International Legacy of Edgar Allan Poe
PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIVERSITY
DEPARTMENT OF COMPARATIVE LITERATURE
CMLIT 597D
Tuesdays 2:30-5:30, 430 Burrowes Bldg
Fall 2009
Prof. Dj. Kadir
E-mail: Kadir@psu.edu
Office: 449 Burrowes Building
Office Phone: (814) 863-9629
Office Hours:
Monday 11:30-12:30, Tuesday 11:15-12:15, and by appointment
Course Graduate Assistant: Germán Campos-Muñoz
E-mail: gxc186@psu.edu
Seminar Description
Few American writers have been as consequential internationally in their influence as Edgar Allan Poe. This seminar explores the reasons for this renown, examines a number of key works by the American master and their avatars in various writers from around the world. The literary works of these writers from the international community will be read in their original language of composition by members of the seminar who have those linguistic proficiencies and, in cases where these works exist in English translation, they will be read by all members of the seminar. The topical focus of the seminar is on the principal bipartite categories in which Poe divided his own work–horror and detection, or akratic entropy, which he dramatized as “the imp of the perverse,” and phronemic reason or forensic logic, which he termed situational “ratiocination.” Through these epistemic categories, which he derived principally from Aristotle, Poe endows posterity with the narratives of psychological exploration and a legacy of scientific speculation, analytical observation, and hilariously ironic reason. On this two-hundredth anniversary of Poe’s birth, his soul might find greater peace among his international readers and successors, where he found greater recognition during his life than in his native country, whose ambivalences toward him he only managed to exacerbate with impish obsession worthy of some of his own characters.
Seminar Objectives
The principal aim of this is seminar is to explore the question, Why Poe? The answer has to be as enigmatic as the question itself: Because Poe is a master at dramatizing what might be the most significant disconnect in human modernity––the rupture between the human capacity to reason and the often insurmountable difficulty to be “reasonable.” The readings and discussion of this seminar aim to explore the role of E. A. Poe as one of the defining figures of this key problem in modern world literature. Poe’s narratives stage the ways in which scientific investigation and epistemological skepticism emerge as simultaneous phenomena in literary culture since the nineteenth century. Like the many writers who follow his example, Poe simultaneously reveres and scorns the rationality inherited from the Enlightenment’s “Age of Reason.” The seminar examines the particular forms of Poe’s fictions as they embody this ambiguous simultaneity and, in doing so, anticipate its exacerbated paradox in a variety of authors across a number of literary traditions in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. As a defining precursor of more than one genre––the detective story, the story of the psychological thriller, the tale of mystery and horror, the story of scientific scepticism, political apprehension, and social anxiety––Poe and his corpus anticipate modern and postmodern literatures in intricate ways. The readings from Poe are juxtaposed, comparatively, with the work of authors in which this Poe phenomenon we call “Poetics” continues to resonate. The readings are representative and do not pretend to be exhaustive of Poe’s immense resonance in literatures around the world. And our focus is principally on prose narrative rather than poetry, which constitutes a whole set of different linguistic, aesthetic, and prosodic issues than the narrative tales as prose.
Required Text (available for purchase in the University Bookstore)
Edgar Allan Poe: Complete Stories and Poems. New York: Doubleday, 1966 (ISBN: 0-385-07407-7), to be supplemented by other library or electronic sources.
Seminar Modus Operandi
Each member of the seminar is expected to a) have read the assigned texts for each session; b) prepare a two-page précis-critique-position on the issues elicited by the readings; c) prepare a twelve-to-fifteen-page mid-term paper for the seventh session of the semester in which you trace a particular thread you’ve been tracking each week, or aggregate your critical reflections to-date into a cogent narrative. This is to be turned in no later than 12 October 2009, and will serve as partial basis (one third) of your grade. The other two thirds will be based on your weekly contribution to the seminar discussion (one third), and on a final term paper ca. 20 pages, on a topic chosen in consultation with your professor (one third), to be submitted no later than the final session of the seminar––7 December 2009.
All university regimental protocols, caveats, admonitions, and exhortations on professional performance and academic comportment apply.
Plan of Work
Session One: Introduction(s)
Poe’s Poetic Vision and some prescient insight on our Comparative Literature seminar in two poems by Poe.
Readings: In Edgar Allan Poe: Complete Stories and Poems, “Spirits of the Dead,” pages 790-791 and “Imitation,” page 793.
Session Two: Science and Scientifiction
Readings: In Edgar Allan Poe: Complete Stories and Poems, “Mellonta Tauta,” pages 373-383; “The Colloquy of Monos and Una,” pages 594-601; “Von Kempelen and His Discovery,” pages 605-610; “Sonnet––To Science,” pages 771-772.
Jules Verne (France), “A Voyage in a Balloon” (1852): http://www.gutenberg.org/files/16085/16085-h/16085-h.htm
Jakub Arbes (Czech Republic), “Newton’s Brain” (1877) http://books.google.com/books?id=6i4Hcz9Wj-EC&pg=PA120&lpg=PA120&dq=Jakub+Arbes,+%22Newton%27s+Brain%22&source=bl&ots=ABcuEJkz2V&sig=-XKuZvJYw3GKwDz7GChcXyeeTLk&hl=en&ei=3CSLSsCXLJWINtGV9b4P&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1#v=onepage&q=Jakub%20Arbes%2C%20%22Newton%27s%20Brain%22&f=false
Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis (Brazil), “Alexandrian Tale” (1883, in The Devil’s Church and Other stories, 1977)
H. G. Wells (U.K.), “The Crystal Egg,” (1897): http://www.online-literature.com/wellshg/2878/
Leopoldo Lugones (Argentina), “La fuerza omega”: http://miscuentospreferidos.blogspot.com/2009/03/la-fuerza-omega-de-leopoldo-lugones.html; and “La metamúsica”: http://www.elintruso.com.ar/article.php?id=901 (1926 in Fuerzas extrañas; Strange Forces, 2001)
Session Three: The Life of Art
Readings: In Edgar Allan Poe: Complete Stories and Poems, “The Oval Portrait,” pages 568-570; “The Domain of Arnheim,” pages 571-582; “Landor’s Cottage: A Pendant to ‘The Domain of Arnheim,” pages 582-591.
Stéphane Mallarmé (France), “Le Tombeau d’Edgar Poe” (1876): http://tkline.pgcc.net/PITBR/French/Mallarme.htm#_Toc223495079 ; “Prose (pour Des Esseintes)” (1885): http://tkline.pgcc.net/PITBR/French/Mallarme.htm#_Toc223495082
Konstantin Bal’mont (Russia), “Edgar Allan Poe” (1895): http://www.poetryloverspage.com/yevgeny/balmont/edgar_poe.html
Rubén Dario (Nicaragua), “Poe” (in Los raros, 1896) (Spanish only)
Vladimir Nabokov (Russia/US), “A Forgotten Poet” (1944): http://www.electroniclibrary21.ru/literature/nabokov/36.shtml
Session Four: Ratiocination and Detection
Readings: In Edgar Allan Poe: Complete Stories and Poems, “The Murders in the Rue Morgue,” pages 2-26; “The Gold Bug,” pages 70-96; “The Purloined Letter,” pages 125-138
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (U.K.), “A Scandal in Bohemia” (1891), “The Cardboard Box” (1893)
Edogawa Rampo [Hirai Taro] (Japan), “The Stalker in the Attic” (1926), “An Eccentric Idea” (1955), and “Dickens and Poe,” (1952), all in The Edogawa Rampo Reader, Seth Jacobowitz, ed., Fukoaka: Kurodahan Press, 2008.
Jorge Luis Borges (Argentina), “Death and the Compass” (1941) (Spanish: http://www.literatura.us/borges/lamuerte.html; English version on ANGEL), and “Ibn Hakkan al-Bokhari Dead in His Labyrinth” (1951) (Spanish: http://ar.geocities.com/elspamesmierda/Borges/Abenjacan_el_Bojari.htm; English version on ANGEL)
Session Five: Sanity, Common Sense, Reason
Readings: In Edgar Allan Poe: Complete Stories and Poems, “The System of Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether,” pages 292-305; “The Balloon Hoax,” pages 496-505
H.G. Wells (U.K.), “The War of the Worlds” (1898): http://www.gutenberg.org/files/36/36-h/36-h.htm
Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis (Brazil), “The Psychiatrist [O alienista]” (1882)
Horacio Quiroga (Uruguay), “The Pursued” (1908) (Spanish: http://www.scribd.com/doc/6011803/URUGUAY-Quiroga-Horacio-Los-perseguidos; English version on ANGEL)
Lu Xun [Hsün; Zhou Shuren] (China), “Diary of a Madman” (1918)
Session Six: Blind Obsession
Readings: In Edgar Allan Poe: Complete Stories and Poems, “The Imp of the Perverse” pages 271-275; “The Black Cat,”pages 63-70; “The Tell-tale Heart,” pages 121-124; “Berenice,” pages 171-177
Charles Baudelaire (France), “Le Vampire” (and various English versions of same, Fleurs du mal, 1857): http://fleursdumal.org/poem/128
Lu Xun [Hsün; Zhou Shuren] (China), “The White Light” (1922)
Julio Cortázar (Argentina/France), “Throat of A Black Kitten” (1974)
Session Seven: Mid-term Reports: Oral and Written
Session Eight: Double by Half
Readings: In Edgar Allan Poe: Complete Stories and Poems, “William Wilson,” pages156-170; “The Man of the Crowd,” pages 215-221
Fyodor Dostoyevsky (Russia), The Double: A Petersburg Poem (1846): http://arthursclassicnovels.com/arthurs/dostoevsky/double10.html, and Fyodor M. Dostoevski, “Three Tales of Edgar Poe” (in Wremia 1, 1861, rpt. In Critical Essays on Edgar Allan Poe, Eric W. Carlson, ed. N.Y. G.K.Hall, 1987, 77-79)
Italo Calvino (Italy), “The Cloven Viscount” (1951)
Jorge Luis Borges (Argentina), “Borges and I” (1957) (Spanish: http://www.literatura.us/borges/index.html; English version on ANGEL)
Session Nine: Spectralization / Reflection / Echo
Readings: In Edgar Allan Poe: Complete Stories and Poems, “The Fall of the House of Usher,” pages 177-196; “ The Masque of the Red Death,” pages 256-260; “Shadow––A Parable,” pages 601-602
Auguste Villiers de L’Isle-Adam (France), “The Very Image [A s’y Méprende!]” (1883)
Jean Lorrain (France). “The Holes in the Mask [Les Trous de Masque]” (n.d.–fin de siècle XIX)
Julio Cortázar (Argentina/France), “House Taken Over [Casa tomada]” (1951) (Spanish: http://www.lainsignia.org/2001/enero/cul_031.htm; English: http://www.npcsd.mhrcc.org/LOCAL/high_school/Teachers/lstjohn/Writing%20Focus/House%20Taken%20Over.htm)
Session Ten: Revenge, or Retribution
Readings: In Edgar Allan Poe: Complete Stories and Poems, “The Cask of Amontillado,” pages 191-196; “The Pit and the Pendulum,” pages 196-207; “‘Thou Art the Man,’” pages 226-236; “Hop-Frog,” pages 283-290
Rudyard Kipling (U.K.), “The Phantom Rickshaw” (1855): http://www.gutenberg.org/files/2806/2806-h/2806-h.htm
Horacio Quiroga (Uruguay), “El Crimen del Otro” (1904) (Spanish only)
Leonid Andreyev (Russia), The Seven Who Were Hanged (1909)
Edogawa Rampo [Hirai Taro] (Japan), “The Dancing Dwarf” (1927)
Session Eleven: Strange Encounters
Readings: In Edgar Allan Poe: Complete Stories and Poems, “Ligeia,” pages 97-108
Henry James (USA), “The Friends of the Friends” (1896)
Charles Baudelaire (France), “To She Who Is Too Gay,” (from one of six banned poems of Les fleurs du mal, 1857) http://fleursdumal.org/poem/138
Konstantin Bal’mont (Russia), “I Am a Troubling Phantom” (1897): http://www.poetryloverspage.com/yevgeny/balmont/im_troubling_phantom.html
Tanizaki Junichiro (Japan), A Blind Man’s Tale (1931)
Julio Cortázar (Argentina/France), “We Love Glenda So Much” (1981)
Session Twelve: Hectoplasms, Transmigrations, and Bilocation
Readings: In Edgar Allan Poe: Complete Stories and Poems, “Morella,” pages 222-226; “A Tale of the Ragged Mountains,” pages 207-215; “Metzengerstein,” pages 250-256
Horacio Quiroga (Uruguay), “Fantasía Nerviosa” (1899): http://www.scribd.com/doc/6985893/Quiroga-Horacio-Fantasia-Nerviosa (Spanish only), and “El Vampiro” (1927): http://es.wikisource.org/wiki/El_vampiro_%28Quiroga%29 (Spanish only).
Franz Kafka (Czech Republic), “A Country Doctor” (1919): http://records.viu.ca/~johnstoi/kafka/countrydoctor.htm
Carlos Fuentes (Mexico), Aura (1962)
Julio Cortázar (Argentina/France) “The Distances [Lejana]” (1951), and “The Night Face Up” (1956) (Spanish version: http://www.juliocortazar.com.ar/cuentos/boca.htm; English version on ANGEL)
Session Thirteen: Naturally, A Manuscript
Readings: In Edgar Allan Poe: Complete Stories and Poems, “MS. Found in A Bottle,” pages 148-155
Horacio Quiroga (Uruguay), “Los buques suicidantes” (1906): http://es.wikisource.org/wiki/Los_Buques_Suicidantes (Spanish only)
Leopoldo Lugones (Argentina), “Francesca” (1926): http://www.ciudadseva.com/textos/cuentos/esp/lugones/frances.htm (Spanish only)
Julio Cortázar (Argentina/France), “MS. Found in A Pocket [Manuscrito hallado en un bolsillo]” (ca.1955)
Additional contributions welcomed, especially if found in a bottle.
Session Fourteen: Final Reports: Oral and Written