Recently on Myspace, I have started a group devoted to this issue, thus I will publish the same articles on both. Here is todays post. I have been reading a lot of Edgar Allan Poe lately and I am thoroughly enjoying it. The tales are intriguing and horrifying. I, as most of you did, read some Poe in high school, meaning I didn’t actually read any of it. But, I think that my understanding of his writing is much more astute.
“The Purloined Letter” is considered to be Poe’s finest mystery/detective story. Poe had an affinity and a love for the genere, although he is obviously more well known for his horror tales. Poe wrote three detective stories: “The Purloined Letter”, “The Murders of the Rue Morgue” (of which I have already read and reviewed), and “The Mystery of Marie Roget”. Poe himslef refered to these stories as “tales of ratiocination”
“The Purloined Letter” in summary stars August Dupin again in a more tame tale that the Rue Morgue murders. The case involves a stolen letter of a certain lady dignitary, a letter of seeming importance that is never revealed to the reader. What is incredibly interesting about this story is that Dupin solves it well before the police, using some of the most sound deduction I have read since Sherlock Holmes, even though Dupin was created before Holmes. This story is not action packed, but it is intriguing nonetheless. I would suggest reading this for the simple fact of the astuteness of Dupin. Altogether a better detective story that “Rue Morgue”; consequently, “Letter” must be approached in a differnt manner than “Rue Morgue”.
Ah, “The Black Cat”. This one really struck a nerve. This is one of Poe’s most famous (or is that infamous?) of his horror tales. The narrator begins as being a quiet mild mannered animal lover, but over time begins to loathe everyone around him. The reason that this one hit me so hard is that the narrator seems to suffer from anger management issues, just like me. Obviously I am not as perverse as he, but the reader can watch this rage and anger eat him from the inside, culminating in the murder of his beloved spouse and pets, most notably the black cat named Pluto. This story is very quotable, especially since Poe is writing this from the viewpoint of the narrator, who in turn is fighting with himself throughout the story. A terrifying tale, much akin to “The Tell-Tale Heart”. Both characters seem to have this insatiable urge to commit evil deeds and when confronted, they want to be found out. Dostoyevsky, an admirer of Poe, uses this same tactic with Raskolnikov in “Crime and Punishment”; Raskolnikov almost rats himself out when confronted by the police, as if he wants the authorities to find him out. A truly eerie tale. Enjoy this one at your own expense.
“Who has not, a hundred times, found himself committing a vile or a stupid action, for no other reason than because he knows he should not?..”
“Evil thoughts became my sole intimates–the darkest and most evil of thoughts.”
