La mujer inmortal: Sexualidad y terror en "Ligeia" de Edgar Allan Poe y en "Leyendas de Hascischs" de Clemente Palma

Abstract

The gothic aspect is a common feature of short stories by the North American writer Edgar Allan Poe and Peruvian modernist Clemente Palma. This movement is shown from different perspectives such as rejection of illustrated official morality, interest in showing what is hidden, monstruous or grotesque and finally, the representation of personal and psychological issues in literary works. This study analyzes one of these hidden thoughts and main worries of fin-de-siecle man: fear from femenine sexuality expressed through male gothic, especially portraying the imaginary that is projected through the tales "Ligeia" by Poe (1893) and "Leyendas de haschisch" by Palma (1904). In this article I present a differentiation between anglo-saxon and latinamerican gothic, based on historic, cultural, linguistic and geographical differences. My main goal is to clarify representation, symbolism, development of horror in the tale and the presence of the death/sleeping beauty in the experiences of these narcotized narrators.