Writing Assignment - 2 Parts

Fiction: Poe and Irving

· Edgar Allan Poe,

· "The Fall of the House of Usher,"

· "Sonnet - To Science,"

· "The Raven,"

· “Annabel Lee,”

Washington Irving is often called the first "internationally famous" American writer. American writers of this period lacked copyright protections, so they preferred to be published in England, where copyright law was enforced. So it was not uncommon for American writers to go abroad as minor figures, only to return from Europe famous: it happened to both Irving and Longfellow, and Poe is much more famous in Europe than he is in America.

Irving writes humorous stories that poked fun at the conventions of his American society, often employing regional stereotypes to do so. But he also writes within the European tradition of the Folk Tale, and in many ways we can see that his stories take the traditional folk tales and set them in the familiar surroundings of America, but then he changes things around a bit.

For instance, one traditional element of the folk tale is that it teaches a moral lesson to the reader (who is usually a child). Irving's stories don't quite follow this model, and he is often thought to "complicate the moral lesson" that usually concludes the Tale. That is, the story doesn't end up "teaching" the lesson you thought it was going to when you started reading it, and maybe it doesn't even teach ANY lesson at all. What moral lesson, after all, does Rip van Winkle teach, if the story ends where it begins, and nothing has really changed at all?

In doing this, Irving stories made his readers laugh and he was very popular because of it, and he wrote regularly for the many new "magazines" and literary journals that were published in the 1800's. Irving was also part of a "modern" literary and artistic community, the first in US history, known as "The Knickerbockers." They lived in and around New York City which then, like today, was the center of social and literary society.

Poe is arguably the most influential writer in America before the Civil War in the modern day; that is, he is more important to us today, than he was to readers then. He writes squarely within the Romantic tradition of literature, but does so with an innovation and invention that extends into the modern day. Among other things, Poe is credited (by some) to have invented the science fiction story and the detective or mystery story. In addition, his "horror" and "suspense" stories remain at the core of "Gothic" literature. It is tempting to suggest that his work constitutes a NEW American literature because he invented new genres; however, the question readers need to consider is whether he invented a NEW kind of literature, or whether he innovated the European tradition with new variations of the old kind of story, like Irving?

Ironically, of all the American writers of this period, Poe is the most "European." Careful readers will note that his stories tend to be set in Europe, employ European Romantic tropes and conventions, and are populated with European characters and subjects. He writes GOTHIC ROMANCES. "The Fall of the House of Usher" is a good example of exactly these points. After he died, the French people erected a memorial for him in America, but Americans did not, which kinda says it all.

Here are some questions to explore and reply to ...

· After reading and thinking about Irving and Poe's stories as examples of American fiction then, do you think either of these writers have successfully created a "New" kind of literature? One that reflects the spirit and Nature of Democracy itself? Explain...

· Review the elements of GOTHIC Romance in the Glossary and the study sheet: show these elements in "Fall of the House of Usher."

· Which of these stories did you like the best? Why?