O Modus Operandi do Escritor: Desconstrução do Ato Criador Poético a Partir da Análise do Ensaio a Filosofia da Composição de Edgar Allan Poe

Abstract

Edgar Allan Poe´s intricate theory about process of literary creation is noted for two essential points: firstly, a literary work of art must create a unity of effect on reader -the single preconceived effect -, to be considered successful; secondly, production of this single effect should not be left to hazards of accident or inspiration, but should minutest detail of style and subject be result of rational deliberation on part of writer, what emphasizes symbiosis of poetic creation creator's mental faculties as opposed to romantic aesthetic that faced it as a purely intuitive phenomenon (Silva: 1967). In poetry, single preconceived effect must arouse reader´s sense of beauty, since it constitutes the province of (Poe 2016: 38), an ideal that author associated melancholy, strangeness and loss; in prose, this effect should be one revelatory of some truth, as in works evoking terror, passion or horror. Thus, having as a starting point Philosophy of Composition (1846), we illustrated modus operandi of writer, that is, a methodical way of operating on literary creation which Poe describes with precision and rigid sequence of a mathematical problem (ibidem: 36), using as example multiple steps involved on elaboration of his poem The Raven. In order to explicit underlying theory about process of artistic creation on Poe´s aforementioned essay we also studied following elements: extent, method and unity of effect, and casted distinct perspectives that emerged over time in this field of literary studies.