Did Poe write a satire on 'the gothic novel' ? If so which of his novels alludes to this. Many Thanks Steve Gill

-- Anonymous, December 31, 2000

Answers

yjhgj

-- Anonymous, December 09, 2002

Almost all of Poe's fictions that are staging "gothic" elements are more or less satirical ones, either for the manner, or for the matter, if not for both... , trying precisely to teach real independence from the British-Blackwood and pseudo-Germanism genre. For the clearest satirical text, take "How to Write a Blackwood- Article" and its necessary sequel "A Predicament". But you will find the same jocular spirit within, e.g., "King Pest", "The Premature Burial", "Loss of Breath", "Never Bet the Devil your Head", and many more... Thompson wrote an excellent study (1960s?) on "flawing gothic" in Poe's works (even in such classical "horror" stories as "Berenice", Ligeia", "Morella", "Metzengerstein", "MS found in a Bottle"&c., &c.), very convincingly, to my mind. Yours sincerely, Raven's Shade (Belgium). P.S. When you say "his novels", you doubtless mean "his tales", don't you?

-- Anonymous, December 09, 2002