Mesmerization with the Lights On: Poe’s “The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar”

Edgar Allan Poe’s eerie short story “The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar” is a particularly noteworthy example of the sublime, a psychological state in which one is overwhelmed by the magnitude of that which is perceived by the mind. Valdemar exemplifies the sublime in that his death has somehow be...

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Autor principal:	Robert Tindol
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Lodz University Press 2021
Materias:	edgar allan poe the sublime jacques lacan immanuel kant slavoj žižek Literature (General) PN1-6790
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/4a5180f154244a0fb490a453a5a1e718
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:4a5180f154244a0fb490a453a5a1e7182021-12-01T06:51:57ZMesmerization with the Lights On: Poe’s “The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar”2083-29312084-574X10.18778/2083-2931.11.22https://doaj.org/article/4a5180f154244a0fb490a453a5a1e7182021-11-01T00:00:00Zhttps://czasopisma.uni.lodz.pl/textmatters/article/view/11277https://doaj.org/toc/2083-2931https://doaj.org/toc/2084-574XEdgar Allan Poe’s eerie short story “The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar” is a particularly noteworthy example of the sublime, a psychological state in which one is overwhelmed by the magnitude of that which is perceived by the mind. Valdemar exemplifies the sublime in that his death has somehow been suspended in time because he was under hypnosis as part of a medical experiment at the moment of his passing. However, the story also draws particular attention to the means by which insight into the nature of death is acquired by the hypnotist who narrates the story. For a more comprehensive understanding of the sublime experience, one may turn to the psychoanalytic theory of Jacques Lacan and the postmodernist work of Slavoj Žižek, which lead to the conclusion that the dramatic chain of events in “Valdemar” is an example of the sliding signifier, and, moreover, that the instability of the signifier may explain the sublime effect.Robert TindolLodz University Pressarticleedgar allan poethe sublimejacques lacanimmanuel kantslavoj žižekLiterature (General)PN1-6790ENText Matters, Iss 11, Pp 353-368 (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	edgar allan poe the sublime jacques lacan immanuel kant slavoj žižek Literature (General) PN1-6790
spellingShingle	edgar allan poe the sublime jacques lacan immanuel kant slavoj žižek Literature (General) PN1-6790 Robert Tindol Mesmerization with the Lights On: Poe’s “The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar”
description	Edgar Allan Poe’s eerie short story “The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar” is a particularly noteworthy example of the sublime, a psychological state in which one is overwhelmed by the magnitude of that which is perceived by the mind. Valdemar exemplifies the sublime in that his death has somehow been suspended in time because he was under hypnosis as part of a medical experiment at the moment of his passing. However, the story also draws particular attention to the means by which insight into the nature of death is acquired by the hypnotist who narrates the story. For a more comprehensive understanding of the sublime experience, one may turn to the psychoanalytic theory of Jacques Lacan and the postmodernist work of Slavoj Žižek, which lead to the conclusion that the dramatic chain of events in “Valdemar” is an example of the sliding signifier, and, moreover, that the instability of the signifier may explain the sublime effect.
format	article
author	Robert Tindol
author_facet	Robert Tindol
author_sort	Robert Tindol
title	Mesmerization with the Lights On: Poe’s “The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar”
title_short	Mesmerization with the Lights On: Poe’s “The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar”
title_full	Mesmerization with the Lights On: Poe’s “The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar”
title_fullStr	Mesmerization with the Lights On: Poe’s “The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar”
title_full_unstemmed	Mesmerization with the Lights On: Poe’s “The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar”
title_sort	mesmerization with the lights on: poe’s “the facts in the case of m. valdemar”
publisher	Lodz University Press
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/4a5180f154244a0fb490a453a5a1e718
work_keys_str_mv	AT roberttindol mesmerizationwiththelightsonpoesthefactsinthecaseofmvaldemar
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Mesmerization with the Lights On: Poe’s “The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar”

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