Thursday, February 5, 2015
Defying geography
After reading Cooper and Emerson, who placed such importance on their status as American Writers with a capital-W, I found it jarring that Poe does not place a large amount of importance on American settings for his stories. Indeed, the only geography-driven story we've read so far, "The Man of the Crowd" took place in London. The house in Ligeia is situated somewhat randomly in the English countryside. In general, Poe concerns himself with architecture, not geography. He dramatically constructs castles, Gothic manors or rooms, but it doesn't seem to matter where these buildings are located. At a time when writers were identified or tied to where they were from, Poe lived all over the country, making him, like his stories, hard to pin down or assign a spot on a map. Obviously I can't know whether his rejection of American settings was a deliberate statement. Maybe he was trying to sell more stories by setting them in more traditionally appealing Europe. Perhaps geographic ambiguity made them more accessible to more readers. No matter the reason, Poe's dark, mildewed settings are quite a departure from the natural beauty celebrated by Cooper and Emerson.
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I agree with the final statement you made in your post and I think it certainly rings true throughout Poe's short stories. His dark settings are certainly a departure from the natural beauty celebrated by both Cooper and Emerson in their respective pieces. It is interesting how beautiful Emerson and Cooper describe nature, and, at times, the relationship humans have with nature. Interestingly enough, it seems that this theme is neglected by Poe who, as you've mentioned, is more fixated on architecture, not geography. But why is this? There must be a reason Poe focuses on something manmade, rather than something natural. I would like to point out that though Poe does not fixate on the relationship between nature and humans, he does fixate on human nature and human tendencies. Thus, perhaps Poe is suggesting that the relationship between people are far more important and fun to look into than the relationship between man and nature. Just a theory, but perhaps this is why setting is slightly overlooked.
ReplyDeleteI think Poe's focus on architecture and disregard for natural beauty further establishes his desire for eery, haunting stories. Confining his characters within manmade walls isolates them and frequently leaves them alone with their thoughts in a very explicit way. A lot of his characters' conflicts revolve around inner turmoil, grief, and insanity. Since these characters are essentially trapped inside their own minds, I think it makes sense for them to also be portrayed in places that are secluded from the outside world.
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