«Min grav den er som natten mørk» : om det uhyggelige og traumatiske i Maurits C. Hansens «Novellen» (1827)

Abstract

«My grave it is as dark as the night» – the uncanny and the traumatic in Maurits C. Hansen’s short story «Novellen» (1827). This article is a reading of Maurits C. Hansen’s short story «Novellen» with emphasis on how uncanny aspects are constructed with regard to repetition. Freud’s essay «Das Unheimliche» (1919) is used to investigate how Freud’s notion of the compulsion to repeat can produce feelings of the uncanny. Repetitions are examined on the structural level and on a thematic level. Furthermore, the only woman present in the short story, Miss Sars, is read as being a traumatized subject resisting the inquiring looks and questions of her male investigators, and theories of trauma are used to elaborate on her condition. However, her trauma forces her to lead a repetitive existence that also adds to the uncanny qualities of the text.