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Sara's Reviews > The Tell Tale Heart: And Other Writings
The Tell Tale Heart: And Other Writings
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I have read this for the 3rd time and finished 10/08/12.
Very good! I like Poe. This collection wasn't the best, though. For example, I wish Hop Frog was in it. I like that short story. I like Marie Roget, too, but I can see the editing of that from this book since we have two detective stories already.
The last story I finished in this book was The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym. Aside from the racism in the story (and Poe is now dead and he wrote in the 1800's, so nothing can now be done about that) it's an interesting narrative about a man on a boat heading to the Antarctic. There's perhaps too much seafaring detail in there for my tastes. The ending to that story is definitely unsatisfying. I also got a good sense of 19th values toward "conquering the world" reading this narrative.
It seemed like the majority of the stories mention the words "opium" and "ague" at least once. I got to the point where I started looking for the first mention of opium and ague every time I started a new story.
I also get the feeling that being buried alive was one of Poe's worst nightmares. I think that was a general feeling of the population during that time in history.
*****
I have just found out Jules Verne wrote a sequel to Arthur Gordon Pym called An Antarctic Mystery. I am glad. Very glad. I have requested it from the library and hope to read it sometime soon.
Very good! I like Poe. This collection wasn't the best, though. For example, I wish Hop Frog was in it. I like that short story. I like Marie Roget, too, but I can see the editing of that from this book since we have two detective stories already.
The last story I finished in this book was The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym. Aside from the racism in the story (and Poe is now dead and he wrote in the 1800's, so nothing can now be done about that) it's an interesting narrative about a man on a boat heading to the Antarctic. There's perhaps too much seafaring detail in there for my tastes. The ending to that story is definitely unsatisfying. I also got a good sense of 19th values toward "conquering the world" reading this narrative.
It seemed like the majority of the stories mention the words "opium" and "ague" at least once. I got to the point where I started looking for the first mention of opium and ague every time I started a new story.
I also get the feeling that being buried alive was one of Poe's worst nightmares. I think that was a general feeling of the population during that time in history.
*****
I have just found out Jules Verne wrote a sequel to Arthur Gordon Pym called An Antarctic Mystery. I am glad. Very glad. I have requested it from the library and hope to read it sometime soon.
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Reading Progress
Started Reading
December 1, 1992
–
Finished Reading
July 14, 2012
– Shelved
July 17, 2012
– Shelved as:
horror-supernatural
September 14, 2012
–
0.0%
"I am going to be reading this book again for my upcoming book group in October."
September 17, 2012
–
0.0%
"Done with The Cask of Amontillado. Now reading the Fall of the House of Usher. (yeh, man)"
September 21, 2012
–
15.0%
"Finished The Masque of the Red Death, The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar, and am now reading Ligeia - she sounds positively creepy."
September 24, 2012
–
30.0%
October 7, 2012
–
78.0%
"I'm about halfway thru the Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym and it's interesting."
October 8, 2012
–
83.0%
July 7, 2014
– Shelved as:
book-group-reads
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Sorento62
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Apr 05, 2015 11:57AM
I read a lot of Poe's stories and some biographical essays on Poe last year. I'm not a fan of horror, so some of his stuff does not wow me. But I really do appreciate him as a writer now. And even more than that I am grateful to him for helping me understand that transitional time, the early to mid 1800's, when people were afraid of being buried alive (as you say) and the transition from romanticism to realism had begun. Knowing about Poe helps make that time in history real to me, so that by stringing together impressions from what I have read about the 1950's, the early 1900's and late 1800's, Poe's time, and colonial America, I can link by link work my way back through time and feel truly connected to people who lived hundreds of years ago -- knowing and feeling that they were as real and as everyday human as we are these days.
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That's an interesting way to look at it. Sometimes I think that the more real and scientific and explainable the world becomes, the more fantasy and horror exist in the literary world. I like how Poe was one of the first to do the detective story as we know it - taking scientific advancement and making a great story around it.
Yes, I was amazed at how his detective stories were so similar to Sherlock Holmes, yet written before Sherlock Holmes.
I love Poe. Not every story is equal but his themes reappear story after story. I'd recommend the complete works next (minus the poems)
I have checked out from the library the complete works but I did not read every one of them. Someday!
