A Literary Testimonial to Banal Evil: Dehumanization in The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym
The problematics of trauma and testimony are perforce in a closely-knit relation with the issue of evil, in particular with the strand of evil that made possible the concentration camps in Auschwitz. Edgar Allan Poe’s Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym will be considered as primarily an event of speech,...
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European Association for American Studies
2022-07-01
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| Series: | European Journal of American Studies |
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| Online Access: | https://journals.openedition.org/ejas/18075 |
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| author | Daniela Cârstea |
| author_facet | Daniela Cârstea |
| author_sort | Daniela Cârstea |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The problematics of trauma and testimony are perforce in a closely-knit relation with the issue of evil, in particular with the strand of evil that made possible the concentration camps in Auschwitz. Edgar Allan Poe’s Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym will be considered as primarily an event of speech, and its testimony as a mode of truth’s realization beyond what is available as statement. What emerges from the comments on Pym, from the explication of some of the death scenes, from the gratuitousness of the violence, and the nonchalance of Pym’s report, is not the horror, but a sense of the casualness of death, the “banality of evil” that Poe opposes to the “grandeur of evil,” looking ahead to Auschwitz and the Gulag. In Pym, Poe presents us with a rare instantiation of pure (and banal) evil in the casually-reported scene of the cannibalization. I intend to supplement the philosophical response to the question of (banal) evil provided by Hannah Arendt and Giorgio Agamben by a psychoanalytical one, with a footing in the signature terminology of Melanie Klein. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-75158275e39d493bb5391eb3073c2317 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 1991-9336 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2022-07-01 |
| publisher | European Association for American Studies |
| record_format | Article |
| series | European Journal of American Studies |
| spelling | doaj-art-75158275e39d493bb5391eb3073c23172025-01-06T09:08:26ZengEuropean Association for American StudiesEuropean Journal of American Studies1991-93362022-07-0117210.4000/ejas.18075A Literary Testimonial to Banal Evil: Dehumanization in The Narrative of Arthur Gordon PymDaniela CârsteaThe problematics of trauma and testimony are perforce in a closely-knit relation with the issue of evil, in particular with the strand of evil that made possible the concentration camps in Auschwitz. Edgar Allan Poe’s Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym will be considered as primarily an event of speech, and its testimony as a mode of truth’s realization beyond what is available as statement. What emerges from the comments on Pym, from the explication of some of the death scenes, from the gratuitousness of the violence, and the nonchalance of Pym’s report, is not the horror, but a sense of the casualness of death, the “banality of evil” that Poe opposes to the “grandeur of evil,” looking ahead to Auschwitz and the Gulag. In Pym, Poe presents us with a rare instantiation of pure (and banal) evil in the casually-reported scene of the cannibalization. I intend to supplement the philosophical response to the question of (banal) evil provided by Hannah Arendt and Giorgio Agamben by a psychoanalytical one, with a footing in the signature terminology of Melanie Klein.https://journals.openedition.org/ejas/18075Edgar Allan PoeThe Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pymtrauma studiestestimonybanal evildehumanization |
| spellingShingle | Daniela Cârstea A Literary Testimonial to Banal Evil: Dehumanization in The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym European Journal of American Studies Edgar Allan Poe The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym trauma studies testimony banal evil dehumanization |
| title | A Literary Testimonial to Banal Evil: Dehumanization in The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym |
| title_full | A Literary Testimonial to Banal Evil: Dehumanization in The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym |
| title_fullStr | A Literary Testimonial to Banal Evil: Dehumanization in The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym |
| title_full_unstemmed | A Literary Testimonial to Banal Evil: Dehumanization in The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym |
| title_short | A Literary Testimonial to Banal Evil: Dehumanization in The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym |
| title_sort | literary testimonial to banal evil dehumanization in the narrative of arthur gordon pym |
| topic | Edgar Allan Poe The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym trauma studies testimony banal evil dehumanization |
| url | https://journals.openedition.org/ejas/18075 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT danielacarstea aliterarytestimonialtobanalevildehumanizationinthenarrativeofarthurgordonpym AT danielacarstea literarytestimonialtobanalevildehumanizationinthenarrativeofarthurgordonpym |