Essay on Graham Greene's 'Proof Positive'

Essay from the year 2011 in the subject Didactics for the subject English - Literature, Works, grade: 2.0, University of Potsdam (Anglistik/Amerikanistik), language: English, abstract: In many of his short stories Graham Greene writes about the theme of death. Here death always stands in close relation to fear, though there are only two of his short stories namely A Little Place off Edgeware Road and Proof Positive, which by their settings and characters create a certain kind of horror and revulsion. The latter, M. G. Brennan wrote, is '[...] dealing with the polarities of life and death [...]' (28) and has a rather ironical and mystic notion towards the theme. Brian Diemert claims in his article Recomposing 'Valdemar' that Edgar Allan Poe's short story The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar '[...] is both the model for and the precursor of Greene's story, [...]' (1). The writer got inspired by Poe's combination of horror and suspense as well as the resolute and appalling way he used to end his tale.