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Lecture Five

Latin American Literature

Fall 2018

Hi All!

This lecture emphasizes the works of Edgar Allan Poe. You may be wondering why he was included in a course about Latin American literature of violence and power. Well, he was the motivating influence for most of our authors since his life was filled with tragedy and a sense of darkness and death. Since his writings show recurring themes of death, dying, the dead and mourning, he seemed to be a light helping others to show their personal sense of darkness. Yet, there are other reasons too.

Horror is a frequent space where he and his story characters tended to reside. He was tormented by whispers, dark dreams, voices of the dead and visits from the beyond. He felt that he was not alone in this life, although his companions were often invisible manifestations who taunted and troubled his sleeping and conscious hours.

I have posted most of the stories listed but once again if you prefer reading and viewing the videos of his stories that is also fine. Although Edgar Allan Poe may seem like an unlikely place to examine Latin American violence, he is considered the father of detective type fiction so his works should provide an excellent literary place for this type of genre study.

The stories we are considering that were written by this author are: “The Purloined Letter”; “The Cask of the Amontillado and “The Tell Tale Heart”. Please remember that not all of these stories are detective stories but when they are, these tales are a different type of detective tale. They are analytical. They move away from purely emotional or dramatic scenes to areas of analysis and deduction. Stylistically, plot becomes the most important element to look for; even more interesting than character development. Characters are essential of course, but, according to crime novel guidelines, movement is what ultimately produces the possibilities necessary to arrive at a solution to the event in question Also, try to figure out the clues or individual structural threads, holding the story together. They will lead the reader to the ending whether it is something expected within the narrative or not.

An important method that you will encounter as you start to read Poe is doubling. This is often employed as a regular technique in most detective stories, especially in any activities related to the apprehending of the criminal. It basically involves the detective doubling the criminal’s thought processing to anticipate that person’s next move. This mechanism aids the detective in his mission of capture while moving the plot forward and putting him one step ahead of the criminal.

Here are a few points about each tale and how they relate to each other and our course.

“The Cask of the Amontillado” highlights what happens in an unnamed Italian city when insult and revenge are thought to have taken place. A murder is going to occur. From the beginning features of the text, we suppose it has been planned in advance with carefully thought out details. “The Tell Tale Heart”, on the other hand, focuses on the murderer and his thoughts about why he murdered his victim, an old man. The murder itself is gruesome and the elements of sanity and guilt are also introduced. In both of these short stories, Poe is writing about two distinct scenarios. At the same time, however, he is telling us some important facts not only about the victims but the murderers too.

You may wonder how this relates to Latin America but let us look at the most important words in the previous paragraph: insult, revenge, murder, victim, impunity, confession. These concepts can apply to many situations throughout Latin America in many different countries and times. Let’s go on to the other story and see if this type of analysis also applies in the same way.

In “The Purloined Letter” Poe introduces us to something else, the personage of one of literature’s most famous detectives, Detective Dupin. Although not a professional detective, he combines intellectual strength and creativity to solve the case. In this detective story, the solution of the problem, concerning who stole a certain letter, is the most important factor to consider. Dupin proves he is the most skilled person in this story, able to bring the case to a close, even more easily than the government or the police. So here there is a shift from murderer, victim and crime to detective and solution of criminal case.

The important words here might be detective, crime, process, analysis and criminal case. Thinking about current events in the Latin American region and inserting the above words into the scenario, brings to mind many horrifying and vicious occurrences. Law enforcement and authority figures seem to have the same tendencies for death and darkness as individual people do.

Please remember that the language of Poe is from the 19th century; so it is a bit different from ours in the 21st century. The words are different and the sentences are more stilted. I will soon post an article entitled, “How the 19th century influenced Poe and how Poe influenced detective fiction” which should give a historical overview of Poe’s position and this genre. But the questions that I would like you to keep in mind throughout this section are these:

What is the theme and plot of each tale?

How does the story’s atmosphere provide a deeper understanding of both these areas?

What might be the possible relationship between these stories by Poe and others to be read during the semester concerning Latin America?

There is no right or wrong answer for this section. You should be reflecting and trying to use your detective intuition to form some hypotheses. These questions are purely guides for reading and understanding the required stories and novels as we progress through this semester. They are not questions for quizzes although their answers might certainly be incorporated within the body of your essays and projects.

In closing, I would like you to know that I will post a guide for analyzing short stories and novels if you should have the need for some type of review in this area. Also, for MLA questions please go to https://owl.english.purdue.edu/

I have posted supplementary academic articles about Poe’s stories if you wish to read them.

Enjoy the course and your readings. Talk to you soon.

Best,

Professor Joyce