Insane, with long intervals of horrible sanity
Insane, with long intervals of horrible sanity

Summary/Abstract: Poe was one of the first writers to change the direction of mystery stories from aesthetics to reality, moving it from “a focus on the superficial trappings of eerie setting and shocking event to a study of the criminal’s mind” (Burns & Sullivan 1991:1). However, his horror fiction differs from the traditional one through the introduction of subtle elements, like visions and hallucinations, invading the everyday world. The feelings of horror and terror arise from the innermost craters of the protagonists’ soul and end up being projected outside into the object of fear or abuse as mere perceptions of the human soul. By using a firstperson narrative, the author makes the readers see things from an altered perspective. In Poe, reality is replaced by sub-realities presented in a subjective way through the distorted minds of the characters. But the reason of dread and fear consists in the fact that the cause of horror is internal – thus impossible to get away from, hopeless to struggle against.

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