Freud, the Uncanny, and Ellroy: Appropriating the Uncanny to Literature

Abstract

One unsolved murder, two autobiographies, and a curse that compels to love women: the L.A. born James Ellroy is obsessed by women, most notably his mother. Originally noticed by Sigmund Freud and interpreted by Nicholas Royle, the uncanny as a literary phenomenon brings to light 'what out to have remained hidden' about Ellroy's self-inflicted curse and what it has to do with his authorship. This thesis explores through Ellroy's autobiographical work and a selection of interviews he has given over the course of 1984 to 2010 to what extent the uncanny contributes to the appropriation of biography from psychoanalysis to literature. Ellroy's work shows the productivity of the uncanny in autobiography and crime fiction as they share themes such as the double, vision, the ghostly, and the split Self.