[Authorities in Question: 'Unusual' Narrators in Tales by Edgar Allan Poe]

Essay by blazziniUniversity, Master's June 2004

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Title:

[Authorities in Question: 'Unusual' Narrators in Tales by Edgar Allan Poe]

Contents:

1. Introduction................................1

2. Literary Reference......................1

3.1. Dreamer and Visionary..............2

3.2. The "Impossible" Narrator.........4

3.3. The Narrator - A Liar ?..............6

4. Conclusion..................................8

Bibliography..............................11

1. Introduction

There is no doubt that Edgar Allan Poe was one of the most influential American writers of the 19th century. His impact can be measured by tracing the literary influence he had on succeeding generations of writers as well as by regarding the responses to his work. Whether plots and topics, characters or narrative structures are concerned, it was Poe who put up high standards for each of them.

This is also true for the construction of narrators. In some of his tales, Poe introduces narrators who seem to fit in the scheme of 'ordinary' first-person narrators at first sight, but who turn out not to be quite as trustworthy as the reader may expect.

It is the topic of this essay to examine Poe's tendency to play with the reader's idea of narrators. For this purpose, it will be necessary both to have a look at the views of scholars dealing with Poe's narrative strategies and to deal with some of his tales in detail.

2. Literary Reference

During the preparations for this essay I came across numerous publications that deal with the narrators in certain tales by Poe. Most of them focus on certain aspects of Poe's narrative strategy, and some emphasize his use of unpredictable and unreliable narrators.

Some scholars point out the mediatory quality of some of Poe's narrators and argue that they bear resemblance to dreamers and visionaries in texts by E.T.A. Hoffmann and others. Dreamers, however, cannot be considered fully responsible for the factual "truth" of their narrative, and thus can be regarded as related...