A certificate for uneasy souls: Made in Germany

Abstract

In his first story "Metzengerstein" published in 1832, Edgar Allan Poe was criticized with "Germanism" and "gloom". What was actually criticized in this first story deemed to be the end-result of a deep and painful interest in Germanic Middle Age? What caused this direction of 19th century critical view towards Germany and Germanness in this manner? This article looks into the intellectual traces of notion of "terror" through Marx and Freud and questions whether the "terror" is "of Germany" contrary to suggested by Poe himself.