On this course we will read some classic ghost stories from M.R. James, Rudyard Kipling, Edith Wharton and others. Ghost stories achieve some of their effects through the presence of the strange within the familiar, or the eruption of the past in the present (the return of the repressed), which Sigmund Freud termed the uncanny. We will explore Freud’s essay ‘The Uncanny’ and use this psychoanalytic concept to think about
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In this online course we will explore Freud’s notion of the uncanny and how it relates to ghost stories. Freud theorised that an uncanny effect was produced by a number of factors, such as recurrence (the return of the repressed), the presence of the strange (the unheimlich or unhomely) in the familiar (the homely), and the ‘omnipotence of thoughts’ (a form of magical thinking where what one wishes appears to shape reality).
We will discuss how these psychoanalytic factors contribute to the uncanny in a diverse range of ghost stories. Motley gloves begin to appear in an isolated country house; a young Polish scholar working in an Italian archive becomes obsessed with a 16th-century woman named Medea da Carpi; an American couple buy a haunted house in Dorset whose ghost can only be apprehended ‘long afterward’; a Cambridge academic finds a bronze whistle in a ruined building belonging to the Knights Templar…
What will we cover?
We will read a wide range of Victorian and Edwardian ghost stories on this course, as well as ETA Hoffmann’s uncanny classic ‘The Sandman’, which Freud discusses in his essay.
Week 2. M.R. James: ‘Oh, Whistle, and I'll Come to You, My Lad’ (1904) and ‘A Warning to the Curious’ (1925; short stories)
Week 3: Vernon Lee, ‘Amour Dure’ (novella, 1887)
Week 4. Rudyard Kipling: ‘They’ (1904) and ‘A Madonna of the Trenches’ (1924; short stories)
Week 5: Edith Wharton, ‘Afterward’ (1910) and ‘Kerfol’ (1916; short stories)
Week 6: Mary Butts, ‘With and Without Buttons’ (1938) and May Sinclair, ‘The Intercessor’ (1911)
What will I achieve? By the end of this course you should be able to...
Appreciate some of the key writers of ghost stories and their work.
Understand Sigmund Freud’s notion of the uncanny and its role in ghost stories.
Grasp the historical context in which these ghost stories were written.
What level is the course and do I need any particular skills?
This course is open to anyone interested in ghost stories; you do not need to have read any of these writers before or have any prior knowledge of Freud’s work.
How will I be taught, and will there be any work outside the class?
This course combines tutor presentations with class discussion, small-group work that focuses on specific issues and close reading.
Are there any other costs? Is there anything I need to bring?
The tutor will provide electronic versions of all the texts. Unfortunately, there’s no one book that includes all or even some of the stories we will read on this course.
When I've finished, what course can I do next?
For other courses in the literature programme, please go to www.citylit.ac.uk Culture, history, humanities/literature.
Dr Jake Poller has taught in the English department at Queen Mary University of London for over ten years. He has published many peer-reviewed articles and chapters in edited collections - most recently a chapter on Aldous Huxley for The British Novel of Ideas (CUP, 2024). He is the author of three books, including critical biographies of Aldous Huxley and Christopher Isherwood for Reaktion Books.
Please note: We reserve the right to change our tutors from those advertised. This happens rarely, but if it does, we are unable to refund fees due to this. Our tutors may have different teaching styles; however we guarantee a consistent quality of teaching in all our courses.
product
https://www.citylit.ac.uk/ghost-stories-and-the-uncanny2744882Ghost Stories and the Uncannyhttps://www.citylit.ac.uk/media/catalog/category/fiction-1024.jpg149149GBPInStock/Courses/Courses/Culture, history & humanities/Courses/Culture, history & humanities/Literature/Courses/Culture, history & humanities/Literature/Fiction/Courses/Halloween Courses/Courses/Online courses2285117711871188170117311228511771187<p>On this course we will read some classic ghost stories from M.R. James, Rudyard Kipling, Edith Wharton and others. Ghost stories achieve some of their effects through the presence of the strange within the familiar, or the eruption of the past in the present (the return of the repressed), which Sigmund Freud termed the uncanny. We will explore Freud’s essay ‘The Uncanny’ and use this psychoanalytic concept to think about the ghost stories we read. </p><p> </p>003081544Ghost Stories and the Uncanny149149https://www.citylit.ac.uk/media/catalog/category/fiction-1024.jpgInStockEveningMonOnlineAvailable courses5-10 weeksWeekday2027-02-08T00:00:00+00:00Beginners, Some experience, Advanced, Suitable for allFeb 2027Culture, history & humanitiesHLT393149149Ghost Stories and the Uncanny14997149Jake Pollerghost-stories-and-the-uncanny/hlt393-2627<p>On this course we will read some classic ghost stories from M.R. James, Rudyard Kipling, Edith Wharton and others. Ghost stories achieve some of their effects through the presence of the strange within the familiar, or the eruption of the past in the present (the return of the repressed), which Sigmund Freud termed the uncanny. We will explore Freud’s essay ‘The Uncanny’ and use this psychoanalytic concept to think about the ghost stories we read. </p><p> </p>0000-Available|2027-02-08 00:00:00<p>In this online course we will explore Freud’s notion of the uncanny and how it relates to ghost stories. Freud theorised that an uncanny effect was produced by a number of factors, such as recurrence (the return of the repressed), the presence of the strange (the <em>unheimlich</em> or unhomely) in the familiar (the homely), and the ‘omnipotence of thoughts’ (a form of magical thinking where what one wishes appears to shape reality).</p><p>We will discuss how these psychoanalytic factors contribute to the uncanny in a diverse range of ghost stories. Motley gloves begin to appear in an isolated country house; a young Polish scholar working in an Italian archive becomes obsessed with a 16th-century woman named Medea da Carpi; an American couple buy a haunted house in Dorset whose ghost can only be apprehended ‘long afterward’; a Cambridge academic finds a bronze whistle in a ruined building belonging to the Knights Templar…</p><p>On this course we will read some classic ghost stories from M.R. James, Rudyard Kipling, Edith Wharton and others. Ghost stories achieve some of their effects through the presence of the strange within the familiar, or the eruption of the past in the present (the return of the repressed), which Sigmund Freud termed the uncanny. We will explore Freud’s essay ‘The Uncanny’ and use this psychoanalytic concept to think about the ghost stories we read. </p><p> </p><p>We will read a wide range of Victorian and Edwardian ghost stories on this course, as well as ETA Hoffmann’s uncanny classic ‘The Sandman’, which Freud discusses in his essay.</p><p>Week 1. E.T.A. Hoffmann, ‘The Sandman’ (short story, 1817) and Sigmund Freud, ‘The Uncanny’ (essay, 1919). </p><p>Week 2. M.R. James: ‘Oh, Whistle, and I'll Come to You, My Lad’ (1904) and ‘A Warning to the Curious’ (1925; short stories)</p><p>Week 3: Vernon Lee, ‘Amour Dure’ (novella, 1887) </p><p>Week 4. Rudyard Kipling: ‘They’ (1904) and ‘A Madonna of the Trenches’ (1924; short stories) </p><p>Week 5: Edith Wharton, ‘Afterward’ (1910) and ‘Kerfol’ (1916; short stories)</p><p>Week 6: Mary Butts, ‘With and Without Buttons’ (1938) and May Sinclair, ‘The Intercessor’ (1911)</p><ul><li>Appreciate some of the key writers of ghost stories and their work.</li><li>Understand Sigmund Freud’s notion of the uncanny and its role in ghost stories.</li><li>Grasp the historical context in which these ghost stories were written. </li></ul><p>This course is open to anyone interested in ghost stories; you do not need to have read any of these writers before or have any prior knowledge of Freud’s work. </p><p> </p><p>This course combines tutor presentations with class discussion, small-group work that focuses on specific issues and close reading.</p><p> </p><p>The tutor will provide electronic versions of all the texts. Unfortunately, there’s no one book that includes all or even some of the stories we will read on this course.</p><p>For other courses in the literature programme, please go to www.citylit.ac.uk Culture, history, humanities/literature.</p>LiteratureFictionvirtual14914997HLT393NONEMon08/02/27 - 15/03/2718:00 - 19:3018:0019:306 sessions (over 6 weeks)65-10 weeksEveningWeekdayOnlineOnlineJake PollerBeginners, Some experience, Advanced, Suitable for allAvailable courses2027-02-08T00:00:00+00:00Feb 2027Culture, history & humanities149149Ghost Stories and the Uncannyghost-stories-and-the-uncanny/hlt393-2627<p>On this course we will read some classic ghost stories from M.R. James, Rudyard Kipling, Edith Wharton and others. Ghost stories achieve some of their effects through the presence of the strange within the familiar, or the eruption of the past in the present (the return of the repressed), which Sigmund Freud termed the uncanny. We will explore Freud’s essay ‘The Uncanny’ and use this psychoanalytic concept to think about the ghost stories we read. </p><p> </p>0000-Available|2027-02-08 00:00:00<p>In this online course we will explore Freud’s notion of the uncanny and how it relates to ghost stories. Freud theorised that an uncanny effect was produced by a number of factors, such as recurrence (the return of the repressed), the presence of the strange (the <em>unheimlich</em> or unhomely) in the familiar (the homely), and the ‘omnipotence of thoughts’ (a form of magical thinking where what one wishes appears to shape reality).</p><p>We will discuss how these psychoanalytic factors contribute to the uncanny in a diverse range of ghost stories. Motley gloves begin to appear in an isolated country house; a young Polish scholar working in an Italian archive becomes obsessed with a 16th-century woman named Medea da Carpi; an American couple buy a haunted house in Dorset whose ghost can only be apprehended ‘long afterward’; a Cambridge academic finds a bronze whistle in a ruined building belonging to the Knights Templar…</p><p>On this course we will read some classic ghost stories from M.R. James, Rudyard Kipling, Edith Wharton and others. Ghost stories achieve some of their effects through the presence of the strange within the familiar, or the eruption of the past in the present (the return of the repressed), which Sigmund Freud termed the uncanny. We will explore Freud’s essay ‘The Uncanny’ and use this psychoanalytic concept to think about the ghost stories we read. </p><p> </p><p>We will read a wide range of Victorian and Edwardian ghost stories on this course, as well as ETA Hoffmann’s uncanny classic ‘The Sandman’, which Freud discusses in his essay.</p><p>Week 1. E.T.A. Hoffmann, ‘The Sandman’ (short story, 1817) and Sigmund Freud, ‘The Uncanny’ (essay, 1919). </p><p>Week 2. M.R. James: ‘Oh, Whistle, and I'll Come to You, My Lad’ (1904) and ‘A Warning to the Curious’ (1925; short stories)</p><p>Week 3: Vernon Lee, ‘Amour Dure’ (novella, 1887) </p><p>Week 4. Rudyard Kipling: ‘They’ (1904) and ‘A Madonna of the Trenches’ (1924; short stories) </p><p>Week 5: Edith Wharton, ‘Afterward’ (1910) and ‘Kerfol’ (1916; short stories)</p><p>Week 6: Mary Butts, ‘With and Without Buttons’ (1938) and May Sinclair, ‘The Intercessor’ (1911)</p><ul><li>Appreciate some of the key writers of ghost stories and their work.</li><li>Understand Sigmund Freud’s notion of the uncanny and its role in ghost stories.</li><li>Grasp the historical context in which these ghost stories were written. </li></ul><p>This course is open to anyone interested in ghost stories; you do not need to have read any of these writers before or have any prior knowledge of Freud’s work. </p><p> </p><p>This course combines tutor presentations with class discussion, small-group work that focuses on specific issues and close reading.</p><p> </p><p>The tutor will provide electronic versions of all the texts. Unfortunately, there’s no one book that includes all or even some of the stories we will read on this course.</p><p>For other courses in the literature programme, please go to www.citylit.ac.uk Culture, history, humanities/literature.</p>LiteratureFictionconfigurable
11881187Fictionhttps://www.citylit.ac.uk/courses/humanities/literature/fiction1/2/285/1177/1187/11881/Courses/Culture, history & humanities/Literature/Fiction
