LITR 4232: American Renaissance

UHCL, spring 2002

Student Research Proposal

Angie Rau

Research Proposal

Project 1 Essay  

            The topic of this essay would be the similarities and/or differences between Edgar Allan Poe’s use of the sublime and gothic in his writings, particularly The Fall of the House of Usher, and the writings of slave narratives by authors such as Harriet Beecher Stowe and Frederick Douglass.  This topic is important because many readers of Poe believe his work is based in a grotesque and crazy mind and that Poe merely wishes to shock his audience instead of teaching them something.  By comparing Poe to Stowe and Douglass, readers are able to understand there is more to Poe than just insanity.  He, like Stowe and Douglass, has a point to make about the world and those in it. 

            Through this research, I hope to show Poe’s use of the sublime and the gothic are reflective in his own perspective of the world around, just as with Stowe and Douglass.  It will also be important to remember Poe’s writings are more or less fiction and the slave narratives are based on real life experiences.   I have spent approximately four hours reading numerous slave narratives and journals/essays on Poe from online sources.  This has given me the opportunity to make a deeper comparison between Poe and other slave narratives.

            I would like for my essay to remain as close as possible to the idea of how/why Poe, Stowe, and Douglass used both the sublime and the gothic to create unforgettable images in the minds of their readers and what effects these images had on the readers.  I also think it is important to consider Poe’s images are viewed as fiction, but could be based off of his own life’s experiences, just as the slaves narratives are based from true experiences.  My question to you is:  Is this topic too broad or too difficult to work with. Should I concentrate more on the use of the sublime or the gothic?

Dear Angie,

Your topic is big simply because the subject matter is "big," but you have an idea here that you shouldn't give up on. I'm impressed by the way that you use the two sets of texts to shed light on each other. One angle that I've tried and that you pick develop here is that serious political and historical texts like Douglass's can use techniques usually associated with fiction like Poe's. I'm struck by the extra step you take, though, in suggesting how the seriousness of Douglass's and Stowe's uses can alert us to the seriousness of what Poe's about.

My first move would be to read up as widely as possible on the sublime and other terms you're using--my first stop would be the reference section of the library, using handbooks and guides to literary terms and some encyclopedias like The Oxford Companion to American Literature. Such reading can give you a sense of context, what's possible, what's already established that you can run with. This may help you narrow or specify your topic or the point you're trying to make with it.