Repository | Book | Chapter
(2011) Phenomenologies of the stranger, New York, Fordham University Press.
The uncanny strangeness of maternal election
Levinas and Kristeva on parental passion
Kelly Oliver
pp. 196-212
In his essay “The Uncanny,” Sigmund Freud describes the uncanny as what is concealed and frightening in the familiar and agreeable or vice versa.¹ He moves from discussing animated dolls, the Sandman’s fear of losing his eyes as castration anxiety, doubles and mirrors, fear of death, dear of the dark, to the mother’s body. In general, he attributes uncanny sensations to castration anxiety (whether from seeing the mother’s “castrated sex” or as symbolically represented by pecked out eyes) and the return, or repetition, of repressed childhood fears or desires.
Publication details
Full citation:
Oliver, K. (2011)., The uncanny strangeness of maternal election: Levinas and Kristeva on parental passion, in R. Kearney & K. Semonovitch (eds.), Phenomenologies of the stranger, New York, Fordham University Press, pp. 196-212.
This document is unfortunately not available for download at the moment.