Allan Poe's Motivations to Adopt the First Person Narrative in Fictions Based on the Black Cat and the Murders in the Rue Morgue

International Journal of Humanities and Social Science

© 2019 by SSRG - IJHSS Journal

Volume 6 Issue 1

Year of Publication : 2019

Authors : Li Zhang, Huijuan Li

10.14445/23942703/IJHSS-V6I1P105

How to Cite?

Li Zhang, Huijuan Li, "Allan Poe's Motivations to Adopt the First Person Narrative in Fictions Based on the Black Cat and the Murders in the Rue Morgue," SSRG International Journal of Humanities and Social Science, vol. 6,  no. 1, pp. 23-27, 2019. Crossref, https://doi.org/10.14445/23942703/IJHSS-V6I1P105

Abstract:

Edgar Allan Poe, a 19th century American poet, literary critic, and novelist, is an important member of the American Romantic trend of thought. He is the master of short stories, in which Poe employs a lot the first-person narrative. Based on the Gothic novel “The Black Cat” and the detective novel “The Murders in the Rue Morgue”, this paper explores reasons why Allan Poe mainly uses the first-person narrative in his short novels from his life experience, the fiction creation and the reader response. Among them, the fiction creation could be analyzed from limitations of topic selection, characterization, effects of story and thematic function. By analyzing Poe’s motivations to adopt the first-person narrative in fictions, this paper aims to give readers a better understanding and insight into Poe's novel creation.

Keywords:

Allan Poe, the first-person narrative, motivations

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