Abstract
More than any other geographical imaginary, gothic Europe looms large in American writer Edgar Allan Poe’s short fiction. Although Poe (1809-1849) never set foot in continental Europe, several of his most prominent stories take place in European cities and landscapes. While clearly linked in theme and motifs to the works of Horace Walpole, Ann Radcliffe, and Matthew Lewis, Poe’s imaginary Europe is steeped in centuries-long traditions of dark exoticism and sophisticated grotesqueries ranging from murderous family feuds (“Metzengerstein”), aristocratic decadence (“Ligeia”), torture and oppression (“The Pit and the Pendulum”), plagues and carnivals (“The Mask of the Red Death” and “The Cask of Amontillado”) to the labyrinthine cityscapes of the Dupin murder mysteries set in Paris. As a counter-image to antebellum USA and the pronounced anti-European strain in American letters of that time, Poe’s gothic Europe harbors combustible energies rooted in deep histories. Where other American writers celebrated the newness and democratic foundation of their nation, Poe explored imaginary, multilingual Europe as a place where esoteric knowledge and aristocratic power produce madness, “morbid melancholy, and hereditary ill-health” (Poe “Metzengerstein” 87). This paper focuses on the way Poe positions continental Europe epistemologically on a history-saturated knowledge/power continuum that challenges the anti-historical nature-veneration of American romanticism.
Presenters
Kirsten MøllegaardProfessor, English, University of Hawai'i at Hilo, Hawaii, United States
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
KEYWORDS
Edgar Allan Poe, Gothic, Europe, American Romanticism, Madness
