Retrospective Poe: The Master, His Readership, His Legacy

Description

This book analyzes a range of Edgar Allan Poe’s writing, focusing on new readings that engage with classical and (post)modern studies of his work and the troubling literary relationship that he had with T.S. Eliot. Whilst the book examines Poe’s influence in Spain, and how his figure has been marketed to young and adult Spanish reading audiences, it also explores the profound impact that Poe had on other audiences, such as in America, Greece, and Japan, from the nineteenth to the twenty-first century. The essays attest to Poe’s well-deserved reputation, his worldwide legacy, and his continued presence in global literature. This book will appeal particularly to university teachers, Poe scholars, graduate students, and general readers interested in Poe’s oeuvre. Acknowledgments Contents Notes on Contributors List of Figures Introduction: Re-assessing Poe’s Seductive Art References Part I: Poe’s Echoes of the Classical World and his Current Legacy Chapter 1: “The Glory that was Greece and the Grandeur that was Rome”: Edgar Allan Poe and the Classical World A Classical Education Poetry “Tamerlane” (1827) “Romance” (1827) “Sonnet—To Science” (1829) “To-- --” (1829) “To Helen” (1831) “Israfel” (1831) “Irenë” or “The Sleeper” (1831) “The Valley of Nis” or “The Valley of Unrest” (1831) “A Pæan” (1831) “Enigma” (1833) “Serenade” (1833) “The Coliseum” (1833) “Sonnet to Zante” (1836) “Dream-Land” (1844) “The Raven” (1845) “Eulalie” (1845) “Ulalume” (1847) “To Helen (Whitman)” (1848) Prose Works “The Assignation” (1834) “Berenice” (1835) “Shadow—A Parable” (1835) “Ligeia” (1838) “Siope” (1838) The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym (1838) “The Conversation of Eiros and Charmion” (1839) “Eleonora” (1841) “The Colloquy of Monos and Una” (1841) “Eureka” (1848) “Mellonta Tauta” (1849) “The Fall of the House of Usher” (1839) Conclusion References Chapter 2: Poe’s Arrival in Europe and the Case of Greece Translations of Poe’s Storytelling in Europe The Greek Ambassador of Poe Conclusion References Chapter 3: “Darkness There and Nothing More”: Edgar Allan Poe and the Popular Culture of Necrolatry and Thanatography The Anxiety of Loss: Necrolatry in Nineteenth-Century American Society The Birth of Photography and Postmortem Thanatography Poe’s Traumatic Experience of Death during Childhood and Adulthood Poe’s Relationship with his Reading Public and Popular Taste Poe’s Sublimation of the Fetishistic Synecdoche: “Berenice” and “Ligeia” “The House of Usher” or the Fetishistic Objectification of the “Face of the Tenant” Conclusion References Part II: Poe and Modernism Chapter 4: Poe Among the Modernists: A (Ghostly) Reappraisal Poe, Master of the French The Modernist Critique: Pound and Eliot T.S. Eliot and Poe: The Poet as Craftsman “Art for Art’s Sake”: The Poem per se and the Transcendental Hermeneutic of Poetic Unity Romantic Epistemology and the Ideal Artist of Unified Sensibility Breaking the Unity of the World: Crime References Chapter 5: Poe: Poeta Ludens Introduction: Maturity and Craftsmanship Brahmins/Quacks Stabilizing the Safety Net vs. Manipulating Hierarchies Conclusion: The Irreverent Revolutions of Poe’s Magnetic Oeuvre References Chapter 6: “Poe’s Poetics and Eliot’s Poetry: A Denial of Influence?” Introduction Poe’s Troublesome Legacy Conclusion References Chapter 7: Echoes of Poe in the Jazz Age: The Haunting of F. Scott Fitzgerald Introduction “William Wilson” and the Spatial Configuration of Identity Adolescent Identities in “A Short Trip Home” Social Theater and Costume Thresholds Conclusion References Part III: Poe’s Readership in Spain Chapter 8: Beyond Baudelaire’s Views of Poe: Carlos Fernández Cuenca and Josep Farrán i Mayoral, Literary Criticism, and Aesthetic Reception in 1930s and 1940s Spain Introduction Carlos Fernández Cuenca: An Early Example of Understanding Poe in Spain Poe as a Painter-Poet: Farrán i Mayoral’s Reflections Conclusions References Chapter 9: Reading, Understanding, and Praising Poe’s Illustrated Oeuvre: From Childhood to Old Age Children Leaf through It Adolescents Read It Grown Men Understand It Old Men Praise It Conclusion References Chapter 10: Poe’s “Berenice” in Popular Culture: Contemporary (Audio)visual Representations in Spain Introduction The Illustrations of “Berenice” in Spain: A Female Point of View “Berenice” in the Comics Genre: The Case of Vampirella and Creepy “Berenice” on the Screen: An Analysis of Chicho Ibáñez Serrador’s “El Trapero” Conclusions References Part IV: Poe’s Long and Far-Reaching Legacy Chapter 11: Death, Doubt, and Poe’s Global Ascendancy Science, Religion, and Fear of Death Three Troubling Texts Poe’s Anticipation of our Culture of Fear References Chapter 12: Distance Makes the Heart Grow Fonder: Nostalgia and Poe’s American Readership Nostalgia, the Word and Its History Nostalgia in the Time of Poe Nostalgia and Poe’s Later Reputation and Reception Conclusion References Chapter 13: Poe’s “The Gold-Bug,” Reading, and Race Young Readers, Youth Education, and Magazines for Children “Average Racism” in “The Gold-Bug” The Canterbury Classics Edition of The Gold Bug Postscript Appendix 1 References Chapter 14: Growing up in Poe’s Shadow: Intertextuality, Jungian Projections, and the Anxiety of Influence in Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Murders in the Rue Morgue” and Stephen King’s “The Monkey” Introduction The Symbolic Lineage of the Ape: In Poe’s Footsteps Poe’s Tale as a Source of Metatextuality and the Anxiety of Influence Mirror Scenes and Doubles: Completion and Antithesis Awakening into Sexuality and the Creative Drive: Repetition and Discontinuity Facing Poe’s Shadow: Purgation and Solipsism Conclusion References Chapter 15: “The Masque of the Red Death” in Literature and Cinema: Poe’s Short Story and Corman’s Film Adaptation Introduction Corman’s Filmography Corman’s Film Adaptation of “The Masque of the Red Death” Contrast between the Written Original Tale and the Film Adaptation Space Time Actors Conclusions References Chapter 16: The Man of the Crowd and His Descendants: Poe, Rampo, and Sakate From Edogawa Rampo to Sakate Yoji The Attic as a Detective Meta-Fiction The Shifting Spectacle of Tokyo: Rampo, Abe, and Sakate Conclusion: The Paradox of Modernism References Index