The Uncanny House in Elizabeth Bowen’s Fiction

The book focuses on the uncanny in the domestic space of Elizabeth Bowens fiction. Providing a psychoanalytic reading of selected works it aims to examine the image of the house in Bowens prose and to analyse its uncanniness in relation to the characters identity. In her book, Olena Lytovka focuses on an important aspect of Elizabeth Bowens fiction the motif of the uncanny house. By applying the Freudian notion of the unheimlich to the analysis of selected novels and short stories, Lytovka demonstrates how the traumatic experience of loss is mirrored in the characters perception of the domestic space as uncanny. The uncanny, she argues, is a reflection of the psychological condition of the perceiving mind in the state of crisis rather than the quality of the space. This insightful and well-researched study is a valuable contribution to Bowen criticism and will be relevant to literary scholars and students alike. (Anna Kdra-Kardela, Maria Curie-Skodowska University in Lublin)