“The Sandman” by E.T.A. Hoffmann

the uncanny as an aesthetic category

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.48075/rt.v17i1.30544

Keywords:

Uncanny, E.T.A. Hoffmann, German romanticism, Sigmund Freud

Abstract

This article has the aim of recognizing the motif of the uncanny as a fundamental esthetic category in the romantic movement, especially in “The Sandman” by E.T.A. Hoffmann (1776-1822). The central hypothesis of this work is that the phenomenon of the uncanny, as dealt with in readings of Hoffmann’s text, has been interpreted in a restrictive way by the psychoanalytical tradition. To this end, firstly a tentative characterization of the uncanny as an aesthetic category is proposed; then a general view of this motif in the story “The Sandman” will be presented; in the third part, the psychoanalytic interpretation of the uncanny by Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) in contrast with that proposed by Ernst Jentsch (1867-1919) will be presented; and lastly the task of a poetry of the uncanny will be tackled. The poetic world of the German romantics is characterized by the uncovering of an inner world with decided shades of chiaroscuro, where the literary work tries to reveal what is not always visible.

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Author Biography

Mauricio Mancilla Muñoz, Universidad Austral de Chile - UACh

Licenciado en Filosofía por la Universidad Austral de Chile y Doctor en Filosofía por la Universidad Complutense de Madrid. Desde comienzos de 2001 es profesor del Instituto de Filosofía y actualmente Decano de la Facultad de Filosofía y Humanidades de la Universidad Austral de Chile. Ha sido coeditor de los libros Interfaces viciadas: comunicación visual y otras mediaciones (Sao Pablo, 2008); Ficciones Culturales. Arte pop y taquigrafía de lo social (Caracas, 2012); y ¿Qué sucede en Venezuela? (Caracas, 2019). Asimismo, ha publicado diversos artículos sobre filosofía contemporánea, en especial vinculados a hermenéutica, estudios de género, biopolítica y estudios visuales. Por último, ha participado en diferentes proyectos de investigación en estas áreas.

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Published

28-04-2023

How to Cite

MUÑOZ, M. M. “The Sandman” by E.T.A. Hoffmann: the uncanny as an aesthetic category. Travessias, Cascavel, v. 17, n. 1, p. e30544, 2023. DOI: 10.48075/rt.v17i1.30544. Disponível em: https://saber.unioeste.br/index.php/travessias/article/view/30544. Acesso em: 14 apr. 2025.

Issue

Vol. 17 No. 1 (2023)

Section

[DT] 20 YEARS OF RESEARCH AND TRAINING: GRADUATE PROGRAM IN LETTERS

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