Uncanny Love: Schelling’s Meditations on the Spirit World

• Main Author: Laurie Johnson
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Katholieke Universiteit Leuven 2010-08-01
• Series: Image and Narrative : Online Magazine of the Visual Narrative
• Subjects: Freud, Mourning, Schelling, Uncanny
• Online Access: http://www.imageandnarrative.be/index.php/imagenarrative/article/view/93

<p align="left"> </p><p><strong><span style="font-size: small;">Abstract (E): </span></strong><span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times New Roman; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times New Roman; font-size: small;">This essay analyses a little-known fragment which Schelling wrote shortly after his wife Caroline’s death, entitled </span></span><em><span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times New Roman; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times New Roman; font-size: small;">Clara: Or, on Nature's Connection to the Spirit World </span></span></em><span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times New Roman; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times New Roman; font-size: small;">(1810-1811), in which Schelling deploys several themes that Freud will identify as uncanny, including animism, omnipotence of thoughts and man’s attitude toward death. Although it nominally participates in a contemporary discussion about clairvoyance and immortality, the fragment focuses far more on the commemoration and representation of the dead, and the uncanny re-insertion of the dead into the everyday of the living. The hypothesis maintained here is that </span></span><em><span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times New Roman; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times New Roman; font-size: small;">Clara </span></span></em><span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times New Roman; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times New Roman; font-size: small;">can be read as a legitimate part of Schelling’s philosophy rather than as only an ode to Caroline, and hence also as a meaningful contribution to Romantic thought and to the historical trajectory of the uncanny. </span></span></p><strong><span style="font-size: small;"><strong><font size="3"><p>Abstract (F):</p></font></strong></span><p> </p></strong><span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times New Roman; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times New Roman; font-size: small;">Le présent article analyse un fragment peu connu de Schelling écrit juste après la mort de sa femme Caroline. Intitulé « Clara ou le rattachement de la Nature au Monde de l’Esprit » (1810-1811), ce texte explore un certain nombre de thèmes que Freud va interpréter comme typiques de l’inquiétante étrangeté : l’animisme, la toute-puissance de la pensée et l’attitude l’homme face à la mort. Alors que ce texte ne semble pas s’éloigner de discussions contemporaines sur la voyance et l’immortalité, ses véritables thèmes sont la commémoration et la représentation des morts, puis l’insertion des morts dans le quotidien des vivants. L’article défend l’hypothèse que « Clara » ne doit pas être lu comme une ode à Caroline mais comme un véritable fragment de la philosophie de Schelling, c’est-à-dire comme une contribution significative de la pensée romantique à l’histoire du concept d’inquiétante étrangeté. </span></span>