'The Fall of the House of Usher' and the Architecture of Unreliability

Details

Serval ID
serval:BIB_F1AD2C80EA08
Type
A part of a book
Publication sub-type
Chapter: chapter ou part
Collection
Publications
Institution
Title
'The Fall of the House of Usher' and the Architecture of Unreliability
Title of the book
The Oxford Handbook to Edgar Allan Poe
Author(s)
Soltysik Monnet Agnieszka
Publisher
Oxford University Press
Publication state
Published
Issued date
01/07/2018
Peer-reviewed
Oui
Editor
Kennedy J. Gerald, Peeples Scott
Language
english
Abstract
This chapter examines what many scholars consider the most accomplished and representative of Poe’s tales, “The Fall of the House of Usher.” Starting with a summary of the main axes of interpretation in the story’s reception history, I proceed to an analysis of the tale’s main narrative strategy – one that I argue is prototypical of Poe’s narrative technique in his short fiction in general – namely, the unreliable narrator. Linking this device to the unstable architectonics of the house in the story, the chapter argues that the unreliability of the narrator lies at the heart of the text’s ability to choreograph active reader participation and pleasure. The chapter will also historicize the specific kind of unreliable narrators that Poe favors – those lacking a moral conscience or ethically-informed perception – within the paradoxes of antebellum culture. In doing so, the essay intends to demonstrate how combining formal and historical considerations is the most effective way to apprehend both the affective and cultural dimensions of Poe’s work.
Keywords
Edgar Allan Poe, conscience, slavery, narrator, antebellum, unreliable narrator
Create date
05/08/2018 17:18
Last modification date
21/08/2019 6:18
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