Edgar Allan Poes The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar Essay -- Facts

Edgar Allan Poes The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar Edgar Allan Poes The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar is one of his more interesting deeds. Granted, this is one of his lesser-known works, only if nevertheless this short story is clear example of the obsession theme that is so prominent in the majority of Poes work. In fact, the obsession the narrator in the story closely resembles Poe himself because he was somewhat obsessed or infatuated with mesmerism for a while. This could be one example where Poe allows the reader into himself (as the narrator) or this could be yet another of Poes tricks on his audience. In either case, this is a fascinating work that combines his trademark Gothic style with numerous customs and ideas of the day in a short yet substantial work. It would be somewhat accurate to call Poe the inventor of American Gothic. American gothic did exist before Poe, scarce he was the man who took this genre to its zenith. Poes stories generally have some element o f the supernatural or mysterious in them, a solitary speaker who is unremarkably not normal (many ask Am I mad? or insist they are not mad), usually set somewhere in europium in some remote place at midnight. His brand of American Gothic allows for both the supernatural and physiological interpretations. Many of his narrators show some stop of madness and obsession. In fact, obsession seems to be evident in nearly every Poe tale. Poes concept of madness is two-fold physiological and mental/ psychological. Roderick Usher in The celestial latitude of The House of Usher is an example of being mad from a psychological condition of his family practicing incest. The narrator in Ligeia is another example of this physical madness, this man was vile from al... ...ffman, Daniel. Poe Poe Poe Poe Poe Poe Poe. New York Doubleday, 1972.Howarth, William. Twentieth Century Interpretations of Poes Tales. Englewood Cliffs, NJ Prentice-Hall. 1971. Forclaz, Robert. Psychoanalysis and Edgar Allan Poe A Critique of the Bonaparte Thesis. Ed. Eric W. Carlson. Critical Essays On Edgar Allan Poe. Boston G.K. Hall & Co., 1987. 187-195.Gauld, Alan. A History of Hypnotism. Cambridge UP, 1992.Matthews, terrycloth C., . Writing Scientific Papers. Decatur, Il Millikin University Biology Department. Ostrom, John Ward. The Letters of Edgar Allan Poe. Vol 2. NewYork Gordian Press, 1966. 2 vols.Poe, Edgar Allan. The Facts of M. Valdemars Case. The Works of the Late Edgar Allan Poe, 1850. The Works of Edgar Allan Poe. The Edgar Allan Poe Society of Baltimore. 19 Nov. 2001. 9 Dec. 2001. http//www.eapoe.org/works/tales/vldmard.htm.