ENG 510 Lecture Notes - Lecture 14: Jonathan Culler, Abjection, Nerd
Document Summary
Seems like a ghost story, but there is nothing explicitly supernatural. No ghosts; no deep dark secret or murder; potential incest, but not necessarily. The story puts us in the same position as the narrator; an outsider coming into the place and trying to place a rational explanation to the situation, failing every time. The best illustration of the uncanny; there is a rational explanation for everything, including the fall of the house; yet it feels utterly inadequate due to the large amounts of coincidences. The gothic was a way to explore the subconscious, and this story fits in perfectly: poe as a late gothic/romantic uses the gothic bag of tricks for their aesthetic and uncanny qualities. An early story by poe which is read as a satire. Poe tries to create a parody of the overheated gothic, with its ghosts, aristocracy, etc. One of the few poe stories that include the supernatural.
