Unit 2 The Cask of AmontilladoEdgar Allan Poe(1809-1849),高等教育出版社,Contents,About the Author and His Writing Understanding the Text Theme Characterization Language and Writing style Questions for Further Thinking Follow-Up Assignment,About the Author and His Writing,Edgar Allan Poe (1809 1849) : an American poet, novelist, short story writer, essayist, playwright, editor, literary critic and a leading American Romanticist. Best known for his poetry and short stories, particularly his tales of mystery and the macabre, Poe was one of the countrys earliest practitioners of the short story and is generally considered the inventor of the detective fiction genre and is further credited with contributing to the emerging genre of science fiction. He was the first well-known American writer who tried to earn a living through writing alone, but this engaged him into a financially difficult life and career.,About the Author and His Writing,He is one of the first American authors of the 19th century to become more popular in Europe than in the United States and particularly respected in France, in part due to early translations by Charles Baudelaire whose translations became definitive renditions of Poes work throughout Europe.,About the Author and His Writing,As a literary critic, he has the reputation of being a “tomahawk man”. Fellow critic James Russell Lowell called him “the most discriminating, philosophical, and fearless critic upon imaginative works who has written in America”, which suggest rhetorically that he occasionally used prussic acid instead of ink.,Poe in Popular Culture,Many of Poes short stories have been adapted into films , and Poe himself also has appeared as a fictionalized character in the movies , often representing the “mad genius” or “tormented artist” and exploiting his personal struggles. Many such depictions also blend in with characters from his stories, suggesting Poe and his characters share identities.,Poes Death,On October 3, 1849, Poe was found on the streets of Baltimore delirious, he was taken to the Washington Medical College, where he died on Sunday, October 7, 1849. All of his medical records, including his death certificate, have been lost. Newspapers at the time reported Poes death as “congestion of the brain” or “cerebral inflammation”, common euphemisms for deaths from disreputable causes such as alcoholism. But the actual cause of his death remains a mystery.,Poes Well-known Short Stories,“The Murders in the Rue Morgue” “Morella” “The Fall of the House of Usher” “Ligeia” “Metzengerstein” “Berenice ” “The Black Cat” “The cask of Amontillado” “The Mystery of Marie Roget” “The Gold Bug” “The Purloined Letter”,Poes Genre,Poe s best known fiction works are Gothic, a genre he followed to appease the public taste. In his Gothic stories, he first destabilizes the reader by using unreliable narrators: madmen and liars, initially rational men who have their rationalism thoroughly subverted, men who by all commonsensical standards be dead.,Poes Genre,In Poes stories, the source of mystery and anxiety is something that remains inexplicable. Poe tears the Gothic tale out of the rationalist framework it previously inhabited, and he makes it a medium for exploring the irrational, even flirting with the anti-rational. As such, he makes it as central and vital to the Romantic tradition as, say, the lyric poem or the dream play.,Poes Genre,Elements of Gothic novel： Usually set in Medieval times Dark, mysterious, evil tone Dark castles, palaces, chambers, haunted mansions Blood, pain, death, cruelty Eroticism and characters with aberrant psychological states. Events which are uncanny, macabre, or melodramatically violent bordering between reality and unreality These elements always come together to emphasize the sense of evil, to evoke “terror” versus “horror” in the reader because of situations bordering reality/unreality. Sometimes Gothic novel may lack a Medieval setting but will develop an atmosphere of gloom and terror. This kind of novel is often used to teach a message .,Poes Genre,Beyond horror, Poe also wrote satires, humor tales, and hoaxes. For comic effect, he used irony and ludicrous extravagance, often in an attempt to liberate the reader from cultural conformity. He also reinvented science fiction and is recognized as the originator of detective story.,Poes Theme,Most recurring themes : questions of death, including its physical signs, the effects of decomposition, concerns of premature burial, the reanimation of the dead, and mourning. disintegration of the self Other themes: Popular pseudo sciences such as phrenology and physiognomy, which aimed specifically at mass-market tastes. subconscious condition of the mind beneath the surface of normal existence. The deep abyss of the unconscious mental activity of the people.,Poes Literary Theory,Poes literary theory is mainly presented in his essay , such as “The Poetic Principle” and “The Philosophy of Composition”, etc