Edgar_Allan_Poe------_Early_American_Literature

Edgar Allan Poe------ Early American Literature Edgar Allan Poe is considered to be one of the most gifted writers in early American literature, a master of horror tale and patron saint of detective story, who is best known for his poems, critical reviews and short fiction, which have some unique elements and even have influenced many famous writers after him. He virtually creates the detective story and perfects the psychological thriller. In a word, he has contributed a lot to American literature and has had a worldwide influence on literature. As a matter of fact, Poe’s life was full of twists and turns. He was born in Boston, Jan. 19.1809, died on Oct. 7 1849 in Baltimore. In his early years, deserted by his father and orphaned by his mother, he lived a difficulty life and died only at age of 40. But he was a prolific writer who had written 70 stories and 30 poems in all his life. Even today the literary legacy he left still was very popular and much enjoyed. Poe’s works and his theory of “pure poetry” were early recognized especially in France, where he inspired Jules Verne. In American, Emerson called him “the jingle man”. Poe’s influence is seen in many other modern writers, as in Junichiro Tanizaki’s early stories and Kobo Abe’s novels or more clearly in the development of the 19th century detective novel. In fact, Poe shows special preference to some themes relating to the weird and the supernatural in his works. In his supernatural fiction, Poe usually deals with paranoia rooted in personal psychology, physical or mental enfeeblement without bothering himself with such supernatural beings as ghost, vampires and so on. He plays much attention to analyzing people’s psychological activity, especial the inner conflict. William Wilson, one of his famous stories, is a typical example that can reflect this kind of struggle. The author plays two roles, in other words, there are two William Wilsons in this story, who have the same names, same interesting but one is the evil incarnation, while the other stands for the good incarnation. With the development of the plot, the fierce one and the good one continue conflicting with each other. But in the end the evil one defeated the kind one, while at the same time it also ruin. In other words both are destroyed. From Poe’s point of view, the sin is human’s nature, which’s deeply rooted in human mind and nothing can change it. Some people try their best to overcome the evil, but it’s invalid for them to vanquish it because it coexists with human. He is good at describing people’s inner mind. As a result, Poe is considered to be the forerunner of modern psychological novelist. When reading Poe’s stories and poems, writers can get a deep impression that death is a predominant theme in Poe’s works. To him everything is dead: the house, the rooms, and the furniture. In other words the world depicted by Poe is a dead world, which is full of mysterious and terrible atmosphere. In fact Poe himself is much interested in the mysterious and baffling aspects of human consciousness incipient madness. So most of his characters seem to be morbid and obsessed. The main character in William Wilson is a typical example. Poe is the originator of modern science fiction. One of his tales “Mellonta Taunta”(1840) describes a future society ---an anti-utopia, in which Poe satirizes his own times. However Poe is not concerned with any specific science concept but mostly explores different realities, one of the concerns of science fiction ever since. Moreover Poe is also one of the most prolific literary journalists in American history. Generally speaking, Poe is always exploring themes, which are as diverse as spirituality astronomy, science and depravity. So his writing is so powerful and arresting even today. And his slashing reviews and sensational tales make him widely known as an author. Poe is a very significant writer in early American literature, who influence many other writers after him not only in the writing style but also in the themes. In a word his status in the history of American literature, even the world literature, is indisputable.