Edgar Allen Poe July 26, 2005
I must be in a macabre mood. I’ve been thinking a lot about the few of Poe’s works that I’ve read. I found a site that actually has a lot of his works online: Edgar Allen Poe.
I must have been in late grade school or in junior high when we went up the coast for a vacation one summer. We rented a house that perched on a blustery cliff. Being fairly far up the coast in northern California it was not always exactly warm during the day—even in summer—and often cold at night. It was lovely. The house had a nice fireplace. Dad would light a fire in the evening after dinner, we’d turn out the lights, and take turns reading Poe out loud by firelight. I’ll never forget those evenings. I don’t know if I’ve even been more afraid! But it was quite fun.
Poe’s prose can be difficult if you’re not used to his style, but it’s so worth it. I think of The Pit and the Pendulum, The Purloined Letter, and The Raven, and I still get chills. I don’t remember if we read The Murders in the Rue Morgue that weekend or not. Poe’s Murders in the Rue Morgue is often said to be the first detective story ever written. Thank you, Mr. Poe, for developing one of my favorite forms of fiction.
kfc2003 July 28
I love Poe–one of my all time favorites. I think that much of what I read now has a little something to do with Poe–the original horror writer :)