How modern psychologyHas impacted American Literature,In the worksOfEdgar Allan Poe

REASONS FOR OVER INTERPPUTATION


In the Webster’s Desk Dictionary sanity is simply stated as soundness of mind or judgment. Now the real question here is what does this mean? To simply say that sanity is soundness of mind means that you have a knowledgeable idea of what a sound mind is suppose to be. Who are we to judge the soundness of another mind, and furthermore are we the insane one because we don’t perceive things as an accused insane person. To state that a sound mind is based on judgment leads to the same question all over again. The real question with judgment should of course be what causes you to judge things in certain ways and at certain times?
Now, what this has to do with literature is this; do our definitions and analysis of what makes someone “insane” have a place in literature? Do the methods and ideas of modern psychology automatically enter our thoughts when we read? To understand why we question the notion of sanity we must see where ...