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Allan Poe’s Practice on Single Effect in Short Stories Binshi WANG Dianchi College, Yunnan University hen the reader reads Poe’s tale, terror intrudes into his inmost heart in a subtle W way. The reader unconsciously follows Poe into the dreamlike psychological process of the protagonist and experiences some “heaviness”, “heaviness in the atmos- phere—a sense of suffocation—anxiety—and, above all, that terrible state of existence which the nervous experience when the senses are keenly living and awake, and meanwhile the powers of thought lie dormant[1]”. This deep involvement of the reader is not achieved fortuitously. Instead, it’s the natural result of Poe’s deliberate planning of the theme, plot, and characters and the intentional use of linguistic tech- niques and other writing techniques. All elements in his story are so arranged only for one purpose—to involve the reader into appreciation of the work and create a united effect on the reader, that is, terror of the soul. 1. Poe’s Theory on Single Effect For Poe, an effect or an impression should be decided before the author begins to write. “I prefer commencing with the consideration of an effect”, says Poe in “The Philosophy of Composition”. This “impression, or effect” should be “universally ap- preciable [2]” A work should give the reader the “pleasure which is at once the most intense, the most elevating, and the most pure”. Poe thinks this pleasure can be ex- perienced from reading a melancholy and terrifying story. After deciding what an effect a story will exert on the reader, the author has to coldly and deliberately plan his story “as an architect plans a building [3]”. In “Review on Hawthorne’s Twice- Told Tales”, Poe relates: A skillful literary artist has constructed a tale. If wise, he has not fashioned his thoughts to accommodate his incidents; but having conceived, with deliberate care, a certain unique or single effect to be wrought out, he then invents such incidents—he then combines such events as may best aid him in establishing this preconceived effect. About the author: Binshi WANG, Female, Feb. 1983, Han, Yingjiang, Yunnan Associ- ate Professor Master English Teaching, British and American Literature. 5 Creativity and Innovation Vol.3 No.1 2019 Poe believes that a well-digested general purpose has to be established first and then everything else should work for the effect including the theme, the setting, the character, the plot and every linguistic skill. “It is my design to render it manifest that no one point in its composition is referable wither to accident or intuition—that the work proceeded step by step, to its completion with the precision and rigid con- sequence of a mathematical problem”. Thus relates Poe his idea on the deliberate planning of the story in “The Philosophy of Composition”. A good story should have a preconceived effect and “no word should be then written which does not tend or form a part of a sentence which tends . to the strengthening of the effect[4]”. Only “with such care and skill, a picture is at length painted which leaves in the mind of him who contemplates it with a kindred art, a sense of the fullest satisfaction[5]”. More than any other principle, Poe emphasized Single Effect that one should strive for in any work of art. In Poe’s critical writings occur and re-occur some words and phrases such as “to affect”, “the totality of impression”, “the unity of effect”, “the novelty of the effect alone” and “the unity of effect”, and so on. This exhibits the value of this principle for Poe. However, other three principles, Originality, Brev- ity and Totality, are closely related to the principle of Single Effect. First, Originality and Single Effect are closely related. Poe stresses the novelty of an effect. In “The Philosophy of Composition” Poe says that he usually chooses “a novel, first, and secondly a vivid effect” and considers all means that “best aid me in the construction of the effect.” The feeling of fear is the effect of most Poe’s stories exert on readers. The fear aroused by Poe’s story is more or less original. Reading Poe’s Gothic tale, the reader, undoubtedly, feels fear about the protagonist’s distorted psyche which the reader can not get by reading a conventional one; reading a detective tale, the reader shudders with the bloody and gloomy criminal scene at the same time as he gains great pleasure from his participation in the deduction. In a word, for a certain effect, Poe achieves some originality in his story writing; for originality, Poe aims his story at a unique effect. Secondly, Brevity contributes to Single Effect. In order to ensure “the intensity of the intended effect”, a story should have a perusal that can be com- pleted at one sitting; at the same time, “a certain degree of duration is absolutely requisite for the production of any effect at all[6]”. Lastly, Totality can be understood as the totality of the reader’s impression of a story. Poe repeats some words, phrases, images and settings to form a unified impression on the reader. Thus, we say, the principle of Single Effect is the most dominant in Poe’s story creation and the four principles all drive at the involvement of the reader. Poe carefully practises his reader-shoot system of principles in his story writing. He fixes psychological terror as the central effect of most his stories. Poe uses all possible means to arouse the reader’s fear. 6 Allan Poe’s Practice on Single Effect in Short Stories 2. Poe’s Practice on Single Effect Poe believes, as far as the short story is concerned, the writer should aim at creating a single and total psychological effect upon the reader. Elements of a short story including the theme, plot, character, point of view and setting are always sub- ordinate to the author’s calculated construction of a single intense mood in the reader’s mind; the use of language should contribute to the building of the pre-designed effect; every possible writing technique should be used to imprint a certain impres- sion on the reader. Poe’s text is of absolute integrity, stimulating his readers’ mental, emotional, and spiritual faculties. Since the former three chapters of this thesis dis- cuss Poe’s arrangement of characters, point of view, setting and plot, this part ex- plores the favorite theme of Poe’s short stories, the musical language, and the use of correspondences in Poe’s stories. (1) Death Theme The theme is the basic idea of the story. A short story can concentrate around one specific theme or a sequence of themes related to one another. In Poe’s case, a single effect is more basic than the theme. Poe’s theme serves to arouse a certain effect in the reader’s heart. Fear is the effect most of Poe’s stories aim at. Poe creates an “undisputed domain of fear. Poe again and again tries to make us experience” a forceful terror[7]. In order to create the effect of terror, Poe often chooses death as the theme of his story. Poe mentions in “The Philosophy of Composition” that to write a great depressing work, one must use the best melancholy theme. Poe states, “Now, never losing sight of the object, supremeness, or perfection, at all points, I asked myself: ‘Of all melancholy topics, what, according to the universal understanding of mankind is the most melancholy?’ ‘Death’ was the obvious reply”. Many Poe’s short stories have the dark theme of death. “Ligeia”, for instance, is a story about the death of the narrator’s first wife and her revival in the second wife’s corpse. Another ex- ample that Poe uses death as its terrifying theme is “The Fall of the House of Usher”. In this story, a man buried his sister alive and was killed at last by her after she gained resurrection. Moreover, “The Masque of the Red Death” is a typical example of Poe’s horror tales focused on death. The Red Death seemed omnipresent and even in the ball when people were supposed to have fun they could not escape from the presen- timent of death. Examples of Poe’s favor for death as the motif of his stories can also be found in many other short stories of his such as “Morrela”, “Berenice”, “The Tell- Tale Heart”, “The Black Cat”, “The Cask of Amontillado”, “The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar”, “William Wilson”, and so on. Poe tries to expose the reader to great terror by relating different types of death: burying someone alive (i.e. “Ligeia”, “The Fall of the House of Usher”), killing someone without any reasonable motive (i.e. 7 Creativity and Innovation Vol.3 No.1 2019 “The Tell-Tale Heart”, “The Black Cat”), and self-suicide (i.e. “William Wilson” about self-destruction and “The Tell-Tale Heart” about self-revelation).That Poe’s stories with the death theme successfully convey terror to readers supports his idea that death is the best topic to write about. In “The Philosophy of Composition,” Poe states that an artistic piece should stimulate the reader’s “intense and pure elevation of soul.” The reader should get “pleasure” when reading a good piece of work. Some may doubt whether Poe’s story can give “pleasure” to the reader with the dark theme of death. In fact, though over- whelmed by fear when reading those stories with death theme, readers feel some secret attraction by them.

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