The Unconcept

Masschelein (literary theory and cultural studies, Catholic U. of Leuven, Belgium) explores the place of unease and discomfort, as described by Sigmund Freud, in the literature and literary theory during the twilight of the 20th century. She covers the position of the uncanny in Freud's oeuvre, preliminaries to concept formation, tying the knot: the conceptualization of the uncanny, and the uncanny as a late-20th-century concept. Among her conclusions is that the sense of imperfection and human frailty that has infused the concept of the uncanny has paradoxically also made it particularly well suited to the post-human, emptied subject of theory. Annotation 穢2011 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)