Edgar Allan Poe - His True Racist Face

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Edgar Allan Poe - His True Racist Face Edgar Allan Poe is one of the most famous authors of the 18th century and is celebrated for many of his masterpieces. In Germany for example, his famous poem “The Raven” was a required reading during my high school years. Even in my German college, Poe had been considered as one of the most brilliant authors in my class Introduction to Literature, without actually discussing or reading any of his works. In one class , we read his only novel “The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket.” This was the first time I had paid any real attention on Poe. Besides the weird adventures of the protagonist Pym, this works includes a lot of racism. This was a new realization for me, as so far none of my classes discussed him or his works being racist or including racist elements. Conversely since the 19th century, many authors have been paying attention to whether or not Poe was a racist. Even J. Gerald Kennedy points out “that Poe has won greater acclaim in Europe, where readers and critics have … detached his work from its historical context …” (xiii). After reading his novel and studying his history, I argue that Edgar Allan Poe was indeed a racist. On that account, all his works should be considered as racist writings and should be re-interpreted in the account of racist texts. No matter in which time or under which circumstances Poe lived, racist literature should be considered as such, thus Poe should not be acclaimed as a brilliant author in schools and colleges and should be at least given the label of being a racist author. The structure of this essay is designed to explore Poe’s racism. In the beginning, I will first briefly discuss the definition and meaning of race and racism. Afterwards I will focus on the belief of race and racial differences in the first part of the 19th century. Thirdly, I will introduce specific

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