Fables of Mind: An Inquiry Into Poe's FictionThis revisionist study of Poe's fiction concentrates on works generally neglected by Poe critics. Operating in reverse chronological order, Joan Dayan begins with a close reading of Poe's Eureka, subtitled "Essay on the Material and Spiritual Universe" and uses this cosmology to examine Poe's method in creating his fiction. This "unreadable" work, she argues, best exemplifies that method, for in his work, the bizarre, apparently nonsensical, and the most stylistically jarring lapses are the truest exercises of his fiction-making powers. In Eureka, Poe alternates between the roles of skeptic and believer, and the very question of cognition--not what we see, but how we see--comes to dominate his work. Fables of Mind makes the unprecedented argument that the issue of convertability--of the material universe, of the landscape, of the identity of woman--is the key to Poe's thought and the plot of his fiction. |
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Page 207
... Lackobreath's soliloquies in the grave both literalize and ex- aggerate Locke's " way of ideas . " Lackobreath is himself immortal , but he is not immaterial . " My body was , " he comments after his hanging , " but I had no breath to ...
... Lackobreath's soliloquies in the grave both literalize and ex- aggerate Locke's " way of ideas . " Lackobreath is himself immortal , but he is not immaterial . " My body was , " he comments after his hanging , " but I had no breath to ...
Page 208
... Lackobreath's prolix descent into stark dust and vacancy as a complicated precursor to Monos ' more effusive " embrace of the Shadow , " which ushers in " that light which alone might have had power to startle- the light of enduring ...
... Lackobreath's prolix descent into stark dust and vacancy as a complicated precursor to Monos ' more effusive " embrace of the Shadow , " which ushers in " that light which alone might have had power to startle- the light of enduring ...
Page 209
... Lackobreath's lamentation : " men still persist in reasoning , and philoso- phizing , and making themselves fools . " The erosion of what we think of as meaning - and Poe's self - sacrifice to the wisdom in nonsense - will perhaps be ...
... Lackobreath's lamentation : " men still persist in reasoning , and philoso- phizing , and making themselves fools . " The erosion of what we think of as meaning - and Poe's self - sacrifice to the wisdom in nonsense - will perhaps be ...
Contents
Introduction 39 | 5 |
A New World of Philosophy | 19 |
The Poet in the Garden | 80 |
Copyright | |
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Common terms and phrases
American atoms attempt beauty becomes begins Berenice body calls conceive conception consciousness convertible cosmic critical dash dead death discourse divine Domain of Arnheim dream Dwight earth Edgar Allan Poe Edwards effect Egaeus Eleonora Ellison emendation Essay ethereal Eureka eyes fancy fiction final gives God's human Ibid idea ideal identity imagination infinite Kenneth Burke Kepler Lackobreath lady Landor's Cottage landscape sketches language Leibniz Ligeia Locke Locke's Loss of Breath material matter memory Mesmeric Revelation mind monomania Morella narrator narrator's Newton once particles passage perception philosophy Philosophy of Composition Philosophy of Furniture physical Poe takes Poe wants Poe writes Poe's poem poetic prose reader resurrection revelation rhetoric Richard Wilbur romance Rowena Sarah Helen Whitman scene seems sense shadow soul Southern Literary Messenger spirit story sublime suggest tale teeth Tell-Tale Heart things thought tion trans truth unity University Press verbal voice woman words