The Uncanny

The Uncanny Glossary

psychoanalysis

a therapeutic theory and practice which tries to get to the root of mental problems by investigating them as symptoms of unconscious aspects of the human mind.

uncanny

strange, disturbing, unsettling

aesthetics

A mode of philosophical inquiry that focuses on art and especially on the faculty of taste or the judgment of beauty

affective

of or relating to the emotions

nucleus

center or core

semantic

something that pertains to meaning in written, spoken, or pictured language

linguistic

of or relating to the study of language

heimlich

a German adjective that means "familiar, friendly, domestic," but also "hidden, dangerous, forbidding."

privy councillor

an advisor to a head of state, usually a monarch, prince, duke, count, etc.

inanimate

not moving, not alive.

epileptic

suffering from epilepsy, an illness whose symptoms include fits of involuntary motion

automaton

a machine that moves of its own volition, especially in imitation of a human being

ego

in psychoanalytic theory, the conscious mind. From the Latin word for "I"

narcissism

an excessive or obsessive focus on the self. In psychoanalysis, one of the main stages of infancy.

demons

malicious, inhuman entities or forces

doppelgänger

A German word for "double," a double of a living person. The word originates from the German author Jean Paul, a contemporary of E.T.A. Hoffmann's.

painted woman

a woman wearing makeup; euphemism for prostitute

omnipotence

unlimited, total power

animistic

The belief that inanimate objects have souls

repression

A psychic process of suppressing and forgetting a feeling and making it unconscious

psychic

Of or relating to the mind, as opposed to the physical

ideational

of or relating to the formation of ideas, images in the mind

surmounted

overcome, in Freud's usage roughly analogous to repression or burying something

paramount

most, primary, supreme

lex talionis

the law of retaliation; "an eye for an eye."

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