People’s de

PEOPLE’S DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF ALGERIA Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research University of Tlemcen



Faculty of Letters and Foreign Languages
Department of English
Section of English


Chronotope and Imagination in Edgar Allan Poe’s “The


_{Fall of the House of Usher”}
An Extended Essay Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirement for


the “Master” Degree in Anglo-Saxon Literature and Civilisation


Presented by Supervised by


Miss Sarra Karima ABBES Dr Wassila MOURO


Co-supervised by


Mrs Souad BERBAR


2015/2016
Dedication


I dedicate this work to my dearest Parents Mohammed and Naima Benazza for their support and help by all means.
I thank my sister and her small family, as well as my brother and all my amazing friends specially Master Love.
Acknowledgements
I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my co-supervisor Mrs. BerbarSouad for the continuous support, for her patience, motivation, and immense knowledge. Her guidance helped me in all the time of research and writing of this thesis.
My sincere thanks go to my supervisor Dr. Mouro Wassila as she has always been there for me guiding me, advising as well as correcting my work and whom without her precious support it would not be possible to conduct this research.
My sincerest acknowledgements to all my dearest teachers who helped, taught and gave me all the necessary knowledge and guidance through the whole five years specially Mr. Rahmoun Omar and Dr. Frid Farid Daoudi.
Abstract
The focus of this research is in the area of literature studies. Such a study is important in order to shed light on the use of Time, Space and Imagination in literature, especially in Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Fall of the House of Usher”. The research approach adopted in this dissertation is a literary analytical approach based on close reading of the text. The findings from this research provide evidence that the use of Time within books is totally different from real life as if the reader falls in a new timing ruled by the author through the papers of the book in which Space goes beyond just providing a location for the story to reflect and describe the characters. These two elements working together could invite the reader to move from his real world into a new fictional one created by the author who enters into the reader's mind and directs his imagination, and helps him use it through the very detailed description of events and characters.

Contents Dedication………………………………………………………............. Acknowledgements……………………………………………………...
Abstract…………………………………………………………............ Contents…………………………….…………………………………..
.I
.II
.III
_.IV

General Introduction…….………………….………………………………….1
Chapter One: American Romanticism .................................................................. 5


1.1. Introduction............................................................................................................ 7


1.2. Romanticism in Literature ................................................................................... 7


1.2.1 Basic Characteristics of Romanticism ................................................... 10


1.3. American Romanticism ...................................................................................... 12


1.3.1 Basic Characteristics of American Romanticism .................................. 13


1.4 The Gothic American Literature ........................................................................ 16


1.4.1 The Gothic Novel ................................................................................... 17


1.4.2 The Gothic Short Story .......................................................................... 18


1.5. The Short Story in American Literature ........................................................... 18


1.6. The Definition of Time, Space and Imagination in literature........................ 21


1.6.1 Time........................................................................................................ 22


2.2.2 Space ...................................................................................................... 23


1.6.3 Imagination............................................................................................. 25


1.6 Conclusion………………………………………………………………26
Chapter Two: Time, Space and Imagination in “The Fall of the House of
Usher” ......................................................................................................................... 28


2.1. Introduction.......................................................................................................... 30


2.2. The Summary of “The Fall of the House of Usher” ....................................... 31


2.3. The Analysis of Time, Space, and Imagination through the Short Story “The
Fall of the House of Usher” ....................................................................................... 33


2.3.1. Time and Space ..................................................................................... 33


2.3.4. Imagination ....................................................................................................... 42


2.4. Conclusion ........................................................................................................... 52