I'm doing a paper on edgar a. poe and ernest hemingway. I have these topics in mind:

- did their disfunctional lives cause them to be great writers? -why were these self distructive ppl so productive? -what are the differences in how they portray women?

plz choose which topic u believe is best and what info i should add to the paper. It would be of so much help. Thank you.

-- Anonymous, November 19, 2003

Answers

My paper is the many different poetic devices Poe used throughout his writings. also, some background info. on him.

-- Anonymous, November 21, 2003

I think being dysfunctional as it relates to creativity is too difficult a topic since you must first back it up with psychological (theoreticcal science) studies and controversies before even getting to the two different writers. I fear you might instead slide into common popular fallacies as a foundation and build your house on sand. Stephen King's own autobiography/writer's manual called "On Writing/ A Memoir of the Craft" suggests dysfunction is as much a barrier and detriment to writing as anything else. Critics of these two writers might well agree. Certainly it crippled output for Poe and style in Hemingway.

The woman question is much more interesting and can center instead on the writer's particular experience. For both, this particular focus fgoes back to their early life(parents' death, etc.). I think as a result both men had a difficulty/fascination coping with relationships and with death in general. Poe opted for idealizing THE woman and women in general, hardly ever using them for their points of view or as normal done to earth persons in his serious writings. Hemingway opted for the man's man world, perhaps without any metaphysical ideal to aim for. Anyway, it is easier to stick to their lives and texts in this topic.

Look at Charles Baudelaire. Self-destructive, procrastinating, unable (worse than Poe) to create long works. It might be the "candle that burns brightest" but it certainly did not make him productive, just perhaps more quality, idiosyncratic and revolutionary in what he painfully turned out.

-- Anonymous, November 21, 2003