Poe is ROLLING IN HIS GRAVE.
So, while working on my American Gothic final, I found an article on Poe's The Black Cat about the narrator. Since it wasn't relevant to my paper (which was on The Raven and was quite dry and boring), I moved on and found some other sources. But something about the abstract or something made me remember it, so today I went back and read it.
This article pretty well exemplifies why I think literary criticism is utter and complete bullshit. The thesis of the piece was that the narrator of The Black Cat is a lying liar and fabricates the events in the story to make himself seem less guilty, while his guilt-wracked subconscious drops subtle hints to the fact that he's a lying liar. This in itself is not rage-worthy. Poe has done this, and done it well. However, the way that the article went about proving this... -twitch-
At heart, I really want to be a scientist. I like cold hard facts. Interpretation leaves a sour taste in my mouth. Literary criticism is interpretation that likes to try to pass itself off as cold hard fact.
Cold hard facts: Damp places accelerate body decomposition. Dehydration greatly slows decomposition. THESE ARE FACTS. COLD UNDISPUTIABLE FACTS. THAT THE ARTICLE GOT WRONG. ABSOLUTELY WRONG. AND THEN PROCEEDED TO BASE ITS ENTIRE ARGUEMENT ON.
AND NOW I'VE FOUND OUT THAT THE INTERPRETATION IN THIS ARGUMENT IS THE WIDELY ACCEPTED ONE AND THEY ARE ALL BASED ON THE ERRONEOUS IDEA THAT BODIES DECOMPOSE FASTER IF DEHYDRATED INSTEAD OF BEING, YOU KNOW, DAMP.
Would it have killed any of these critics to do some fucking fact checking before bounding off into their happy land of how-they-want-the-story-to-be?
In conclusion, literary criticism is bullshit, nothing more than intellectual wankery, and a pathetic excuse for academia. Also, I bloody well hate the English major.
If you would like to read the article in question, it is here: http://proxy.lib.uiowa.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=ip,cookie,uid,url&db=afh&AN=9511241683&loginpage=Login.asp&site=ehost-live
Also, I would say that this interpretation of The Black Cat has Scully Syndrome. If the simplest explanation is the supernatural, BY GEORGE, MAYBE THE EXPLANATION IS THE SUPERNATURAL. But no, we can't have that, that would make The Black Cat a... a... HORROR STORY WITH FANTASTICAL ELEMENTS. NOOOOO, WE CAN'T HAVE FANTASY VIOLATING OUR PRECIOUS PRECIOUS LITERATURE.
THINK OF THE CHILDREN.
This article pretty well exemplifies why I think literary criticism is utter and complete bullshit. The thesis of the piece was that the narrator of The Black Cat is a lying liar and fabricates the events in the story to make himself seem less guilty, while his guilt-wracked subconscious drops subtle hints to the fact that he's a lying liar. This in itself is not rage-worthy. Poe has done this, and done it well. However, the way that the article went about proving this... -twitch-
At heart, I really want to be a scientist. I like cold hard facts. Interpretation leaves a sour taste in my mouth. Literary criticism is interpretation that likes to try to pass itself off as cold hard fact.
Cold hard facts: Damp places accelerate body decomposition. Dehydration greatly slows decomposition. THESE ARE FACTS. COLD UNDISPUTIABLE FACTS. THAT THE ARTICLE GOT WRONG. ABSOLUTELY WRONG. AND THEN PROCEEDED TO BASE ITS ENTIRE ARGUEMENT ON.
AND NOW I'VE FOUND OUT THAT THE INTERPRETATION IN THIS ARGUMENT IS THE WIDELY ACCEPTED ONE AND THEY ARE ALL BASED ON THE ERRONEOUS IDEA THAT BODIES DECOMPOSE FASTER IF DEHYDRATED INSTEAD OF BEING, YOU KNOW, DAMP.
Would it have killed any of these critics to do some fucking fact checking before bounding off into their happy land of how-they-want-the-story-to-be?
In conclusion, literary criticism is bullshit, nothing more than intellectual wankery, and a pathetic excuse for academia. Also, I bloody well hate the English major.
If you would like to read the article in question, it is here: http://proxy.lib.uiowa.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=ip,cookie,uid,url&db=afh&AN=9511241683&loginpage=Login.asp&site=ehost-live
Also, I would say that this interpretation of The Black Cat has Scully Syndrome. If the simplest explanation is the supernatural, BY GEORGE, MAYBE THE EXPLANATION IS THE SUPERNATURAL. But no, we can't have that, that would make The Black Cat a... a... HORROR STORY WITH FANTASTICAL ELEMENTS. NOOOOO, WE CAN'T HAVE FANTASY VIOLATING OUR PRECIOUS PRECIOUS LITERATURE.
THINK OF THE CHILDREN.