Poe and the Subversion of American Literature: Satire, Fantasy, Critique

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Choice Outstanding Academic Title 2014 In Poe and the Subversion of American Literature, Robert T. Tally Jr. argues that Edgar Allan Poe is best understood, not merely as a talented artist or canny magazinist, but primarily as a practical joker who employs satire and fantasy to poke fun at an emergent nationalist discourse circulating in the United States. Poes satirical and fantastic mode, on display even in his apparently serious short stories and literary criticism, undermines the earnest attempts to establish a distinctively national literature in the nineteenth century. In retrospect, Poes work also subtly subverts the tenets of an institutionalized American Studies in the twentieth century. Tally interprets Poes life and works in light of his own social milieu and in relation to the disciplinary field of American literary studies, finding Poe to be neither the pote maudit of popular mythology nor the representative American writer revealed by recent scholarship. Rather, Poe is an untimely figure whose work ultimately makes a mockery of those who would seek to contain it. Drawing upon Gilles Deleuze's distinction between nomad thought and state philosophy, Tally argues that Poes varied literary and critical writings represent an alternative to American literature. Through his satirical critique of U.S. national culture and his otherworldly projection of a postnational space of the imagination, Poe establishes a subterranean, nomadic, and altogether worldly literary practice.

Reviews

A tightly argued treatment of Edgar Allan Poe as a subversive counter voice to the traditional American story of progress, expansion, and upwardly moving achievement. Most earlier discussion of Poe as a satirist focused on his fiction; Tally includes Poe's poetry, essays, and reviews. An Americanist at heart, Tally contrasts Poe's voice with the voices of Melville, Emerson, and Thoreau. The result is a brilliant rethinking of Poe's work that will influence study of mid-19th century American literature for some time. Primarily of interest to specialists, but ambitious undergraduates could handle it. The bibliography and index are thorough. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty. -- M. J. Emery, Cottey College * Choice (named a Choice Outstanding Academic Title) *
Not since Louis Renza's important revisionary study, Edgar Allan Poe, Wallace Stevens, and the Poetics of American Privacy (2002), has there been a book devoted to Poe (in whole or in part) and his place in the institution of American Literature like Robert T. Tally Jr. s Poe and the Subversion of American Literature: Satire, Fantasy, Critique. And Tallys book, solely on Poe, has the advantage of being able to demonstrate for the entire career how Poe systematically subverts the exceptionalist myth of Americas manifest destiny via his fiction, criticism, and poetry. No other study has achieved such a depth and scope of critical demonstration with respect to Poe, going back even further, perhaps, for decades. It is very likely to shake up American Studies, as well as rightly to put Poe and his all-encompassing irony once again at the symbolic heart of modern literature. One of the best books I have read in a long time. * Daniel T. O'Hara, Professor of English and Humanities, College of Liberal Arts, Temple University, USA *
Theoretically rich and empirically compelling, Tallys study makes a knock-down case for Poe the Descendentalist: anti-American unmaker of epistemologies, cities, democracies, missions, selves, narratives. Reading across a wide range of literary genres, Tally conjures up a subterranean Poe, nomadic Poe, oceanic Poe, Deleuzian Poe, streetwalking Poe, slyly calling the pote maudit back from his premature burial to erupt in an afterlife of perverse joyous mockery. This study forever makes the stately apparatus of American Studies fall back into the worldly maelstrom of Poes uncanny figurations. * Rob Wilson, Professor of Literature, Creative Writing, and Cultural Studies, University of California at Santa Cruz, USA *
Poe and the Subversion of American Literature makes an important contribution to both classic and ongoing conversations about what might constitute a national literature in the United States. Robert Tally explores what is "anti-American" in Poe's opposition to conventional notions of national self-formation. In Poe's spirit of prankishness, Tally provocatively argues in this fascinating and accessible book, we see satire and mockery as the best elements of an American literary tradition. * Hester Blum, Associate Professor of English, Penn State University, USA *
Robert Tally's brilliant new book on Poe restores him to his prominent place in the development of American literature and honors his transgressive achievement. Tally is not just an astute critic but also a wonderful, finely honed writer, and his book will be required reading for Poe scholars and fans alike. * David Greven, Associate Professor of English Department of English University of South Carolina, USA *
Robert T. Tally challenges conventional ideas about Poe. Especially the notion that he is essentially a Gothic writer. Poe and the Subversion of American Literature is full of fresh insights. The merits of Tallys ideas are clearthe claim that satirical fantasy is a useful term for describing a considerable portion of Poes literary output is food for thought and will surely inspire additional studies of Poe. -- Travis Montgomery, Fort Hays State University. * The Edgar Allen Poe Review *
Tally reveals an Edgar Allan Poe who critiques this tradition in favor of an alternative iconography. He eschews the Poe of Gothic gloom in favor of the Poe who mockingly laughs at Americas rhetoric of ascent, affirming how Poe is a nomad in a nation of settlers, a satirist refusing the expectations of literary genres, and a documenter of the urban, rather than a respecter of any purported errand into the wilderness. * American Literature *
With numerous monographs and anthologies to his credit in just a few years, Robert T. Tally, Jr., rose quickly to literary criticisms all-star team. This study stands out not only for its analysis of Poe, but also for its contribution to genre theory as well as its critique of American Studies. With this book, Tally becomes Poe Studies most valuable player. * U.S. Studies Online (reviewed by Darryl Hattenhauer, Arizona State University West, USA) *
[A] breath of fresh air in Poe studies. ... Poe and the Subversion of American Culture places Poes dissenting voice right in the center of the American tradition, but that voice, full of derisive laughter, continues to resist easy classification or control. ... Ultimately, this impressive book reminds us of just how much complexity Poe offers to readers, continuing to undercut and mock every prevailing narrative of American literature. As such, the book is essential for anyone interested in Poe studies, American literature, and American studies. * Journal of American Studies *
This book is one of the most significant contributions to Poe studies in recent scholarship. ... Yet just as Tally argues that Poe's oeuvre is too broad to fit easily into any single genre, Tallys book is not limited to any one field of study. His treatment of Poe, in fact, lends itself to scholarly investigations of the Gothic, as well as humour, American popular culture, and problems of genre. The strength of Tally's overall argument is this comprehensiveness. Uniquely grounded in high theory and philosophy ranging from Plato to Nietzsche, Poe and the Subversion of American Literature gathers rhetorical support from a diverse range of thought, challenging conventional understandings of Poe's work. * Gothic Studies *

Author Bio

Robert T. Tally Jr. is Associate Professor of English at Texas State University, USA, where he teaches American and world literature. Tally is the author of six books, including Kurt Vonnegut and the American Novel: A Postmodern Iconography (Bloomsbury, 2011) and Melville, Mapping and Globalization: Literary Cartography in the American Baroque Writer (2009). He is the editor of four collections of essays, including The Geocritical Legacies of Edward W. Said: Spatiality, Critical Humanism, and Comparative Literature (2015).