1. 研究目的与意义（文献综述）

edgar allan poe is one of the renowned novelists in the 19^th century. although his life is short, he wrote more than seventy short stories. poe is well known for his tales of mystery and the macabre. he is regarded as the inventor of psychological novel, detective novel and science fiction. he was also a pioneer in america’s romantic movement, which refused religious fanaticism. he reinterpreted the horror and romance of gothic literature with his psychological exploration of death and insanity. he met the demand of readers which longed for his gory and macabre stories. his horror fictions are filled with gothic style. the themes of death become the hallmark of his works. his obsession with death and bloodiness not only attracts literary critics’ attention but also gains good reputation among readers. in nearly each of his tales, one of the characters has die or is being mourned. poe inherited the artistic style of european gothic fiction, which is mostly based on death, violence, murder, and revenge, through the concise language, mysterious atmosphere and exquisite conception to create terrifying environment. he expanded the boundaries of fiction in some degree that has influenced generations of writers such as agatha christie, charles dickens, walt whitman, herman melville, arthur conan doyle and jules verne. however, poe wanted to make a living by writing alone, which resulted in his financial difficulty. poe died on october 7^th 1849 when he was just 40 years old. it is said poe died from congestion of the brain, a usual hypocorism for alcohol abuse. the real cause of his death is never known. although poe had many literary admirers, he died penniless, childless, alone and desperate.

in general, bleak motif is fairly used in gothic literature. besides, touches of romance, supernatural elements, travel and adventure narratives are also used to interest readers. among poe’s tales, the black cat and ligeia are the most popular in worldwide. the fall of the house of usher is also one of his famous works, and distinguished by several literary devices. the story is described from first-person limited point of view, which indicates it is told from his point of view and is going to be limited to his experience. the story is completely relied on the physical structure of the old house. although connections between gothic literature and gothic architecture are not always consistent, poe presented an evil force in the mansion that ensnares the narrator. to get rid of this evil, the usher has to die. just as other stories, poe begins with the setting filled with darkness and potential evil.

today, gothic literature has been replaced by horror stories, detective stories and ghost, but the gothic style was also appropriated and re-created by novelists. through studying on the characters, environmental description and inside description and researching on poe’s life story, it will make clear that how poe created this gothic fiction. from different angles to analyze the gothic elements will help us to know poe’s great contribution to gothic fiction and even his influence on american literature.

2. 研究的基本内容与方案

this paper will make a case study of the fall of the house of usher according to description of environment, psychology and death, and the theme selection. and with this paper i want to have a certain understating about poe’s gothic fiction.

firstly, this paper will refer to a documentary film edgar allan poe- love, death and women, produced by bbc which introduces poe’s tragic life story and background of writing. and in this way it will be based on a rough understanding about poe’s inner thought of death and women, which can further the theoretical foundation for the following analysis. like most giants of victorian-era literature, poe was surrounded by a coterie of women who exerted powerful impact on his storytelling. therefore, this paper will delve into his loves story to uncover how these women became female archetypes in his writing.

afterwards, this paper will analyze this literature work from its setting, environmental description, character description, psychological description and its ending. it will compare characters in this story with characters in ligeia and discover more aspects in this story. this paper will make a case study of gothic elements from narration of the fall of the house of usher according to features of gothic literature.

3. 研究计划与安排

before 20th january : settlement of the title

before 20th march: submission of the outline

before 25th april : submission of the first draft

4. 参考文献（12篇以上）

[1] cook, jonathan a. poe and the apocalyptic sublime: ‘the fall of the house of usher’. papers on language amp; literature. literary criticism press, 2012.

[2] giammarco, e. edgar allan poe: a psychological profile. unpublished doctoral dissertation, university of toronto,ontario,canada, 2005.

[3] jerrold e. hogle. thecambridgecompanion to gothic fiction. cambridgeuniversitypress, 2002.