Thanatophobia in Edgar Allan Poe's Selected Literary Works : A Psychoanalytic Study

Abstract

This thesis presents and develops a potential biography of Edgar Allan Poe and an analysis of some of his literary works for the sake of understanding the reasons and the main purposes behind Poe’s writing. By applying theories of psychoanalysis as well as theories of grief and survival, this paper shows a diagnosis of Poe’s mental illness which is overlapped by extreme fear and a continual obsession with death, by relating his works to his life using the Freudian theory of Attachment and Loss along with the theory of Mourning and Melancholia. The study also shows the process of healing through literature by analysing the selected works of Edgar Allan Poe applying the Elizabeth Kübler Ross’s theory known as The Five Stages of Grief. After empirical investigation, my analysis concludes that Edgar Allan Poe did curate himself using his own literature as a recovery ailment.