"È detto Unheimlich tutto ciò che potrebbe restare [...] segreto, nascosto, e che è invece affiorato." (Schelling)

Unheimlich (tradotto in italiano con “Il Perturbante”) include un’ambivalenza di significato, indica ciò che è familiare ed estraneo allo stesso tempo.

"Il perturbante è quella sorta di spaventoso che risale a quanto ci è noto da lungo tempo, a ciò che ci è familiare."(Freud, 1919)

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Unheimlich: “the ‘uncanny’ is that class of the terrifying which leads back to something long known to us, once very familiar (Freud, 1919)

Everything is Unheimlich that ought to have remained secret and hidden but has come to light.

"But it is not only this latter material, offensive as it is to the criticism of the ego, which may be incorporated in the idea of a double. There are also all the unfulfilled but possible futures to which we still like to cling in phantasy, all the strivings of the ego which adverse circumstances have crushed." (Freud, 1919)

The "double"(Doppelganger) has connection with reflections in mirrors, with shadows, guardian spirits, with the belief in the soul and the fear of death.