Edgar Allan Poe

[Connavar]

We all know his name and what he is famous for but are there any fans of his here ? People that have enjoyed and still read and enjoy his stories ?



I read my first story of his last night. The famous first detective story of his, The Murders in The Rue Morgue.

I was impressed alot by his writing ability,poetic style and most importantly for a story that wasnt as dated as i expected,i have read stories who are only 40 years old and felt much more dated.

C.Augustine Dupin was classic detective. I have read him 1000 times in other crime stories it was a special feeling as crime fan to see the original.

I liked him alot. His theories wasnt wild guess or crazy talents i have seen in detectives of his type. It was very rational and believable.

 

[j d worthington]

Very much a fan of Poe. I go back and reread his work periodically; in fact, I'd like to lay my hands on a complete set of Poe edited by T. O. Mabbott, if I can ever scrape together enough cash....

Two things you may find of interest, Connavar: the first is a tale called "The Lighthouse", an uncompleted story by Poe which was finished by Robert Bloch (himself something of a Poe scholar and a rather good writer of both horror and mystery/detective/crime stories); the other is a story by Bloch himself titled "The Man Who Collected Poe"....

 

[Connavar]

I will keep those two thing in mind specially when i start to collect Poe.

After the first horror story i read which was The Premature Burial. It wasnt as good my first Poe story with Dupin but it had a very cool gothic feel that i could feel in my bones while reading it.

I must say i feel so much for his writing alot more than i expected.

Which of these stories do you think most highly of ? :
The Pit and the Pendulum ,The Fall of the House of Usher,The Tell-Tale Heart.



Im thinking horror wise, i have sampled his detective/mystery stories that i already plan to collect, now looking for a strong horror story of his to get much high quality of him as soon as i can.

 

[j d worthington]

Which of these stories do you think most highly of ? :
The Pit and the Pendulum ,The Fall of the House of Usher,The Tell-Tale Heart.

On an objective, critical level: "The Fall of the House of Usher". It may well be the most perfectly crafted of all Poe's tales, and certainly it's one that grows with each reading. It is also one that created a conundrum for readers and scholars alike until Lovecraft posed what has become accepted as the correct reading of the tale in his "Supernatural Horror in Literature".

"The Pit and the Pendulum" is, broadly speaking, pure physical horror -- a suspense tale which hits on a large number of common human fears and repulsions. A fine story, but it lacks the larger "spiritual" dimension of "Usher". Ditto for "The Tell-Tale Heart", which deals in physical (or at most mental) horror, rather than a true violation of natural law. It is a crime story, rather than a weird tale per se....

The funny thing is, despite the fact that Poe is (deservedly) known as the father of the horror tale (in the modern sense), only a very small percentage of what he wrote is actually horror. He also wrote detective stories (or, as he called them, tales of ratiocination), humor, satire, prose-poetic pieces, character studies, nature pieces, crime stories, philosophical pieces... not to mention his poetry, which is among the greatest American verse of the nineteenth century....

 

[Connavar]

On an objective, critical level: "The Fall of the House of Usher". It may well be the most perfectly crafted of all Poe's tales, and certainly it's one that grows with each reading. It is also one that created a conundrum for readers and scholars alike until Lovecraft posed what has become accepted as the correct reading of the tale in his "Supernatural Horror in Literature".

"The Pit and the Pendulum" is, broadly speaking, pure physical horror -- a suspense tale which hits on a large number of common human fears and repulsions. A fine story, but it lacks the larger "spiritual" dimension of "Usher". Ditto for "The Tell-Tale Heart", which deals in physical (or at most mental) horror, rather than a true violation of natural law. It is a crime story, rather than a weird tale per se....

The funny thing is, despite the fact that Poe is (deservedly) known as the father of the horror tale (in the modern sense), only a very small percentage of what he wrote is actually horror. He also wrote detective stories (or, as he called them, tales of ratiocination), humor, satire, prose-poetic pieces, character studies, nature pieces, crime stories, philosophical pieces... not to mention his poetry, which is among the greatest American verse of the nineteenth century....

I read in wiki all info about him personal and proffisional life. I didnt have clue he was big in several genres, famous poet etc

Whats funny is that before i read his info when i knew nothing about him except that he was a famous author that died young, was famous for horror stories like The Raven. I found his writing style to be poetry like in many parts of the short stories i read. I saw some lines that made me smile cause of the sheer imagination,creativity. No wonder he is famous for poetry too !

As i said earlier i love reading author that can impress you with their prose, a Vance,REH. I found Poe to be like that. Lines like this might be common to you who are a fan of Poe and other great prose writers but these lines impressed me :

And now, amid all my infinite miseries, came sweetly the cherub Hope


and this one

-but the imagination of man is no Carathis, to explore with impunity its every cavern.
Alas ! the grim legion of sepulchral terrors cannot be regarded as altogether fanciful

 

[j d worthington]

If you like his more poetic approach, I would expect "The Masque of the Red Death" to definitely be up your alley... and oh, that last line....

Incidentally, "The Raven" is a poem, not a prose tale....

Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore,
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,
As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.
"'Tis some visitor,", I muttered, "tapping at my chamber door --
Only this, and nothing more."

 

[Fried Egg]

I read the Wordsworth collection of Poe. "Tales of mystery and imagination" I think it was called.

I thought that they varied in quality quite a lot. I expect I'll read him again sometime but I'm not fanatically trying to track down more of his works or anything.

 

[HoopyFrood]

I love Edgar Allan Poe. The Pit and the Pendulum is one of my favourite short stories ever. The tension created in that is amazing.

 

[Connavar]

I read the Wordsworth collection of Poe. "Tales of mystery and imagination" I think it was called.

I thought that they varied in quality quite a lot. I expect I'll read him again sometime but I'm not fanatically trying to track down more of his works or anything.

Im reading the same collection and have read some really good stories in it. Which ones did you like ?


Duh ! You have the collection from Wordsworth i want badly to get !! Are there huge mistakes in it ?

 

[Fried Egg]

I actually borrowed it from someone and I don't have it anymore. Do you have a content listing? I'll need to jog my memory...

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

... when I knew nothing about him except that he was a famous author that died young, was famous for horror stories like The Raven./QUOTE]

As JD says, it's a poem. But also, it's not a horror story, although it is moody and mysterious. The movie version, on the other hand, which only uses the poem as a jumping-off point, is a spoof of horror movies, where actors like Vincent Price and Peter Lorre get to parody themselves.

My favorite stories by Poe are The Fall of the House of Usher and The Masque of the Red Death -- probably because of the beauty and power of the language. I also love Ligeia, for its dark, gothic romance.

 

[Connavar]

... when I knew nothing about him except that he was a famous author that died young, was famous for horror stories like The Raven./QUOTE]

As JD says, it's a poem. But also, it's not a horror story, although it is moody and mysterious. The movie version, on the other hand, which only uses the poem as a jumping-off point, is a spoof of horror movies, where actors like Vincent Price and Peter Lorre get to parody themselves.

My favorite stories by Poe are The Fall of the House of Usher and The Masque of the Red Death -- probably because of the beauty and power of the language. I also love Ligeia, for its dark, gothic romance.

It was only yesterday that i wrote that but since then i have read everything i could find about Poe. From people he influenced and thought he was genius ,to people that was jealous and was famous for disliking him.

The thing i said about Raven was of course the same thing most people know of him if you only know small mainstream info about him. In school for example there was only about him,alcholism,Raven. Thats all you needed to know.

 

[Fried Egg]

Ah, I remember now...some stories I particularly liked (besides those already mentioned by others) were "The facts in the case of M. Valedemar" which was a interesting speculation into what might happen if you hypnotised someone at the point of death. "The Black Cat" is a strange and engaging tale about love turning to hate and cruelty. "Loss of breath" was a hilarious black comedy that has stood the test of time well.

 

[Connavar]

I read The Pit and the Pendulum yesterday and it was wonderfully creppy and a great short story. At the ending i had my heart in my throat !

Man the tension build in that story is amazing. It made me want to read more creepy classic horror badly.

Heh im reading Rats in the Walls by HP Lovecraft simply cause of the Pit short story.

 

[Nesacat]

Have always loved Poe since I read the Pit & The Pendulum as an illustrated book when I was in school. That led me to the rest and I still read the stories every so often.

The one I love best would be The Fall of the House of Usher followed by The Black Cat. I also like Ligeia and of course there's his detective Auguste Dupin. Tell Tale Heart always sets my heart pounding too and every time I visit a castle anywhere in Europe I see The Masque of the Red Death.

 

[sacateca]

i love Poe. The first story i ever read from him was 'the Island of the Fay' and it's still my favourite, another close one is 'Silence - a Fable' (just mentioning these, nothing against his more popular stories, either!)

 

[AE35Unit]

I love Poe too, I have a large omnibus of his stories and poems etc. I've not yet read The Raven but alwways thought it was horror-i certainly enjoyed the vincent price movie,very creepy!
The pit and the pendulum is one i like, much much scarier than the film version!

I really want to get into horror but i dont know that many classic authors,who to look for etc. I have some Conan Doyle and I've read some M R James in the past but need to learn more.

and its about time a film was made about Poe's life1

 

[j d worthington]

and its about time a film was made about Poe's life1

Bite your tongue! Can you imagine what Hollywood would do with this one? We'd certainly end up with the drug-crazed, drink-addled, degenerate misfit foisted on us by Griswold....

Incidentally, speaking of this idea, I recall that as far back as the 1980s, there was talk of Sylvester Stallone wanting to do a film about Poe... with himself in the role! (This may be pure nonsense, but I did come across it in various sources on current Hollywood projects, and considering that industry... it's really not that far-fetched....)

 

[Fried Egg]

I recorded the "Masque of the red death" on television the other day, planning on watching it tonight. Anyone know if it's any good (just so I can prepare myself for disapointment)?

 

[j d worthington]

I recorded the "Masque of the red death" on television the other day, planning on watching it tonight. Anyone know if it's any good (just so I can prepare myself for disapointment)?

Which version? If it's the Roger Corman film, with Vincent Price... while it has some problems now and again, overall it's a very good film, with some sterling performances, superb camera work, and a stunning use of the color motif so important to the story. A beautiful film to watch, and in many ways captures the Poe story to a surprising degree. (It also has as source material, the tale "Hop-Frog", which blends into Prospero's court quite well....)