Phrenological Allegory in Poe's "The Fall of the House of Usher"

Phrenological Allegory in Poe's "The Fall of the House of Usher"

Previous allegorical readings of Poe's "The Fall of the House of Usher" ignore the important "knowledge frame" he applied: phrenology. While we can use this pseudoscience to explain character behaviour, it is also the key to the allegory. Roderick represents a hypertrophied...

Ausführliche Beschreibung

Gespeichert in:
Bibliographische Detailangaben
Veröffentlicht in:Mosaic (Winnipeg) 2010-03, Vol.43 (1), p.57-72
1. Verfasser: ZIMMERMAN, BRETT
Format: Artikel
Sprache:eng
Schlagworte:
Allegory
American literature
Analysis
Behavior
Fear
Friendship
Ideality
Influence
Mosaic
Narrators
Phrenology
Poe, Edgar Allan
Poe, Edgar Allan (1809-1849)
Psyche
Psychology
Reflectiveness
Tales
Women
Online-Zugang:Volltext
Tags: Tag hinzufügen
Keine Tags, Fügen Sie den ersten Tag hinzu!
Beschreibung
Zusammenfassung:Previous allegorical readings of Poe's "The Fall of the House of Usher" ignore the important "knowledge frame" he applied: phrenology. While we can use this pseudoscience to explain character behaviour, it is also the key to the allegory. Roderick represents a hypertrophied organ of Ideality, the narrator Adhesiveness (Friendship), and Madeline a distempered organ of Amativeness (Sex).
ISSN:0027-1276
1925-5683