumtic 11M_}" UnillimliJW:iJ.

nor. rN.lnmn..dfimM: PUhUIm, T(l1IJk, and r7Wd

The "Oedenkwcrte' ("memorial words") devoted to Putnam and Tausk were conrribured, unsigned, by the editorial committee of the 1n1muJt/ona/c <._tiLrr.hriflfo Pg'€hoatUJ[Ju and Wl"re included ill the fifth volume of that periodical (1919} before br-ing placed at the conduaion or volume x rr of the Gt.JthiilMllc Hlrtr (1917---20) {hl!mtlleT GlII) and volume XVII of the Slmldmri r.Al·fiqn (1917 -I9Xhcmafter .'1£). Putnam and Tausk appear as siruilar-but-diffcrem D;;fIN/gfiJ1l!tr. They are said to have pose-seed (he same essential qualities, as rep.r~l!ntatives of'thc new science ol'psyehuanalysis {they were both compulsive achievers; they were lucid in their analytical insighl; they contributed to the ditlusion Dr psychoanalysis through distinguished public:uiOrlB and fa.i.thful membership in intcrnadcnal organizations), They were" in a .sen;;.<;, brothers in the fahh, separated by g..'o&rr.'Iph), but broug-ht together by a ecrnrnon bdiefin a no-longer ned!:tl.ing discipline. At thl:' same rime, however, the wrilC'r{~J or tIle necrologies make clear that Putnam was the good brother; while Tausk was LlI{' black sheep, In the most general terms, here are tbe differences between the IWO men:

I. Pumamdled a natural death at age 7'1, while Tauskcommiucd wicidc su 'I ~ [m 1919. Freud himself Wall 6il, closer in age to Putnam, cln~r to the time at which one might o.-peCL or fear a natural death).

2. Putnam's career ....... <L'I characterized by a smooth progression. He began as a neurologist, then b...-adl)a.lly embraced the new scirm:::l,.· of psychoanalysm, and became the esteemed president of the "panAmerican psycho-amdytic group" (SE~\IJl. 771}. Tausk's life was a series offits and starts. He W{lS, successively a magistrate in Ro~nia, a journalist in Berlin, an M.D. in Vienrra.aparticipam in the war omhe German side, and finallg a mentally unstable person whose ldlosyaerotic uervosiry was seen &S disruptive at the 1918 Budapest Congress on Psychoanalysis, and as a harbinger ofhis suicide UIlC year later.

3· The word "wurdjgung" appears twice in the homage to Putnam (l?W xu, 315), once io describe the esteem in which he was held by 11I.1J1 colleagues, and another time to foreshadc ..... the appreciation or evaluation of his writings on pS)'Chtl1lnalYli.ilI which would be tontributed soon tu the lnltrnaliootik <:,itnhrfli by Erncstjones. The clarity and richness Drills UlOugl:it, the decisiveness cl'his engagement ill the international movement around Freud, go hand in hand, therefore, with an "unimpeachable character" (SE XV-D, 271). Tausk Wa5 valued

77

for "his straightforwatd character, his honeny Il)1vards himself ~d tolVanis others." but his "passionate r.cmIJerame.nl found expression ill s_h~ and sometimes toe sharp, criticisms" (SE "-'VII 215).. In the rhical balance, Tausk thus falls short of his ~lpwr$ calm and [udicious demeanor

Putnam's homage b shorter than Tausk's, _partly because Janes's i"nnhcominga-a.luation of me former's works renders a <ktailcd discussicn of his ideal! in the: ccmcxr oftht· "Gcdcnkwort" superfluous, and pa:nly because Putnam is pictured as a "man of cne piece," w -hereas the divided [i,c. ~Id) Tausk requires a mtrre sebde, morrdilfen:n.tia.Led, description. ThCTt' is one pMSagc in 'Iausk's necrology which stands OUt ~ p~rlklllarly ~llI»I£;. and which relates uncannily to rhe ccnu-al problematic of "Das Unheimliche" and to the driving narrative (QrCt:: {Trith, Dmng) ofHnnTmmn's novJ.illaas well.Jcermcerus Tcusk's ambition to cornbim- philosophy with psychoanalysis, to }!;i.vc ;-1 phllcsophical grounding 10 p.:.ythcmnalyric observation:

His I 'iuusk',J strong ceed tQ~tahli~h thing'! on a phiLosophlr:al Joundatien and ID adut:'lo"t: episremolcgical clarily compelled him tc Cornwl..,t.:, and seek as .... ell 1'-, master; the whokprofulldity nndccmprehensbe fne.anmgoithevt'r)"d:iffK'"uh I'rubk . .ID.! involved, fuhap~ he' ~tetime~ went inn far in lhi!I direction., in his ~j't1I"·lllllu~ urge for inveuigaUol1 [In Pun 1I1~tiirnm ~l. Perhaps rh_t umr "'"3.SJlOI yet:: ripe-for laying such general fOuDdatioll5a_~ these for me yrllmg science ufps.ydl~y1is. (SExVIJ, 2701; GWXII. :,i(7)

Once again. w-e Find the leirmoriv of the "impetuous urge" with w -hich Freud initiated his essay on lhe uncanny{tlleA11tri~htocxplm-e tue foreign "'rr]IOI)' ofi."csthetics) and which punctuates the entirety or"Der Sandmann. ~ As. reader of the two necrologies, Freud had to wonder whether I :t.: resembled Putnam or Tausk - which i~ to l\a)i nlhn a man or maurIii)" and ripened lnsigfne whose cleaLh, at 72, provided natural closure 10 iii life of manilold scholarly and clhic.a.l conrribudons; sr an individ- 11:11 whose multiple careers, divided. allegiances, premature drive toward theoretical founding or grcuading; and evemual suicide at 42, conjure up a picture ol=incempleteness, ofunredcc.-rnable fragmentation. V:CCWT Tausk, like Hoffrnanu's S,'£'guumd, is named for victory; yet he "achieves" '.Jilly defeat." He is the failed would-be philesopber of psyclIo;ma:lysis. 1111: man guilty I.Jrwh~"l could be called tlIwria~. In this sewer his e, a most uncumfnrtuble Image for Freud LO coraemplare <H the precise moment [he rounder or psychoanalysis ~ ahnut to initiate a complex and cuunter - intuitive new theory - that of the "death instinct." In 1919,

Kmu.~ Romtm.lic im.v.. UNifamlidrkeit

79

Freud had 10 wo~der whether this new theory 'N<L'I destined to "'rUDY the same eventual f~ll~by his disciples as his revolutionary coaceprion 0(' dreams and ~ ground-breaking re-evaluaucn or the s.i.~c-.UI.cr or ~I,ilnru~ .SQCllaJicy w . it::! earlies1. stages. WhaL if the grand Iln- ry of the , rrpetruon compulc:lOD" and the "death instincl" wen.: 1(1 be Jormul::ucd, m '919 and J920, in 3 precipitous manner;' What if Freud was about In go tOO Iar- and act before rhe time \Y3>; ripe ? If this Were the case, he would most certainly resemble the failed non-vicuu Tausk mort' than the successful and mature Putnam. Freud's discomfort t:.Ullld OJ))')' It,,\It' ~~1 txan:rb;itre~ ?y thr- f::u:{ that 'fa.u'ik, in his Fnndrmbrn% in the rep('11110USl1Q;S of his anmature and premerura dri\"eSt in his final suicide, abo rr.rnnbits.lfatiulJlifl, Locking-deep imc the n-ccroJogir:2l;. Freud Lhel'(.rC)Te' finch h.1:rn.wlf, in double form: as a rMlcd arm.l)'llf and 3.'1 a madman.

We krum, from the biographical evidence, that Freud's rt-lation to ~all~1c was delk~~ ... from tln- 11m. ccavchned in its r:!('),'t'lOPI1lCJlt, and highly rmubled III thr- end, In "Freud and thee Sandman .. •· via a. cuncise nl~IDru")' ill' Paul Roaeen's Brolht:r At!ir'IifJ.l: The SfJ)ry qf Fl?Ud (1m! TcUL,ik, 1\:f'1I Hertz addresses UJC i_~up of l'rcud"~ possible guilt feelings vis-a-vis

lib younger colleag re, feehng;; which could ha ... 'e arisen Irom Freurl's

refusal to be Tausk' aualysr, Irem Iris decision {(J entrust the latter's care

to it J~ experienced disciple. Helene Deutsch, who, u "0() happened, was hl.:1Rg analyzed by Freud at the time, A not-so-salubrious situation ensued, wherein Freud' .. sessions with Deutsch were consumed with talk of Tausk, while Deutsch and Tausk mlked about Freud. In the end, Freud con\'ince~ Deutsch to terminate Tausk"s treatment, and it was not Icug t~rea1tcr t.h.1.1 'Iausk ecmmiucd suicide. Roaacn is intrig1u;d by the J'>OSSIblc O'OS5mT.r between Freud's theorcrical ideal! in IC)19 and the real·.life conflict be~TCI) Freud and Tauss. He wonders ~heth~ Tausk mighr have been "acricg our Freud', newest, or rven jusr bartly Ilu~ro1Ung Idea," or whether "the notion ofa death instinct rcpresented another way for Freud to deny any respcu . sibiliry for Tau .. k's situarion. ··I~ .At rh.l!ljunl;t'urc, Herre intervenesjudiciously wiLh the rolluwing observariom

"H~ we know the notion uf a d..:ru:h ins6nn represents oollBidernl..Jy more than Uli;lt m ~t" ecollon~y !lr_"~cud.'~ thQugnt, and WI' mily find iL easier, at I.hi:o pobn,

~°fa~ma~r:;~~.~~;:~~0) like-a n:ducti\ir uuerpreratlcc til break rhe spell nf

At One II,:\'~I. Hc::rtz's comment i$ well taken and of fundamental importance for literary studies . .Roazco's naively Iormulared idea that there could he a direct Crl-usain.:laLinq berwecu a fuel or event in Freud's life

unci a complex thcoreucal statement. is, of course. "reductive" and dan~~'mus, in iliat it establishes :II. 'fimpl(" and CT'1lddy mim~~{" ~nc-lO-[JDeI u~,:;pandcrrcr. between the real and the process ef'theorization- Froud wa- interested In tht: strange uouon of a "death iesdnet"; Taask mc.."\.Imbed to an irnprtuou.s death drive; Froud feh guilry about TaU!>k.·~ death; rhercfbrc rhe TotfrstriJ:b as such derives I"mm Freud's ~ill about T.1U.ik.. Such a. p:;cuOO-s)'llogistic patt:t:m ur"r~asoning" is quite redne-jve- indeed, and in this TT.;&pCCt ouc can only agree with Herta, A1 the »aiuc rime, hcm'C\'tl'j Hone confines oneself'ro !hi:: way in w -hich lhc: rerer'1uiai sphere impinges upou the textual without :5~umbing to the «-mptarion of using Freud's 'Iguilt" as an a1l-encomp~g explanatory foundation, onr: i!:l compelled (1) 10 note rhar tln- nnseullng resemblance (,1 Freud III "Iausk m:imm, in all uncanny ft.W)o1lhe discoratorting reseml ilancc ol Freud ro Nataaniel, and in this sense, das Unlm.'mlidttln its most diabolical form would be the odd. distorted, bill ~pt'II-bmding 4K!m_wrJ. «l' 111,' real into thr- rleptbs of the textual, IL1tboligh Herta is quite conducing in h18 arguruelll.t.golln~l interpretive redncuveness (and nne U. certaiulv inmore secure terriwI'jlj hcrmeucuricallv speaking, with Herta n.1IL wiili Roazeu), IWi desire 10 "break thr- spell" or the "fascinating," '1U\~e\ er admirable in ib ethical intention.. imitates the gesture of conceptual pwi&atioll .... 1th which Freud attempts, repeatedly; to reduoe dJIJ. "·,,Jj,;·mbr/;e [Q a "sub-species' or d(lf Hl'imlifM, \0 bring il bark [0 a clearly delineau-d, rbeorrtically circumscribed haven. We 'will never knew witb .mv degree cf certainty about Ireuds fedings of guihfor lack thereofl ~r '1 .. Isk'~ death; but I am suggesting that the Purnam-Tausk P<U1lt~L til it:' rum1.ion :H fr.UT1 • for "Da!J Ullhdmliche," brings the real perilously ,I lid diebolically elose to Freud's unconscious anxiclia as: reader of"Der S.tl!dmann.·· thereby adding a layer of resonance In whar is already ~ 1,:'X{uaJ rcbo-chamber ofuncomroll a bleuncanny df(l("u.. LI sum: Fn.:ltd 1-"1 (TCI vwhere implicated. everywhere ievolved and inscribed, Everywhere ln- Ir .... ks, he sees hirnsel1; and the mirrors pcim both beyond the texts h,' reads and writes and deep imn them. Both far outside and abysmally ! 1, "P inside, he finds multiple brolh!."..,. a pr:'()C(':lt~iQlI nf real and fictional associates Ircm whom hI: would like to dissociate himself but whose 'spell" cnu'anc .. es rum into an unsettling connivance,

TIlt iJuufllwl/rtJ.mtd: OtdipU5 btJwt IJuuty

()uL.~·ide the borders of "D. ..... Uuhelmliche' ali t.lu:or-etical essay li'Cll the ,,,rritor)' of real-world fraternal resemblance-and-dilfcrence, in the Conn (If the ~iinge1 Putnam and Tausk. Inside {he essay one find .. two

80

sets of brothers as well, Lothario-Nathaniel .. and Siegmund Nalh,«nicl. Lotharioproeides active resistance wXathanie.!'slhreall.'"1)mg\'iolcllcc by savmg Clara rram dcarb. in the tower scencj aud Siegmund Ibrnishes an imellccrually fbrmed, deM'-5ighled. analytical opposition to ~athaniel'$ poeuc ('xcrSSC5 and evcnural rony As I now conclude, l would like to takra final iuterpretiw- step (O\v"'"dId that which, in my 1-'iew, rt''Cidr<: farthest in_~id,. Freud's unseuled ~'ry: ~ the fi~oun' of'Oedipce, OJ personage also accompanied by, a ~, an inlamous 31Jd tragic literary here Whl')SC Iegr-.ndary Irmtory.lll that ol'the deceptively homelike ncn-home-. precisely and terrifyingly the unwckoming realm of me UIICaJ'llI\~

Like rrumy ancient dramas, Sophocles' Oah'fnLr tJu. Aing {c. 4-25 D.C.) ill based UJIIlII wh:ll. in [odoly's terminoJogy; we-would call a "ccreevauce" message: the nrr.r:-sity of countcractinq the faithlessness ol a people. of rrstoring hs belier iu thc prenhccies and oracles of'lhe gods. The [all inro \.mbeli".fhll~ spawned the gods' anger; which manifests itselfin natural rlisasters cf'all kind~1 ill the barrenness oflhc land aud of'its inhabitants. 11 is in, this suuarion or desolation that the play begins. The plot in iL~ unfblding reveals thar Oedipus is the cause of thr-ee cdamlries, and hrwill be the 5C3JK",gQal , .... hose expulsion beyond dlr citv walls ullows for a return to normalcy which means adbereere to n::.liiioll us till": ultimate guarantor of renillty and or polirical and social continuity 111<:: Chorus, with .its collective "I," expresses the problem cogently as il bemoans the current sad stare of affairs (as things stand before Oedipus'>; {'nlt'y into the paradoxical darkness ofblind.self-Iwowkdgc):

~D longer 10 the holy place, to Ihe navel of earth I'D go to hormip, nor to AWe

nor to Olympia,

unl~ the ardCb UP p1"OVI!d to fit, fUf all men's hands w point a.t,

o Zeus. ir~ou:are rightly'Cll!led 1.11(' ~c r <'igu lard. all-mastering,

1\':1 I hL'J nOI escepe you nor)'l'UT cvtr-IMog JlO""'~rl Ihe onrJt:;:S concemirlg .L.:Uw

are old and dim and men regard them net.

Apollo is no-when clear in honour; GOO':s. seviee perishes, (43-<lg)'~

The Chorus's plea j~ for the god of gods, Zeus, to restore Ibl: central pJ:'1C? or rebgton in tllC people by rendering manifest, in plain lnrelligihie SJglls,. the meaning ofhi.>IS prophets' oracular proeouncemeue. ''''hat has been lading onate;; is the kind of sign "for all men's hands LO pciru

at" i,c., a message lhat does run lend hself"tc misinterpretation and to 11lJ11ll~ioll.ln OedljIufJhzCl/IClheleate iwomcmenrs ofspecialbcrrneucutil" intensity. The first cc rs before the- action or the play proper, when (kdipu" deciphersthe riddlf' of the Sphinx, and the second takes place \\ hr-i the protagonist fwally understands the meaning of the "oracles ,', ;IIC aning Laius" and his-owlllragic deeds act hi ... futhCT'S murderer and his mother''! incestuous Spnll~. From the beginning of'the- play Oedipus is an agnostic as far 015. 1I adinoual oracular wisdom is concerned, He flm~ nut give credence (0 what be considers to be Ihl'" superstitious belid:" of csrabli ... hed religion, the pronollflC('mr:nl~ of eeers whe rely upon the r-ntraila ol'anirnals to signal future events in Ull: world. It is precisely 1Il his role as decipherer of riddles that Oedipus opposes himselrro the uadition, in that he UliC".!I only hi~ rta:lOnl hi., rational dear-sigluedness, to dl'li'nv.rr that the animal that walb on four "legs" in the rccrulng; tWO at n~ nut, and three in the evening, is man. His mistaken prcconcepoon, ='I!I rhe drama begins, is [}.~\L lh1.~ same capacity rOT reasonable thought will :lllo\\" him 1'0 di.~to'\l'l:rdllt"~ that will lead to apprehending theman whf»it= , rim!" has polluted the city. As Alain Robbe-Goller wicci1y demonstrated III his experimental novel La Gwnnw ['ThlEror.m-I(1953). Oedipus, beron:; In~ ~i·1t-:rcvclat.iOJlJ is essentially 8 d("u'nl\tf'.

H:lli what gift of irlldligence dee, it take, iu me. to decipher the Sphinx's riddle? .:'{OLSO much reason, that mental capachy which pcrmil~ -m- ro proceed narurally and inevitably frr;un cause to effect, as a kindcf im.urinatiou or }JO('l.k intuition that allows nne 10 ucdersrand rhe nanrre 0: mvcaphorical language in this case. me fact thai me third ·'Ieg" reI; m-d to in the riddle is a cane, a f.-WC, aflificial appendage, at] Anlumg that i-, ;ldde<1 on to the human itoc:i}; that is attached to it cceronymi,.JIy:. rbat resembles It but docs not share tu organic properties. Raiher 1..11 n heed tne resonance Dr signs aI. lite gods' dwelling' in Olympia.. Uedipus is en artificer who.Iikc Spal:rtm;ani.and his creation nfa false doll named Olympia • is possessed cf'the hubris of the scientist, cf'the human whn reaches [QO far in his intellecmal agon 'With the gods. Widrin every l·um!rl-hp scientist, every rational being, wii.h-in ID-'t:ry Sigmund Freud, 111,'1',: resides a pOl:UC gin. which, if taken (00 far or developed bcf{)n!: its time, can lead tar beyond rationnl/thecredcal knowledge and to\'1'<1l"C1 1111- aby~~ ofmadeess

\Vhat is it that Oedipus does nOL kmrw 31 the beginnin,i!; of the pla:y?

Hi, crimes, orcoune, but also. most crucially, his origins. He is a man who 11:.1.."" found his horne prerrmrurr-ly brrnn: his time. He: has made i!.ll unfcrtunare, criminal incursion into a lcrrirory mal is [nOrt: familial'

8,

Kiml, RlJI1ImrtU £nmy, UnhAi11l[i.di/.~il

than his dear consciousness rccegcises, Hi~ ~1giii1lP, Tiresias, the man who is blind bur seo! {whereas Oedipus is the UIl!" who, in lUli initial iII-concej~ rationality, sees but is blind], reveals tu him quite early in the pm<:t'fdings that the man who needs 10 be"; purrehed Col the dry to regain Its beehh is a Th.eban-blU~ako-rore.igncr. a. man who is. wlcilnuil)l both at hcmr- and a .... "ay from home in his ClJTl"('.IlI place:

I rell )'OU, Killg, t.hilI man,. Ihb mwrlerrr,

(whom }"o1] have IOIlJ!! declared you are In scan::h 0(, mdicting him in threatening prodamarion ~mllrdc:rcrQrl..aius) hclshC'rt'.

In narrs- he i~ a :;tr.m~ramollgciti~.Il:; but. soon he will he:' ghown to be ... citiu:n !mr nauve Thehae, and h~'ll have nil joy t,if ~~ di:.c~ry. bl:Wdn{':9!l lOr sight

and bt'R.';d.ry (or rir~~ hi .. Clcl:uUlgt,.

lit' shall &'0 jow-nrritlg' m a fbreign CClWltry mpflil1g his way before Iihn with a snck,

H,p. shajl be proved faln...-r and brerhcr bnh to hi"! own children in 1m hQlI<;(,; tu her

that gave him birrh, a son andhll_'lband both; n tell""" sower in his farhl'r'j. bed

with Ut3t sarne father thilt h~ murdered

Go within, rttkon that our, ;and. if ytm find me mtsraken, sa~' I hin-'l" nQ skill in proplieq'. (so}

The: ~"j (.\\'0 lines of Tircsias's speech establish, with evident iron); a cle:.:tr cli~1tO{omy between lID; "reckoning out" (unriddling) of which Oedipus J.S capable and me art of prophecy; which the unfbrtunaec pml~gonist. unlike hi~ blind imerlocutor. is far- from possessing What Oedipus cannot understand is uncanniness, l;1tItCmlid:ktu. in its v arious diabolical forme 3 50n who is also a fathcr; a mother who is also a Iovcr' a "sowing" , ... Iud, repeats, but In the mode of the unnatural the ,~~ "sowing" thnt begm him; an adopted land (I'he.bes) that is, Jiu fact ;1 ~advc laud (whkh rcp~aca. 11 false native land [Corinth] that turas uut, m ITII:O!!PCC!. to ,hm,- ~~n an adopted land), And underlying all these douhlinge, all LhJ.!l, cornplicared and uaseuling intcrchaIll£t: of curiously related clements, IS one srnnf and haunting derail. Oedipus's imaginerive "discovtry" erthe meaning of the third leg Q8 cane whi-ch allowed him II} escape dcarh in the claws of the Sphinx, .kloflgJ" ~ aproplu& 1(1{ !llld,.,-sttmding at Ilu untU1iS(;fOar ~ in rom, when he ill driven from Thebes. he will "go journeying [0 d foreign country / lapping his way bclo~

hml with a stick," accompanird by his raithfUi daughter Antigone, The rant: whX:.h was nCCl"SS3ry for the solving ct a riddle- \tt'Onhy of i.I. parlor.arne was meant rUT Oedipus himself Man ill(li,,-inllaL The ~TSQn who ~\c.h all answer as noble ::I.!I "man" In the riddle or existence is himself ~ lbje('t I,Q dark 13. w ':- thal exceed his ability to reason, that inscribe his destiny in an eternal wandering

Inc true home ot'Ocdipus is neither Corinth 1I0T Thebes: it is ~JouT11 { ithaW)Il, where he: was abandoned by his parents, .... 11o, fearing the or,ldl\ len their son alone to die. Oedipus' life, hctween Ul(' moment "f" IIi s , rbandoement and his discovery of thr- truth, is a long reprieve, a life-in-death which i~ ghostly, uncanny Tbe reprieve has allowed him to pan ieipate in human actlvhies 10 reign as king, 10 ha ... -e ~dreu. hili his is d. usurped crown and hi~ (lIT I111111:HuraJ pmgen)'i dc:;.b.rtCd. for rcjr-crion by SDdl!lY, [0[. deprivation and eternal exclusion. Antigone can ol1iv :ac('ornpa.n), the blind-but-lucid man as he Il'Ip!l. hi~ Wi1~ pn three ~o'J:p;, toward the. next city.

In conclusion. thee, beneath "Das Unheimliche," "Der Sandmann," nd the theme of blindness/caauauou is OtdipIJS tJu 16ng and the selfblinding or a man whose faith in reason alone ran up against the unranruness of death-in-life, Freud's "Oedipus complex" is 3. cornerstone I'. hi~ theoretical edifice, and, in his cupaciry as theorist. Freud is ill a I'(l .• iuou 10 abstract himself from the human condilion, to Step mom~ntarilv nutside iLS bounds and show wh~1 he believes to be its pS)dlo1o!t1ca1 ,rlHf,: Ih<'!L all of us, as members of families, belong (0, suller from thict "complex .. •· which pIl1\'eS 10 be: a fecundcxplanarory rno~d. At ~e s..~c nme. however, while abour to contribute fanher theoretical inslght uno l!lIm;m behavior - by laying bare the presence of a "repetition .com· »ulsiou" and a "death instinct" - Freud could no longer keep his discrnce, illldftil into the Dr~ and TritJ" that he himself was attempting LO delimit conceptually Reading lhmugh and beyond "Der Sandmann," Freud could only lind hirnsclf., again, back with Oedipus. But this time, 1.Ij the unconscious level, he had [Q identiC), with the G~f;:k tragic hero, it hgun- Wl101C rational abllitiee an!' undone hy uncanniness. and who, hav;11~ round what he thought wa ... his home, waa cu-bemed by final exile. '\,'i."Il, in his O\¥U yea.rs oflli1gLishexlle. Freud would compare bimsell'to Orcdipu.l and his daughter Anna 10 Ancigl;ln{~, 111: experienced more man lin ~TI1al1 pleasure others derive from Iircrary allusion .. ' .. Freud, thl1J'ugh "D.,~ Unbeimliche," "Del" Sandmann," and Oedipus IheKi1lj!"herc evoked OlIIlE"Lhing far more terrifying rhun tll!' mind of a scientific thinker would

ljkr 10 _f.· .. ICC: namely, the fear that the unriddling investigation cf'natnre or human nature LOC itself a pact with the-devil, 8 form of unnatural rueddIing which will call fbrtb the revenge of the supernatural in its most primitive and de .... astauog form in the lifeless barrenness, tJIC Iruirlcss artifice ushered in by the uncann)t that strange bur familiar place where only death is at home.

PART IT

The Romantic heritage and Modernist fiction