The Uncanny In The North London Book Of The Dead
‘The North London Book of the Dead’ is a comic story about the vital and dead sides of London written by Will Self in 1991. The story begins with the death of the narrator’s mother, after that he experiences depression and hallucinations of her. Suddenly, he see his dead mother alive. The uncanniness of this story lies in the nature of the term ”uncanny”. There are great number of definitions exist that are used for explaining the word. The term came from German ‘Unheimlich’, the antonym to Heimlich “familiar… belonging to home” (Freud, 1919, p.2). One of the definitions that was given by Freud (1919, p.2) ‘’the uncanny would always be that in which one does not know where one is, as it were''. It is not lust a combination of familiar and
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unfamiliar, but also a cognitive dissonance. One of the clearest descriptions of the uncanny effect was given by Royle (2003) “it is a peculiar commingling of familiar and unfamiliar” (p.1). For instance, the equality of the images of mother before death and the after. It seems that the most clear uncanny effect appears when the narrator met his dead mother and was invited for the afternoon tea.
The story is full of details that force to trust everything what happened in the plot.
From the whole beginning of the story, seems ordinary till the moment of the mothers’ death, especially the rapid transformation of the body “Mother, was changing color from an old ivory to a luminous yellow” (p.2). For a while the corpse seemed unfamiliar to the narrator as an “alien” (p. 2). Thus, the combination of natural phenomena as death and the actions that happened to the mother’s body creates an conception of ”alienation” or strangeness, that impute in familiar context (Royle, 2003, p.1). The death seems to be natural ending of the life, when in story it appears as supernatural, as beginning of something …show more content…
else.
The uncanny means to show what was kept from sight. “When you die you move to other part of London” (p.11) In this phrase the uncanny nature revealed in the clear way. Thus, the existence of the dead society was familiar is that area, but hidden from all common society of London.
The uncanny nature stands on possible combination of familiar phenomena in unfamiliar context or unfamiliar phenomena in familiar context, exactly what is in the text.
Crouch Hill is the absolutely mundane street in London and the appearance of the dead character definitely creates a cognitive dissonance, especially if the character seems to be natural. When the narrator meets his mother, who wore tweedish jacket, “carrying the … book bag“ and large plastic “Waitrose bag” (p.6) as she used to being alive. “Mother tended to wear Africa-style dresses, she always carried a miscellaneous collection of bags” (p.5). Self created am image of narrator’s mother in common days, that would appear each time when the mother will be mentioned. And the uncanny effect, which appeared with alive mother very strong because of combination of walking dead mother with familiar mother image. This effect created also with the common actions placed in unfamiliar context. For instance, afternoon tea with the dead Mother. In traditional understanding, the dead do not have physiological need as consuming the food, but that Mother
has.
Mothers’ speech sound absolutely familiar to the narrator “her accent as the same” (p.7), so it could easily defined that mother is real before Mother replied to son’s questions “I’m dead”. No one denies that the mother is dead, and that she is alive in the same way, what creates a feeling of uncertainty.
The uncanny effect based on the combination of the ordinary and unordinary events and phenomena. In that way the mixture of unfamiliar arisen in completely familiar context as afternoon tea with dead mother or her appearance in the ordinary street. “The North London Book of the Dead” reveals the real nature of the uncanny, because it is built possibly on one of the most important aspects of the uncanniness.
Self, W. (1991). The North London Book of the Dead in the Quantity Theory of Insanity. London: Bloomsbury.
Royle, N. (2003). The Uncanny. Manchester university press.
Freud S. (1919) The Uncanny. Sammlung: Fünfte Folge
unfamiliar, but also a cognitive dissonance. One of the clearest descriptions of the uncanny effect was given by Royle (2003) “it is a peculiar commingling of familiar and unfamiliar” (p.1). For instance, the equality of the images of mother before death and the after. It seems that the most clear uncanny effect appears when the narrator met his dead mother and was invited for the afternoon tea.
The story is full of details that force to trust everything what happened in the plot.
From the whole beginning of the story, seems ordinary till the moment of the mothers’ death, especially the rapid transformation of the body “Mother, was changing color from an old ivory to a luminous yellow” (p.2). For a while the corpse seemed unfamiliar to the narrator as an “alien” (p. 2). Thus, the combination of natural phenomena as death and the actions that happened to the mother’s body creates an conception of ”alienation” or strangeness, that impute in familiar context (Royle, 2003, p.1). The death seems to be natural ending of the life, when in story it appears as supernatural, as beginning of something …show more content…
else.
The uncanny means to show what was kept from sight. “When you die you move to other part of London” (p.11) In this phrase the uncanny nature revealed in the clear way. Thus, the existence of the dead society was familiar is that area, but hidden from all common society of London.
The uncanny nature stands on possible combination of familiar phenomena in unfamiliar context or unfamiliar phenomena in familiar context, exactly what is in the text.
Crouch Hill is the absolutely mundane street in London and the appearance of the dead character definitely creates a cognitive dissonance, especially if the character seems to be natural. When the narrator meets his mother, who wore tweedish jacket, “carrying the … book bag“ and large plastic “Waitrose bag” (p.6) as she used to being alive. “Mother tended to wear Africa-style dresses, she always carried a miscellaneous collection of bags” (p.5). Self created am image of narrator’s mother in common days, that would appear each time when the mother will be mentioned. And the uncanny effect, which appeared with alive mother very strong because of combination of walking dead mother with familiar mother image. This effect created also with the common actions placed in unfamiliar context. For instance, afternoon tea with the dead Mother. In traditional understanding, the dead do not have physiological need as consuming the food, but that Mother
has.
Mothers’ speech sound absolutely familiar to the narrator “her accent as the same” (p.7), so it could easily defined that mother is real before Mother replied to son’s questions “I’m dead”. No one denies that the mother is dead, and that she is alive in the same way, what creates a feeling of uncertainty.
The uncanny effect based on the combination of the ordinary and unordinary events and phenomena. In that way the mixture of unfamiliar arisen in completely familiar context as afternoon tea with dead mother or her appearance in the ordinary street. “The North London Book of the Dead” reveals the real nature of the uncanny, because it is built possibly on one of the most important aspects of the uncanniness.
Self, W. (1991). The North London Book of the Dead in the Quantity Theory of Insanity. London: Bloomsbury.
Royle, N. (2003). The Uncanny. Manchester university press.
Freud S. (1919) The Uncanny. Sammlung: Fünfte Folge