The Gothic Tradition In Edgar Allan Poe

The term"Gothic"originated in a confluence of history and architecture emerging from the middle ages in Europe. Edgar Allan Poe is probably one of the most controversial and most misunderstood figures in the history of American literature. Few would hazard a challenge to long-standing opinions that Poe was a master of the Gothic horror tale, although many might not as readily be aware that he did not invent Gothic fiction.This paper firstly deals with the question"what is Gothic tradition", tracing back the origination of Gothic tradition, and the traditional characteristics of Gothic literature before Poe. Edgar Allan Poe's fiction displays an obvious inheritance from the tradition of Gothic literature. Poe, with his ingenious employment of Gothicism, creates a unique style for his tales. At the same time, the intricate psychological analysis present in most of his tales expands the literary dimension of Gothicism. Poe's innovation of the terror tale from what had been its principal intent, to entertain by means of"curdling the blood", to use a widely current phrase of the times, into what have been recognized as some of the most sophisticated creations in psychological fiction in English language.In both literature and art, Poe's Gothic tales principally represent psychic disintegration, myths about the breakdown of identity and the decentering of the self. But it can also manifest the potential of positive integration and growth in the process of identification. The tales were about the dangers of neglecting or even repressing the unconsciousness in the process of identification. If heeded, the unconsciousness can prove positive to responsive characters becoming curative and creative and promoting identification. If ignored, however, the unconsciousness turns negative and destructive.Here we take Poe's The Fall of the House of Usher as example, from the psychological perspective to study Poe's innovation of the Gothic tradition. The Fall of the House of Usher probably measures as one of Poe's greatest achievements in the short story. Psychological states, most often those with a suggestion of dream informing them, are major elements in Poe's Gothic tales. From the psychological perspective, this tale can be read as a wakeful dream of the narrator in which he journeys into the depth of the self. The central subject is the human mind in a great continuous condition of disintegration. The nightmarish disintegration hints a theme of encountering of self unconsciousness with dream figures who are dominated by intellectual rationality and risks psychological breakdown. The tale represents stunted process of identification by personifying the narrator as the dream self, with the Ushers, the two parts of a single person, as his shadow, Roderick as his consciousness interrupted by unconsciousness, and Madeline as his unconsciousness. Indeed, as Barbara Hannah indicates,"the revelation of wholeness comes as a rule from within to the extravert,"which Poe's narrator surely is, rather than from external projections, as happens to introverts.That Poe's short stories are everlastingly charming and enduring owes much to his Gothic technique apart from the psychological analysis. Gothic narrative always remains arresting and haunting, rooting from the great pleasure that we have derives from the"terror and pain"that strongly characterizes the subgenre without actually engendering the physical self. Poe deserves to be the master of manufacturing this terror that comes from the soul through the Gothic scene, victimized character and plot knitting as well as other techniques that contribute to his idiosyncratic Gothicism. Reading several Poe's Gothic tales can provide us a sublimity of pleasure and sense the aestheticism in his purely artistic writing style evocative of a touch in soul. Accordingly, despite the seemingly inheritance from the old Germanic Gothic tradition and some literary forbears, Edgar Allan Poe adds some fuel to the connotation of the medieval term so as to endow Gothicism with modernistic value. The adoption of the writing style is carried on even by the contemporary authors. Poe's distinctive technique of probing deeply into the human consciousness and subconsciousness was effectively employed in his Gothic tales.Edgar Allan Poe's achievements win him the eternal position in the literary world of all ages, and his genius and talent are gaining an increasing appreciation and popularity. Poe's Gothicism casts shadows over many later works in fantasy, science, and detective fiction—not to mention the numerous"modern Gothic"that continue to pour forth—just as it enters the work of William Faulkner, Flannery O'Connor, Hart Crane, Stephen King and much else.