1. Tale
    Characters   Mr. Lackobreath (narrator)    Mrs. Lackobreath (narrator's wife)    Mr. Windenough (narrator's neighbor)    Nine travelers    Practicing physician    Landlord of the tavern, the "Crow"    Surgeon    Apothecary    Surgeon's Lady    W--- (mail- robber)    Driver of hangman's cart    Two recruits of the sixth infantry   Plot Summary 

2. Major Themes
     Transcendentalism    Pseudoscience  

3. Historical Context
     Nineteenth Century Medicine  

4. Poe's Criticism of Medical Practitioners in the 19th Century

5. Publications

6. References

Inspired by the rapid scientific developments during the nineteenth century and prewar period, Poe and other writers commonly expressed their ideas and perspective about the newfound medical culture and practices. As a result, medicine and literature were closely intertwined during this period. ^[3] Poe used the characters and plot as devices in this tale to convey predominant aspects and concerns of medicine in the nineteenth century, as well as to criticize practitioners with an underlying sentiment that has been suggested to be common during his time. Furthermore, the themes found in the tale reflect on the philosophical movements and beliefs that were common during the nineteenth century, such as transcendentalism and pseudoscience.

Tale

Characters

Mr. Lackobreath (narrator)

His physique was described as being "robust," "corpulent," and short. His character is cautious, as he commented, "that habitual prudence which has ever been my predominating trait." He oftentimes refers to philosophical theories and speculates about mortality. He even suggests, for example, "much new light might be thrown upon a highly interesting branch of physical philosophy." After losing his respiration, he encounters several issues in his attempt to find it.

Mrs. Lackobreath (narrator's wife)

Making a brief appearance in the commencement of the tale, she had just married Mr. Lackobreath the night before. Readers are introduced to her being subjected to verbal abuse from Mr. Lackobreath.

Mr. Windenough (narrator's neighbor)

When he is first mentioned, the narrator comments on the love notes that Mr. Windenough had written to his wife, Mrs. Lackobreath. He is described as being thin and tall; for example, "lath-like tenuity..." and "his altitude which has grown into a proverb." He is later encountered again in the public vault as the "gaunt, tall, and peculiar- looking form." Like Mr. Lackobreath, he was claimed dead prematurely, and the narrator discovers that the breath he had lost was unintentionally caught by this character.

Nine travelers

Travelling in a coach, the travelers are "crammed to repletion." The two travelers that Mr. Lackobreath sits in between of are of large dimensions. A third and even more colossal traveler falls asleep on Mr.Windenough and dislocates and twists his limbs and head. The travelers expressed little to no hesitation before deciding to throw Mr. Lackobreath, a supposed dead man, out of the coach.

Practicing physician

Described as being young, this is one of the multiple characters that asserted that Mr. Lackobreath is dead. He was on the coach during the first incident and used his pocket- mirror to check for respiration and sign of life.

Landlord of the tavern, the "Crow"

The narrator deemed the landlord of the tavern a "hospitable man." This character delivered Mr. Lackobreath to a surgeon.

Surgeon

Upon receiving Mr. Lackobreath, he begun operations immediately, removed organs for dissection, and summoned the apothecary when he was uncertain about the life/ death state of the narrator. He set aside the narrator's body in the garret and left him tied up for further examination.

Apothecary

This character suspected that Mr. Lackobreath was dead, and continued to perform experiments on his body using a galvanic battery.

Surgeon's Lady

She assisted the surgeon in accommodating Mr. Lackobreath for fastening.

W--- (mail- robber)

His costume and appearance closely resembled that of Mr. Lackobreath. He laid in the hangman's cart unmenacled on the way to the scaffold for his hanging. The narrator states that he had "extreme infirmity, and long- continued ill health." Upon seeing Mr. Lackobreath, who had landed into the hangman's cart after jumping out of the surgeon's window, he saw the opportunity for a transaction and ran away.

Driver of hangman's cart

One of the few guards of the mail- robber. The narrator noted that he was asleep.

Two recruits of the sixth infantry

Also guarding the mail- robber, these were drunk. They were aroused when they heard the shifting in the cart after W--- bolted out, and they confused Mr. Lackobreath for W---. Seeing him standing upright, they believed he was in the middle of an escape attempt, knocked him down, and proceeded to lead him to the gallows.

Plot Summary

It is the morning after the wedding of Mr. and Mrs. Lackobreath when he is screaming words of vilification at her. Mid- speech, Mr. Lackobreath comes to the realization that he has literally lost his breath. Struggling to speak, he isolates himself in his boudoir to meditate on the odd occurrence. After investigating the room and failing to find his breath, he decides to convince his wife that he must follow his dream for the stage as a means of evading her and her inquiries.

The narrator decides to ultimately leave the country, but first takes a coach to the outskirts of the city with nine other travelers. Squeezed among colossal men, he is left with a displaced head and limbs. Motionless, Mr. Lackobreath is deemed dead. A practicing physician then reports to the scene, and when the application of his pocket- mirror reveals no presence of breath, he pronounces Mr. Lackobreath dead. His body is thrown out of the coach after which Mr. Lackobreath lands outside a tavern called the "Crow."

After spotting Mr. Lackobreath the landlord of the tavern calls for a surgeon. The surgeon begins operations on Mr. Lackobreath immediately and calls for an apothecary. He proceeds to remove organs from Mr. Lackobreath for dissection. The apothecary also declares the narrator to be dead and performs experiments on him using a galvanic battery, or galvanic cell. Mr. Lackobreath's attempts to shift and contort are overlooked as effects of the electrical battery, and he is tied and stored in a garret.

After two cats start painfully biting his nose, Mr. Lackobreath is triggered enough to break the fastenings. He hastens and jumps out the window, and unfortunately lands in a hangman's cart. Mr. Lackobreath's resemblance in appearance and clothing alike to the culprit laying inside the vehicle, W---, is noted. Seeing his opportunity, as the latter is convicted to execution for mail- robbery, the man leaps out of the hangman's cart and disappears around the corner. The only men guarding the cart are a sleeping driver and two drunk recruits of the sixth infantry. Stirred by the movement, the recruits are aroused, and at the sight of Mr. Lackobreath standing erect in the cart, they assume that he is the mail- robber and trying to escape. Mr. Lackobreath is taken to the gallows where he is hung. However, he remains unaffected since he has no breath to be withdrawn and no means by which to suffer from Asphyxia. He pulls off an act, though, and when the real culprit is discovered to have escaped, the narrator's body is taken to a public vault, or a receiving vault.

Here the narrator wonders if life remains in any of the coffins. He opens the lid of one and speculates on the life that the rotund man may have led. When he goes to another figure, who seems familiar to him, and starts criticizing him, the man awakens and defends himself. Mr. Lackobreath finds that this man is his neighbor, Mr. Windenough, who recounts being struck with a sudden and second breath when he was passing by the home of the narrator. This was what caused an attack of epilepsy which led to Mr. Windenough's premature burial. Concluding that this was the breath he was missing, Mr. Lackobreath beseeches that it is returned, and Mr. Windenough delivers it back to him.^[4]

Major Themes

Transcendentalism

Exploring the elevated spirituality of the human body, transcendentalism was one of the main discourses during Poe's time due to speculations of immortality and questions on the post- human subject as a result of progress in medicine. It is suggested that during Poe's time, experiments which investigated death and life's limit were popular. The philosophical ideas encompassed by transcendentalism are implied in "Loss of Breath" with the narrator's reflection that he was "alive with the qualifications of the dead- dead with the propensities of the living." Mr. Lackobreath is the embodiment of a physical impossibility- being alive without respiration. Such impossibilities intrigued many during the 19th century because new discoveries were refuting some prior beliefs that were thought to be true. The separation of the body and one's essence, or life, is connoted with the narrator's comment, "...that die I did not. My body was, but I had no breath to be, suspended..." Yet another physical impossibility perceived and suggested in Poe's tale is resuscitation. There were points in the tale wherein Mr. Lackobreath was motionless, such as after the ride on the coach and after his body underwent surgical procedures and experimentation. Soon after, though, the character was aroused and brought back to life. Further exploring the limit of matter and transcendence of science, earlier in the tale Mr. Lackobreath suggests that his breath, an indicator of the living, "might even have a tangible form." ^[5]

Similarly, Poe explores "absurd metaphysicianism" with the mention of Schelling, a German philosopher. In the tale, the narrator notes, "In a very short time Schelling himself would have been satisfied with my entire loss of self- identity." Schelling investigated whether the idea of personal identity is lost at death, and the singular entity of an individual beyond life and death.^[5] Mr. Lackobreath represents these concerns because he continues to identify as himself despite carrying characteristics of the dead, such as lacking respiration; however, by losing the ability to communicate effectively, he loses his identity. He ultimately cannot be defined as alive nor dead, yet everything he is continues to be beyond these limits. ^[6]

Pseudoscience

In Poe's time, pseudoscience was used as a means to explain maladies and connect patients with medicine without the need for intervention from a physician. The common public was highly attracted to pseudoscience as a result of the poor communication between physicians and patients. The knowledge that physicians had about medicine was also not consistent, and this served as another factor that made pseudoscience appealing. This lack of reliability and resources led to many attempting to cure diseases or illnesses at home with common pseudoscience practices. There were no legitimate pain killers, so mesmerism and trance were practices used for anesthetic purposes. Using accessible medical treatises, the public and writers were able to infer and attempt to diagnose. ^[5]

The rapidly developing technology in the medical realm in the nineteenth century also required an explanation, and this is where mesmerism played a large role. Mesmerism is present in "Loss of Breath" with the reanimation of Mr. Lackobreath using electricity. This is seen when the apothecary experiments with the narrator's body using the galvanic battery. Mesmerism is also consistently conveyed throughout the tale with the convergence of life and death, which is embodied by Mr. Lackobreath. Mr. Lackobreath's descriptions of symptoms indicative of dyspnea, as he self- diagnoses, is also a manner in which pseudoscience is present. For example, he notes his anxiety and "spasmodic action of the muscles of the throat." ^[5] The mesmeric experiments gave way to sensationalism, which many critics accused Poe of using. Considered the "language of sensation," Poe used sensationalism via the mesmeric trance. As in "Loss of Breath" with Mr. Lackobreath, he represented an artificial death state that pushes the boundaries of human potential. While death is seen as the termination of the body, Poe explores the sensations and awareness felt in the conscious transition from life to death.^[7]

Historical Context

Nineteenth Century Medicine

During the nineteenth century, America was making great scientific advancements, and theories known today were being discovered. In this prewar period, physics especially was thriving with the discoveries of electrical resistance and conductance and electromagnetic induction, for example.^[8] The public, including writers like Edgar Allan Poe, was kept informed with medical publications being made readily accessible. Science was suggesting newfound human potential, and this stirred a growing fascination, interest, and even fear over new medical ideas, concepts, and practices. Many of these were expressed in writing, art, etc. One of the fields that was advancing at the time was the prosthetic field. The prosthesis was being further explored and applied. The idea of artificial body parts is expressed in "Loss of Breath." When searching for his breath, the narrator mentions stumbling upon "a set of false teeth, two pair of hips, an eye..." The repeated dismembering, separation, and unification of body parts in "Loss of Breath" can also be attributed to the emergence of prosthetics. For example, the narrator comments, "all my limbs were dislocated," "breaking of both my arms," and "having cut off my ears;" however, these never proved crippling to the narrator. ^[9]

Furthermore, this was a time which used surgical procedures and experiments for investigation; however, there was no absolute way to diagnose death or determine the exact moment of. There were numerous cases of premature burials in the nineteenth century, and this concerned many. Ultimately, some individuals felt the need to invent mechanisms within coffins which may alert those around it of life within it; these are oftentimes referred to as a safety coffin. As a result, Poe was not the only one preoccupied with premature interment. Although Poe explicitly expressed this concern in The Premature Burial, ^[10] he rather implicitly but, nonetheless, conveyed this in "Loss of Breath" with the premature burial of not only Mr. Lackobreath but also Mr. Windenough. Mr. Lackobreath is falsely declared or assumed dead in multiple instances by the travelers on the coach, the practicing physician, the surgeon, and the apothecary. After suffering from an epileptic attack, Mr. Windenough is taken for dead. The narrator cares to note that he "busied [himself] in speculations about the mortality within" conveying the doubts of the time.

Poe's Criticism of Medical Practitioners in the 19th Century

A popular sentiment during the nineteenth century was a lack of trust in physicians. Edgar Allan Poe oftentimes expressed this in his writing. The extent of intrusion and invasion of one's body by an anatomist was emphasized and caused fear. There was a concern with how the cadaver would be "raped" with surgical instruments, and a fear of the unknown and giving one's body freely and willingly to practitioners that may not know what they are doing. Sometimes, a mere coma or temporary suspended animation was the cause of premature investigation or burial. This criticism is conveyed in "Lack of Breath" when the surgeon does not hesitate to cut into Mr. Lackobreath's body immediately, failing to notice that he was actually alive prior to doing so. For example, "Having cut off my ears, however, he discovered signs of animation." Despite recognizing signs of life, the surgeon proceeded to remove organs for dissection. The apothecary is also deemed ignorant as he curiously experiments with Mr. Lackobreath's body and fails to observe the signs of life as the narrator struggled to depict so. Poe characterized the limited knowledge among physicians with three different characters- the practicing physician, the surgeon, and the apothecary-, as they all falsely declared Mr. Lackobreath as dead. On the other hand, in the public vault, Mr. Lackobreath found that Mr. Windenough was actually alive, while he was considered dead after suffering from an epileptic seizure. This suggests that a common folk in the public vault can determine the state of death or life of another better than working practitioners and physicians. ^[9] Another criticism of the medical practices is the lack of accurate instruments and technology. For example, the practicing physician in the coach had nothing but a pocket- mirror to determine whether Mr. Lackobreath was alive or not, which led to the inaccurate statement.

Poe also expands on the faulty speech and diagnoses of practitioners. Many considered physicians to provide patients with incomplete or inconsistent information during Poe's time. Doctors were criticized for avoiding a clear naming of the disease. The narrator in "Loss of Breath" mocks this because he diagnoses himself as having dyspnea by noting several common symptoms of it, but never explicitly stating so. He details his symptoms to prove his knowledge; for example, shortness of breath is one of the symptoms, which is emphasized with the character's complete lack of breath. Furthermore, dyspnea is associated with spasms in the throat, which the narrator notes- "I find, not upon the current of the breath, but upon a certain spasmodic action of the muscles of the throat...”^[9]

Publications

Originally, "A Loss of Breath" was published on November 10, 1832 as "A Decided Loss" in the Saturday Courier Vol. II, No. 35.^[11] In this first version, the characters are not given any names, and the narrator is deceased upon being experimented on by the apothecary. ^[12] Before it was lastly printed in The Broadway Journal on 1846, it was first revised and printed with the new name, "Loss of Breath," on 1835 in the Southern Literary Messenger.

After the authorized printings, from the first reprint on 1856 to present day, the tale continues to be reprinted. Many scholarly books, such as The Complete Works of Edgar Allan Poe, which are deemed culturally important, reprint the collection of Poe's pieces, including this one. ^[11]

References

• Feinstein, David
• Feinstein Institute
• Feinstein, Jonathan
• Feinstein, Michael
• Feinstein's
• Fein, Steven
• Feinstone, Stephen
• Feint (DJ)
• Feint Ranging Rook
• Feintuch, David
• Feiock, Richard
• Feiping Chang
• Fei Qinyuan
• Feira (constituency)
• Feira de Santa Anna
• Feiran Oasis
• Feiritéar
• Feirstein Graduate School of Cinema
• Feisal G. Mohamed
• Feis (disambiguation)
• Feis Ecktuh
• Feisel al-Istrabadi
• Feishajiao Station
• Feishajiao station
• Fei (singer, Taiwanese)