Features of Poe's Short Stories

张蕾

Poe’s representitive short stories

the features of his short stories

the significance

context

• The Black Cat 《黑猫》• The Cask of Amontillado 《一桶阿蒙蒂拉多葡萄酒》• The Fall of the House of Usher 《厄舍府的崩溃》• Ligeia 《丽姬亚》• The Masque of the Red Death 《红死病的面具》• The Murders in the Rue Morgue

《莫尔格街凶杀案》• The Tell-Tale Heart《告密的心》

Poe’s representitive short stories

the features of his short stories

• the gothicism （哥特式） During the whole of a dull, dark, and soundless day in the aut

umn of the year, when the clouds hung oppressively low in the heavens, I had been passing alone, on horseback, through a singularly dreary tract of country...

(The Fall of the House of Usher)

• Poe muses on the images before him, the darkness of the house, the oppressiveness of the clouds above...These bring the reader along as he encounters the gloom and desperation of both the House of the Usher and its inhabitants.

the features of his short stories

•the single effect（单一效果论）The thousands injuries of Fortunato I had borne as I best could, but when he ventured upon insult, I vowed revenge. ... however, that I gave utterance to a threat. ... I must not only punish, but punish with impunity. (The Cask of Amontillado)

Just using a few sentences, Poe describes the illness of the character's psychology, which brings a shocking effect. The readers might feel that there were a old bird in front of them. All of these serve for the final purpose.

the features of his short stories

•the single effect （单一效果论）Poe had developed an aesthetic theory of effect:

"Unity of the effect or impression" is of primary importance; the most effective story is one that can be read at a single sitting. The short story writer should deliberately subordinate everything in the story—characters, incidents, style, and tone—to bringing out of a single, preconcieved effect. In his opinion, the very first sentence ought to help to bring out the "single-effect" of the story. No word should be used that doesn’t contribute to the ’pre-established’design of the work.

the features of his short stories

•first‒person narrativeOne night, returning home,much intoxicated, from one of my haunts about town, I fancied that the cat avioded my presence. I seized him; when, in his fright at my violence, he inflicted a slight wound upon my hand with his teeth. (The Black Cat)

Poe uses the first-person narrative in the story, which makes you feel as if you were there.The description of the horrific scenes gives readers a feeling of creeping.

the features of his short stories

•other feathers of his short shories•death, revenge, crime, dark side of human nature•brief and short•symbolism

the significance• Bernard Shaw once said "There are two great

writers in America: one is Edgar Allan Poe , and the other is Mark Twin.

• His works influence many other modern writers in American Literature, such as Theodore Dreiser, William Faulkner.

• a pioneering aesthetician, psychological investigator, and literary technician

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