On Poe

From 1929 to the latest issue, American Literature has been the foremost journal expressing the findings of those who study our national literature. The journal has published the best work of literary historians, critics, and bibliographers, ranging from the founders of the discipline to the best current critics and researchers. The longevity of this excellence lends a special distinction to the articles in American Literature. Presented in order of their first appearance, the articles in each volume constitute a revealing record of developing insights and important shifts of critical emphasis. Each article has opened a fresh line of inquiry, established a fresh perspective on a familiar topic, or settled a question that engaged the interest of experts. "The articles in each volume are presented in the order of their first appearance in American Literature and each opens a fresh line of inquiry, establishes a fresh perspective on a familiar topic, or settles a question that engaged the interest of experts. The selections are the most enduring work still useful for the study and teaching of important literary figures, or of an intellectual movement, motif, or genre. They represent the full range of thought from the scholarship that created the discipline and upon which much of the current work rests."--Dorys Crow Grover, Western American Literature Partial Contents Poe as Social Critic (1934)/Ernest Marchand Edgar Allan Poe: A Crisis in the History of American Obscurantism (1937)/Yvor Winters Poe and the Chess Automaton (1939)/W. K. Wimsatt, Jr. The Refrain in Poe's Poetry (1953)/Anthony Caputi Poe's Sense of an Ending (1973)/Paul John Eakin "The language of the cipher": Interpretation in "The Gold Bug" (1982)/Michael Williams The Psychology of "The Murders in the Rue Morgue" (1982)/ J. A. Leo Lemay Poe's Re-Vision: The Recovery of the Second Story (1987)/Cynthia S. Jordan