The Uncanny Between the Past and the Present
The Uncanny Between the Past and the Present
Yara Abdel Bassir
In Western literature, the uncanny has been used all through the centuries from the medieval ages to modern and postmodern times. Uncanny’s literal meaning seems to point at the description of supernatural, metaphysical or abnormal phenomena. It may also connote the unknown, threatening danger behind closed doors. The interest in the uncanny and unnatural in literary works has developed in the west, in spite of their great scientific discoveries. However, its role in any work of art differs according to both time and culture. As for the Middle Ages, Sir Thomas Malory’s La Morte D’Arthur is a good example to reflect the medieval Western culture and the use of the uncanny in that particular historical phase. Similarly, H.G. Well’s Time Machine and Hollywood’s famous series of movies X-Men represent the role of the uncanny in the modern and postmodern ages. These examples highlight the similarities and dissimilarities between the uncanny in the Western past and present.
The cultural background has a great effect on establishing the uncanny concept in medieval, modern and postmodern times. In the case of the Western medieval ages, the Crusades enriched the literary life of England as well as the whole mentality of medieval Christendom. Consequently, this helped in spreading new literary genres such as the romance. At that time, romance was much concerned with a super-hero knight who faces uncanny creatures and is trying to save people from danger. At that time, the uncanny happenings and creatures were associated with religious concepts and beliefs, due to the strict religious status of the time. Moreover, they were interested in knighthood, sorcery and myths. On the other hand, the modern ages are considered the ages of scientific approaches such as electronic inventions and scientific experiments. However, in the case of post-modern ages, they are even more connected to Hi-Tech and telecommunications and genetic engineering. However, in spite of all these approaches, the uncanny concept has dominated most of the Western works of art including novels and movies.
To trace the similarities and differences between the use of the uncanny concept in medieval, modern and postmodern ages, some significant examples are to be presented. As for the Middle Ages, Sir Thomas Malory’s La Morte D’Arthur stands as a good example to represent the use of the uncanny concept. This story narrates the adventures of King Arthur and his knights of the round table from the day he was chosen to be the king of England. In these adventures he meets uncanny, evil creatures and defeats them to save his people from their outstanding danger. This superhuman strength reveals that knighthood is presented in opposition to the uncanny evil creatures. In other words, greatly strong knights and extremely evil creatures are two faces of the same coin, which is the uncanny. In addition, in medieval literature the uncanny represents the undercurrent whereas religion is depicted as the mainstream. The uncanny is portrayed as a religious miracle, as in the miracle of pulling the sword out of the marble stone Malory’s romance. On the other hand, H.G. Wells’ Time Machine and Hollywood’s X-Men clarify the differences and similarities between the medieval and modern uncanny. In relation to Time Machine, the main theme of its story is based on curiosity of searching for the “great triumph of Humanity” in the future by traveling in a time machine. The theme of masculinity and bravery of the savior are common in both ages. It is clear, however, that in the modern works of art, scientific progress and technology are presented as the main theme, while religion does not take part in the story. Similarly, X-Men (as a postmodern example) mainly tackles the idea of genetically modified human beings with extremely weird, metaphysical and supernatural abilities. These uncanny, super human beings play the role of the saviours of their country from the evil other.
The surrounding environment in both ages supplies those uncanny creatures’ different forms, features and looks according to the time’s beliefs and concerns. For example, in La Morte D’Arthur, it discusses the people’s belief in the existence of invisible knights such as Knight Garlon. Furthermore, monsters and ugly giants, as bigger-than-life creatures, take part in bloody scenes. For example, there is a “marvelous giant” who had eaten all the people of the country and kidnapped the Duchess of Brittany. On the other hand, H.G. Wells’ uncanny creatures, who are embodied in the so-called Morlocks, are described as “solitary white”, “ape-like”, and “chinless” creatures who have abnormal, “grayish-red”, “large”, “bright” and “lidless” eyes. In case of the X-Men, they are genetically modified human beings who are called “mutants”. From the main mutants of these movies are Wolverine and Storm. Wolverine, for instance, is a more modern form for the mythical Werewolf, in the sense that he has claws in both fists and heightened animal senses. For Storm, her powers are more related to mental actions rather than physical. She has the ability of manipulating different weather elements including rain, fog, lightening and wind. Another difference between the medieval and modern uncanny is that sometimes the uncanny creatures have normal human looks and may act as saviors like the mutants, but in medieval times uncanny creatures were always evil and cruel as the marvelous giant in King Arthur’s adventures.
To sum up, this essay traces the development of the uncanny in works of art and literature from the medieval to the post-modern times and passing through the early modern ages. This development can be traced according to the cultural background of these ages, the themes of these works and the forms of the uncanny creatures and happenings. These traces reveal some similarities as well as differences between the three ages. Finally, these differences between the ages in terms of their depiction of the uncanny create a lot of questions about the nature of the uncanny in the future. How will these uncanny creatures look like? Will the theme be religious or secular? Will the story have scientific bases or political ones? Will it resemble the past or the present? Questions will keep popping up till future answers each on
Yara Abdel Bassir
In Western literature, the uncanny has been used all through the centuries from the medieval ages to modern and postmodern times. Uncanny’s literal meaning seems to point at the description of supernatural, metaphysical or abnormal phenomena. It may also connote the unknown, threatening danger behind closed doors. The interest in the uncanny and unnatural in literary works has developed in the west, in spite of their great scientific discoveries. However, its role in any work of art differs according to both time and culture. As for the Middle Ages, Sir Thomas Malory’s La Morte D’Arthur is a good example to reflect the medieval Western culture and the use of the uncanny in that particular historical phase. Similarly, H.G. Well’s Time Machine and Hollywood’s famous series of movies X-Men represent the role of the uncanny in the modern and postmodern ages. These examples highlight the similarities and dissimilarities between the uncanny in the Western past and present.
The cultural background has a great effect on establishing the uncanny concept in medieval, modern and postmodern times. In the case of the Western medieval ages, the Crusades enriched the literary life of England as well as the whole mentality of medieval Christendom. Consequently, this helped in spreading new literary genres such as the romance. At that time, romance was much concerned with a super-hero knight who faces uncanny creatures and is trying to save people from danger. At that time, the uncanny happenings and creatures were associated with religious concepts and beliefs, due to the strict religious status of the time. Moreover, they were interested in knighthood, sorcery and myths. On the other hand, the modern ages are considered the ages of scientific approaches such as electronic inventions and scientific experiments. However, in the case of post-modern ages, they are even more connected to Hi-Tech and telecommunications and genetic engineering. However, in spite of all these approaches, the uncanny concept has dominated most of the Western works of art including novels and movies.
To trace the similarities and differences between the use of the uncanny concept in medieval, modern and postmodern ages, some significant examples are to be presented. As for the Middle Ages, Sir Thomas Malory’s La Morte D’Arthur stands as a good example to represent the use of the uncanny concept. This story narrates the adventures of King Arthur and his knights of the round table from the day he was chosen to be the king of England. In these adventures he meets uncanny, evil creatures and defeats them to save his people from their outstanding danger. This superhuman strength reveals that knighthood is presented in opposition to the uncanny evil creatures. In other words, greatly strong knights and extremely evil creatures are two faces of the same coin, which is the uncanny. In addition, in medieval literature the uncanny represents the undercurrent whereas religion is depicted as the mainstream. The uncanny is portrayed as a religious miracle, as in the miracle of pulling the sword out of the marble stone Malory’s romance. On the other hand, H.G. Wells’ Time Machine and Hollywood’s X-Men clarify the differences and similarities between the medieval and modern uncanny. In relation to Time Machine, the main theme of its story is based on curiosity of searching for the “great triumph of Humanity” in the future by traveling in a time machine. The theme of masculinity and bravery of the savior are common in both ages. It is clear, however, that in the modern works of art, scientific progress and technology are presented as the main theme, while religion does not take part in the story. Similarly, X-Men (as a postmodern example) mainly tackles the idea of genetically modified human beings with extremely weird, metaphysical and supernatural abilities. These uncanny, super human beings play the role of the saviours of their country from the evil other.
The surrounding environment in both ages supplies those uncanny creatures’ different forms, features and looks according to the time’s beliefs and concerns. For example, in La Morte D’Arthur, it discusses the people’s belief in the existence of invisible knights such as Knight Garlon. Furthermore, monsters and ugly giants, as bigger-than-life creatures, take part in bloody scenes. For example, there is a “marvelous giant” who had eaten all the people of the country and kidnapped the Duchess of Brittany. On the other hand, H.G. Wells’ uncanny creatures, who are embodied in the so-called Morlocks, are described as “solitary white”, “ape-like”, and “chinless” creatures who have abnormal, “grayish-red”, “large”, “bright” and “lidless” eyes. In case of the X-Men, they are genetically modified human beings who are called “mutants”. From the main mutants of these movies are Wolverine and Storm. Wolverine, for instance, is a more modern form for the mythical Werewolf, in the sense that he has claws in both fists and heightened animal senses. For Storm, her powers are more related to mental actions rather than physical. She has the ability of manipulating different weather elements including rain, fog, lightening and wind. Another difference between the medieval and modern uncanny is that sometimes the uncanny creatures have normal human looks and may act as saviors like the mutants, but in medieval times uncanny creatures were always evil and cruel as the marvelous giant in King Arthur’s adventures.
To sum up, this essay traces the development of the uncanny in works of art and literature from the medieval to the post-modern times and passing through the early modern ages. This development can be traced according to the cultural background of these ages, the themes of these works and the forms of the uncanny creatures and happenings. These traces reveal some similarities as well as differences between the three ages. Finally, these differences between the ages in terms of their depiction of the uncanny create a lot of questions about the nature of the uncanny in the future. How will these uncanny creatures look like? Will the theme be religious or secular? Will the story have scientific bases or political ones? Will it resemble the past or the present? Questions will keep popping up till future answers each on
posted by Happy-Go-Lucky @ 10:40 PM
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