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2.2 Review of Foreign Studies 源[自-751*`论/文'网·www.751com.cn
Since the 20th century, Poe has got many positive evaluations, for example, John Neal believed that “there are many reasons can make us believe that Poe is a genius”.(Walker Ian, 1979: 66) Carlos thought that “He alone could provide a solid foundation for American literature”. (Carlson Eric W, 1970: 110)
In the middle of the twentieth century, the studies of Poe has developed to specific analysis on text mainly from the angles of the structure of language, symbolism, psychological analysis, semiotics and narratology, giving Poe’s works the significance of Modernism. Mary Bonaparte is the master of the study on Poe from the angle of psychological analysis. Her paper Life and Works of Edgar Alan Poe tries to associate Poe’s life and works with his experience of losing his mother in early childhood. In addition, the paper The Angelic Imagination written by Allan Tate and the paper The house of Poe written by Wilbur concludes that Poe’s works are rich in modern consciousness and Poe finds the great theme: split personality, which promotes the modern literature. And Allen Tate thinks that “No one could repeatedly use so many new Gothic elements, unless he is serious, I think Poe is serious”. (Clarke Graham, 1991: 190)
In the late 20th century, the study on Poe is on the trend of persification. The paper The Self Divided by Democracy: Edgar Allen Poe and the Already-Answered Question written by Larzer Ziff interprets Poe’s works from the perspective of racism and concludes that Poe’s works reflect the tendency of maintenance of slavery. The paper American Romanticism and the Marketplace written by Michael T. Gilmore and the paper Authorship and the Audience: Literary Performance in the American Renaissance (1991) written by Stephen Railton study Poe’s writing context from the perspective of Literary production. Of course, there are interpretations from the perspective of feminism, for example, the paper Aesthetic Headaches: Women and a Masculine Poetics in Poe written by Leland Person. (1988)
3. Poe’s Inheritance of Gothic Novel in The Black Cat
Poe takes the dark, damp, enclosed and narrow basement as the scene of the story, sets the time in the ghastly night, takes death as the theme of the story, and renders the atmosphere of terror and mystery, which fully inherits the characteristics of Gothic novel.
3.1 The Theme of Death
The Gothic novel both has horror and romanticism features, so it is also called “black romantic” novels，popular in the late eighteenth Century and early nineteenth Century. “This sort of novels usually take the old castles, waste cities, or the wilderness as the background and mainly describes murder, violence, revenge, incest and other contents. And often with the appearance of ghosts and other paranormal phenomena” (Wei Wei, 2009: 125), the whole story is enveloped by a mysterious, dark and bloodcurdling atmosphere.
“Almost all the themes of Poe’s novels are death which is widely used in Gothic novel and The Black Cat is a typical example.” (Han Ying & Guo Jingyi, 2010: 75) When reading this novel, the shadow of death has always been shrouded in readers’ mind, which brings readers the pressure of fear and produces the shocking effect of terror.
Poe chooses the theme of death has a strong link with his own experience. Poe’s parents died when he was at a young age. Then, Poe was adopted but he was naturally sensitive and lacked a sense of security. After growing up, he only made a life by writing and therefore he fell into the economic distress for a long period. All in all, Poe’s life was full of hardships, frustration and changes, especially his wife’s death which made him has different sentiment of death from ordinary people.