The Female Thermometer: 18th-Century Culture and the Invention of the Uncanny by Terry Castle

When I read the introduction, I had almost decided that I didn't want to read the rest, because Terry Castle declares herself an avowed Freudian, and I have a terrible contempt for all things Freudian and have no interest in reading hundreds of pages about the symbolism of something being inserted into something else. But I found Castle's writing style so engaging that I decided to go on, and I'm so glad I did. I didn't read all of the essays in this volume (it's actually a collection of essays rather than a book), because I am not familiar with all of the novels she focusses on, but the ones I read were fantastic. They are very accessible, beautifully structured and convincingly argued. The main premise around which the book revolves is the application of Freud's theory of repression on history, with particular focus on the 'rationality' and Enlightenment of the eighteenth century. So actually not very much on things being inserted into other things at all. In my opinion, some of the best essays have to do with material culture (such as the eponymous 'female thermometer' and phantasmagorical magic lantern shows). It's a pity that someone clearly so intelligent should feel the need to write sentences like 'My own ongoing obsession with the eighteenth-century "uncanny" is no doubt the result of a host of submerged emotional impulses – some of them embarrassingly personal.' Really, I don't think a critic needs to justify and humiliate herself that way by the (always humiliating) subjection of herself to Freudian theory. I don't feel the need to excuse my own interest in the 'uncanny'. Anyways, I think that for the most part, this is a wonderful book full of original and creative theories.