Not an ugly woman, not an old woman, not a man.
Hey, it worked for Poe, ...I mean didn't it?
I am noticing us going back to this topic every so often in class, we are concerned about this. My input: in response to Professor Harrison's suggestion that he was influenced by the culture or society around him; I mean yes, and at the same time, looking at it today we might as well be asking ourselves if Poe has influenced the culture with his imaginative invention of the death of a beautiful young woman.
What surrounds this concept? Is society responsible for Poe's intense fascination with violence against beautiful young women, or is Poe responsible for his own fascinations, as well as a larger network around him, by having an influence over the world.
?
I continue to remind myself that my understanding of Poe is biased by the time gap between us.
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Furthermore I am inclined to add that I, personally, tend to have trouble understanding gender politics, and any issue of which understanding of gender differences and indifferences is an element.
So I am inclined to mention it here, because I realize, that there may be an issue here of gender politics, concerning the 'role' of 'beautiful young woman' the mind and heart of Poe.
I want to agree that Virginia and perhaps other women of Poe's life and relations were the inspiration for Poe's personal sentiment towards women (his aunt and his absent biological mother, for example).
This is a shot in the dark but perhaps Poe's obsession with the death of a beautiful woman stems from his less than happy endings? Perhaps he constantly writes on the death of a beautiful woman because he's jaded and being cynical? Perhaps I'm completely wrong, I'm no psychologist...I just feel that it's more of a psychological thing than the society thing.
There is of course the whole debate of nature vs. nurture. How much of what we learn and know is based on what we are taught, and how much is based on what is innate in us. I feel a lot of Poe's using the same theme stems from mostly nurture...losing his mother and then Virginia. But of course, I feel that he grew up with darker tendencies already innate in him...a more artistic sort of make-up, and this too also helped him to create variations on the theme. It is said, 'Writers write what they know,' and speaking from experience, it is hard to write what you don't know.
I agree with kimberly, I am also enjoying this story. Though it is really the preface that I was interested in. It brings up MANY questions for me. Such as the notion of "truth", the problems with publication,problems with print and printed truth, problems with historical narratives/accounts, notions of authurship and ownership. Im not sure what to do with it but id be itnerested to know what other people thought.
As for your post Audrey, I can't say that I see how this is about male initiation rites, and I definitely didn't catch any of the homo-erotisism that you had mentioned either. Though Poe does use some language that could be sexually explicate I just didn't get that feeling throughout the narrative. Rather, I felt that Poe was simply using lofty language for expression.
I agree with kimberly, I am also enjoying this story. Though it is really the preface that I was interested in. It brings up MANY questions for me. Such as the notion of "truth", the problems with publication,problems with print and printed truth, problems with historical narratives/accounts, notions of authurship and ownership. Im not sure what to do with it but id be itnerested to know what other people thought.
As for your post Audrey, I can't say that I see how this is about male initiation rites, and I definitely didn't catch any of the homo-erotisism that you had mentioned either. Though Poe does use some language that could be sexually explicate I just didn't get that feeling throughout the narrative. Rather, I felt that Poe was simply using lofty language for expression.
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