THE UNCANNY IMP: AN ANALYSIS OF FREUD’S UNCANNY IN EDGAR ALLAN POE’S THE IMP OF THE PERVERSE AND WILLIAM WILSON

Abstract

This article discusses Edgar Allan Poe’s The Imp of the Perverse and William Wilson in the light of Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalytical concepts, particularly that of the uncanny. Both tales explore aspects of the human psyche which would later be explained in Freud’s ground-breaking work. The first part of the text explores the dialogue between literature and the Freudian concept of the uncanny. Next, the concept is applied to a reading of Poe’s The Imp of The Perverse , a short story in which Poe presents his own theory of the segmented nature of the human mind. In the third part the concepts of perverseness and of the uncanny help us shed light on Poe’s William Wilson , one of the world’s most celebrated Gothic doppelganger tales. The interpretive readings and the parallels drawn reinforce the dialogue between the fictional work of the American short story writer and Freud’s revolutionary ideas that laid the foundations of modern psychology.