Colonial and postcolonial uncanny encounters: examining jane eyre and wide sargasso sea

Abstract EN

This paper explores the relation between the uncanny and Empire literature.

It examines how manifestations of the uncanny can be used in colonial and postcolonial contexts.

In order to do that, the paper examines how Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre (1847), a colonial novel, and Jean Rhys's Wide Sargasso Sea (1966), a postcolonial rewriting of Brontë's text, employ the uncanny to promote or subvert colonial ideologies.

The paper relies on Sigmund Freud's concept of the uncanny.

It is divided into two main parts.

The first part briefly outlines the meaning and manifestations of the uncanny as expounded by Freud in his monumental essay “The Uncanny” (1919).

The second part examines how Jane Eyre and Wide Sargasso Sea engage with the uncanny to express conflicting colonial and postcolonial concerns.