THE UNCANNY AS THE CREATIVE CATALYST
What happens when the familiar becomes strange? Why can an unsettling experience linger in our imagination—and how might we turn that feeling into creative work? Beginning November 11, join author and psychoanalyst Mikita Brottman, PhD, as we explore the uncanny as a resource for writing, a springboard for creativity,
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and a catalyst for discussion.Over the course of four weeks, we’ll consider how experiences of strangeness can open new possibilities for storytelling, using the uncanny as a starting point for creative exploration. Rather than treating unease as something to resolve or explain away, we’ll approach it as an invitation to curiosity, a way to discover unexpected possibilities in our writing and imagination. Drawing our inspiration from the examples provided by Freud—the horrific concepts of inanimate figures coming to life, severed limbs, ghosts, doppelgangers, mirrors, shadows, guardian spirits, animism, magic, telepathy, death and rebirth—we will consider how to incorporate the uncanny into our creative writing and art.