Seminar paper from the year 2002 in the subject American Studies - Literature, grade: 1,00, Catholic University Eichstätt-Ingolstadt (Amerikanistik), course: The Short Stories of E. A. Poe, language: English, abstract: This paper deals with the central idea of E.A. Poe's short story "The Oval Portrait", which resides in the confusing relationship between art, life and death. The paper focuses on the ambiguity of the creative process of art and also depicts the effect on both the narrator and the reader.