Edgar Allan Poe: American Literary Pioneer

1. Edgar Allan Poe1809-1849 American Writer • Tortured genius • master of horror • father of the detective story • literary critic

2. Biography • Father left when he was born, mother died when he was three years old • Adopted, but his adopted mother also died & he had a stormy relationship with adopted father • Married his cousin; lived in Baltimore, NYC, Boston & Philadelphia • Known for legendary drinking binges • Pioneered the Gothic horror story, detective story and was known as a literary critic • Fought w/ other famous American writers • Supposedly died of alcohol poisoning in a gutter in Baltimore

3. Historical Context • The early 19th century was known as “The American Renaissance” in literature • For the first time, American writing moved away from the religious texts of the Puritans and Revolutionary War text • American writers now had a voice of their own • Contemporaries: Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, Walt Whitman, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Herman Melville • Poe was an important contributor: 1st American writer of horror, suspense, and mystery

4. Poe’s Gothic Horror stories • Explores the dark side of human experience • Death, alienation, nightmares, ghosts, haunting, graphic violence and insanity • American Gothic portrays the guilty conscience of a culture plagued by poverty and slavery

5. Poe’s Detective Stories • The word “detective” did not exist in English when Poe was writing • Poe was the first to create detective characters who used psychoanalysis, the powers of reasoning and deduction to catch devious criminals • Poe worked puzzles, word games and secret codes into these stories • His character, C. Auguste Dupin was copied by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who created Sherlock Holmes

6. Poe as Literary Critic • One of America’s first popular literary critics • His literary criticism made him a popular speaker on the lecture circuit • He often attacked many other famous authors of his time • After his death, many writers attempted to ruin his reputation as revenge for criticism

7. Common Themes • Love & Hate—Examined how the two are not opposites, but nearly the same • Self vs. alter-ego—The internal struggles we experience between our different personalities • The Power of the Dead—We often keep the dead alive through memory • Insanity—When faced with conflicts, we are pushed to madness