ИСТИНА

The paper examines ways to overcome the mental inertia, which ultimately help the protagonists of E. A. Poe's most famous survival stories to stay alive. Particular attention will be paid to the following operations of mind: А. Relativization of an irresistible external power (force majeure). The hero limitates (through measuring) and differentiates (by identifying internal differences) the external threat, which at first appears absolute and incomprehensible. Б. The objectification of personal misfortunes: the protagonist prefers to consider himself not as a suffering individual, but as an observer of a natural process perceived from the outside. Distancing himself from his personal "grief," he shifts his attention to the regular “law”. В. Experiment: the hero tests the correctness of the hypothesis by experience and corrects it if necessary. In both novellas, direct observation forces the narrator to reconsider initial predictions (e.g., about the method of execution, about the shape and size of the cell, about the time of day, about the rate at which objects sink into the Malstrom funnel). Г. De-ideologization: the protagonist "cleanses" the objects of their conventional connotations (indoctrinated by society or manipulators). In PaP it is important that the victim resists the religious interpretation of events imposed on him (the pit as a hellhole, the pendulum as inevitable fate, the paintings as symbols of sins committed). By detaching himself from value judgements, the hero can ally with the (disgusting) rats or save himself by jumping into the (perilous) abyss. The same revaluation procedure is in Poe`s "tales of ratiocination" at work (for Dupin, the dirty piece of paper may turn into a precious love letter). It seems to me that the mechanisms for overcoming mental inertia described in PaP and in M highlight some (enviable) characteristic features of the American mentality. These include: (1) The primacy of cognitive activity: observation and generalization are meant as self-sufficient, they require no teleological justification; indicative is "a vague curiosity” (which is senseless, in terms of expediency). (2) Empiricism, i.e. the inductive manner of thinking and the willingness to verify the initial presumptions experimentally (and to correct them if necessary). (3) Progressivism (historical optimism): to resist a superior force makes only sense insofar as one keeps hoping that things will get better in future (in PaP such expectations have been finally fulfilled in a broader, historical context). (4) Pragmatism: the functional, situational value of an object matters for Americans more, then "metaphysical" connotations.