The Occult in A Tale of the Ragged Mountains Essay -- Ragged

The Occult in A Tale of the Ragged Mountains     In his collection of criticism on Poes stories, Thompson discusses the use of the occult in A Tale of the Ragged Mountains. He begins the article by explaining that this story competency be the product of Poes fascination with, but detached attitudes toward, the pseudoscientific occultism of his age. He gives us some technical terms for the techniques that Poe uses in this story spiritual rebirth is the transmigration of souls, and is the word that surfaces frequently through and throughout this discussion of Ragged Mountains. First Thompson discusses the paper that Poe set up the tale in a very particular proposition way as he puts it, Poe himself wove a web for the purpose of unraveling. He believes that Poe set up a series of clues to guide the reader through the story. So, first the reader gets a scientific explanation of the events that seem supernatural, which is therefore followed by a psychological explanation ( which is the opposite of the scientific facts). The closing clue is the reader discovering that this tale is very similar ...