“…all because the author (Poe) understood so perfectly the very mechanics and physiology of fear and strangeness…”
-H. P. Lovecraft, Supernatural Horror in Literature, 1927
Welcome to “‘This Mansion of Gloom’: Visualizing Edgar Allan Poe’s Atmospheres of Horror,” a digital project which tracks and visualizes Poe’s construction of horror in his short stories.
Background
This project began as a means to compliment and support an article I wrote which sought to answer how Poe was able to imbue his short stories with an effect strong enough to trigger the transmission of horror to his readers. Edgar Allan Poe begins to answer this question in his 1846 essay, “The Philosophy of Composition. Rather than following “the usual mode of constructing a story,” by focusing on plot, Poe “prefer[s] commencing with the consideration of an effect.” This focus on “effect” seems to be the key to understanding Poe’s ability to create horror, however, there is still much that needs to be explained.
In order to begin answering this question, I created a number of visualizations focused on a collection of words that I termed Poe’s “gothic emotions” (these include “horror,” “fear,” “terror,” “dread,” and “despair”). My first visualization simply displays the amount of times each word is used across the entire Poe corpus, while my second visualization traced both the frequency and location of each of these words. This second visualization allowed me to have a better sense of how Poe structured his horror across his short stories.
I soon realized, however, that these visualizations do not completely show where Poe’s affective horror exists, as both Brian Massumi and Teresa Brennan insist that affects cannot be attached to a word. Once labeled, they cease being affects, weaken, and become emotions or feelings. I am far more interested in the powerful and unknowable affect than I am in its counterpart, so I next searched through the corpus for words relating to the senses (ie: “ear,” “shriek,” “odor,” “eye,” “sight,” “touch,” etc.). I then created visualizations for the senses: one that displays the amount of times each of the words are used, and a second viz that shows both the frequency and location of five of the sense words. I chose these five words by selecting from each sense category (except for taste) and from the atmospheric words, the one most commonly used (these are “air,” “feel,” “hear,” “odor,” and “see”). Through examining these visualizations in comparison with the “gothic emotions” viz, I realized that Poe is able to transmit horror to readers of his short stories by creating fictional atmospheres ripe with sensorial overload.
How can I use these visualizations?
Following the tabs located at the top of this page, you can examine the visualizations I’ve created for the entire corpus, or look at the individual visualizations that focus on two of his short stories: “The Fall of the House of Usher” and “The Premature Burial.” Once you’ve found a visualization you’re interested in, simply click the image and you will be taken to Tableau Public where the visualizations are housed. These visualizations are fully interactive and available to download.
I’ve also provided my contact information in the final tab. Please let me know if you find these visualizations helpful or if you use them for your own research. I’d love to hear about your work!
