O grotesco e o fascínio da morte nas obras de Edgar Allan Poe e Thomas Harris

Abstract

This work aims to analyze how the death and the grotesque appear in the works of Edgar Allan Poe in the mid-nineteenth century, and how its use still remains relevant after one hundred years, with the works of Thomas Harris. The grotesque acquired several connotations and meanings throughout history, being an element that attracted the study of critics and professionals of literature. In Romanticism, its use became more embracing, to the point of favoring productions that had as goal to cause sensations in the reading public, as it is the case of the stories and romances of horror. In the pages written by Allan Poe, we see that this artifice is closely linked to deeply human issues, such as death, for example. The author presents it in a variety of ways, sometimes approaching it from supernatural contexts or approaching it in a credible way, close to a palpable and naturally possible reality. In the twentieth century, parts of these features still remained, although they acquired new approaches and meanings, as in the works of Thomas Harris, who, in addition to having death as a common presence in his books, still managed to create iconic characters with most famous being Hannibal Lecter.