A Descent into Edgar Allan Poe and His Works: The Bicentennial

171 Pages·2010·3.878 MB·English

by  Beatriz González Moreno, Margarita Rigal Aragón

G
o
n
Today Edgar Allan Poe is a well-known and highly regarded author. When, zá A Descent into
le
a hundred years ago (1909), a group of Poe acquaintances, fans and scholars z
M
got together at the University of Virginia to commemorate Poe’s birth
o
centenary, they had to do so in order to modify the persistent misstatements re Edgar Allan Poe and
n
of his earlier biographers, and to correct the unsettled judgment of his liter- o
&
ary rank. R His Works:
Now, in 2009, many Poe fans and scholars are gathering together once more ig
a
to honour Poe on the second centenary of his birth. Different types of events l A
(theatrical and musical performances, book auctions, etc.) and academic ra The Bicentennial
g
conferences have been celebrated on both sides of the Atlantic, acclaiming ó
n
Poe’s literary rank again. This volume brings together a wide range of (
e
d
scholars with varied critical approaches and succeeds in shedding new light s
)
on E. A. Poe on the occasion of his Bicentenary. The book is organized into A Beatriz González Moreno & Margarita Rigal Aragón (eds)
three principal sections; the fi rst part focuses on the reception of Poe in Great D
e
Britain, France, and Spain; the second revisits some of Poe’s main legacies, s
c
e
such as his stories of detection, the Gothic, and Science Fiction; and the third n
t
deals with the aesthetic quality of his narratives and also offers an analysis in
t
of his work integrating Text Linguistics within the broader study of social o
E
discourses. d
g
a
r
A
lla
Beatriz González Moreno is Associate Professor at the University of n
P
Castilla-La Mancha in Spain. Her main fi eld of research is the analysis of the o
e
aesthetic categories in the Romantic period, focusing on the relevance of the a
n
sublime in relation to traditional beauty. On that subject, she has published d
H
a book, Lo sublime, lo gótico y lo romántico: la experiencia estética en el is
romanticismo inglés, and articles on the issue of gender and the sublime, W
o
focusing on female characters which defy traditional aesthetics and catego- r
k
s
rization. : T
h
Margarita Rigal Aragón is Associate Professor at the University of Castilla- e B
La Mancha in Spain. Her main fi eld of research is the American Renaissance, ic
e
focusing on Edgar Allan Poe’s works. On that subject, she has published a nt
e
book, entitled Aspectos estructurales y temáticos recurrentes en la narrativa n
n
breve de Edgar Allan Poe as well as articles and chapters focusing on Poe’s ia
l
works, life and reception, the Victorian Age, and the detective genre.
P
e
ISBN 978-3-0343-0089-6 t
e
r
L
a
n
g Peter Lang
www.peterlang.com
G
o
n
Today Edgar Allan Poe is a well-known and highly regarded author. When, zá A Descent into
le
a hundred years ago (1909), a group of Poe acquaintances, fans and scholars z
M
got together at the University of Virginia to commemorate Poe’s birth
o
centenary, they had to do so in order to modify the persistent misstatements re Edgar Allan Poe and
n
of his earlier biographers, and to correct the unsettled judgment of his liter- o
&
ary rank. R His Works:
Now, in 2009, many Poe fans and scholars are gathering together once more ig
a
to honour Poe on the second centenary of his birth. Different types of events l A
(theatrical and musical performances, book auctions, etc.) and academic ra The Bicentennial
g
conferences have been celebrated on both sides of the Atlantic, acclaiming ó
n
Poe’s literary rank again. This volume brings together a wide range of (
e
d
scholars with varied critical approaches and succeeds in shedding new light s
)
on E. A. Poe on the occasion of his Bicentenary. The book is organized into A Beatriz González Moreno & Margarita Rigal Aragón (eds)
three principal sections; the fi rst part focuses on the reception of Poe in Great D
e
Britain, France, and Spain; the second revisits some of Poe’s main legacies, s
c
e
such as his stories of detection, the Gothic, and Science Fiction; and the third n
t
deals with the aesthetic quality of his narratives and also offers an analysis in
t
of his work integrating Text Linguistics within the broader study of social o
E
discourses. d
g
a
r
A
lla
Beatriz González Moreno is Associate Professor at the University of n
P
Castilla-La Mancha in Spain. Her main fi eld of research is the analysis of the o
e
aesthetic categories in the Romantic period, focusing on the relevance of the a
n
sublime in relation to traditional beauty. On that subject, she has published d
H
a book, Lo sublime, lo gótico y lo romántico: la experiencia estética en el is
romanticismo inglés, and articles on the issue of gender and the sublime, W
o
focusing on female characters which defy traditional aesthetics and catego- r
k
s
rization. : T
h
Margarita Rigal Aragón is Associate Professor at the University of Castilla- e B
La Mancha in Spain. Her main fi eld of research is the American Renaissance, ic
e
focusing on Edgar Allan Poe’s works. On that subject, she has published a nt
e
book, entitled Aspectos estructurales y temáticos recurrentes en la narrativa n
n
breve de Edgar Allan Poe as well as articles and chapters focusing on Poe’s ia
l
works, life and reception, the Victorian Age, and the detective genre.
P
e
t
e
r
L
a
n
g Peter Lang
A Descent into Edgar Allan Poe
and His Works: The Bicentennial

Beatriz González Moreno &
Margarita Rigal Aragón (eds)
A Descent into Edgar Allan Poe
and His Works: The Bicentennial
PETER LANG
Bern · Berlin · Bruxelles · Frankfurt am Main · New York · Oxford · Wien
BBiibblliiooggrraapphhiicc iinnffoorrmmaattiioonn ppuubblliisshheedd bbyy DDiiee DDeeuuttsscchhee NNaattiioonnaallbbiibblliiootthheekk
Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche
Nationalbibliografi e; detailed bibliographic data is available on the Internet
at ‹http://dnb.d-nb.de›.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data: A catalogue record for
this book is available from The British Library, Great Britain
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A descent into Edgar Allan Poe and his works : the bicentennial /
Beatriz González Moreno & Margarita Rigal Aragón (eds).
p. cm.

1. Poe, Edgar Allan, 1809-1849–Anniversaries, etc. 2. Poe, Edgar Allan,
1809-1849–Appreciation. 3. Poe, Edgar Allan, 1809-1849–Infl uence.
4. Poe, Edgar Allan, 1809-1849–Criticism and interpretation.
I. González Moreno, Beatriz. II. Rigal Aragón, Margarita.
PS2635.D47 2010
818‘.309–dc22
2009037346
Cover Illustration: © Ethan Finkelstein, from istockphoto.com
Cover design: Thomas Jaberg, Peter Lang AG
ISBN 978-3-0351-0072-3
© Peter Lang AG, International Academic Publishers, Bern 2010
Hochfeldstrasse 32, CH-3012 Bern, Switzerland
[email protected], www.peterlang.com, www.peterlang.net
All rights reserved.
All parts of this publication are protected by copyright.
Any utilisation outside the strict limits of the copyright law, without the
permission of the publisher, is forbidden and liable to prosecution.
This applies in particular to reproductions, translations, microfi lming,
and storage and processing in electronic retrieval systems.
Printed in Switzerland
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments vii
List of Illustrations ix
Preface xv
PART ONE PARALLEL LIVES: READING POE
Fernando Galván
Poe versus Dickens: an Ambiguous Relationship 3
Sonya Isaak
Edgar Allan Poe and Charles Baudelaire:
The Artist as the Elite Victim 25
Ricardo Marín-Ruiz
Two Romanticisms but the Same Feeling:
The Presence of Poe in Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer’s Leyendas 35
PART TWO POE’S LEGACIES:
DETECTIVES, THE GOTHIC, AND SCIENCE FICTION
Margarita Rigal-Aragón
The Thousand-and-Second Dupin of Edgar A. Poe 47
Beatriz González-Moreno
Approaching the Dupin-Holmes (or Poe-Doyle) Controversy 59
PL_gonzl_rigal_FM_i-xiv.indd v 11/16/09 3:27:49 PM
vi Table of Contents
Ángel Mateos-Aparicio Martín-Albo
“The Horrors Are Not To Be Denied”:
The Infl uence of Edgar A. Poe on Ray Bradbury 79
PART THREE POE, AESTHETICS AND THE
USE OF LANGUAGE
Santiago Rodríguez Guerrero-Strachan
Poe’s Poetry: Melancholy and the Picturesque 97
Eduardo de Gregorio-Godeo
Functions and Values of Description, Metaphorical Image
and Comparison in “Ligeia”: a Discursive-Rhetorical Study 107
PART FOUR EPILOGUE
José Antonio Gurpegui
John Allan versus Edgar Allan, or Poe’s Early Years 125
PART FIVE CHRONOLOGY
Ángel Galdón-Rodríguez 139
Chronology
Notes on Contributors 151
PL_gonzl_rigal_FM_i-xiv.indd vi 11/16/09 3:27:50 PM
Acknowledgements
We would like to highly acknowledge the generous contribution of the
Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (ref. FFI2009-05813-E),
the Junta de Comunidades de Castilla-La Mancha (ref. AEB_1561/09),
the University of Castilla-La Mancha and the Ayuntamiento de Albacete,
without whose fi nancial aid this book would not have seen the light of day.
Our deepest gratitude goes to the scholars who have unfailingly encour-
aged us in developing this project and given us thoughtful ideas: to Fernando
Galván, Juan Bravo, and Antonio Ballesteros, who have infl uenced our thin-
king in more ways than we can adequately trace; to Scott Peeples, Barbara
Cantalupo and Richard Fusco, whose long dedication and tireless work on
E. A. Poe have been a source of inspiration. We also want to thank our co-
workers at Peter Lang for their enthusiasm, especially to Katrin Forrer and
Daniela Christen for making things easier for us.
Finally, our most lengthy debt is to our husbands, to whom we dedi-
cate this volume, as well as to my brother (Beatriz’s) and to my son
(Margarita’s), who have nurtured and supported us at the various stages of
the “descent” that has led to this publication.
PL_gonzl_rigal_FM_i-xiv.indd vii 2/1/10 8:27:35 PM
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