tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8717808259082655272.post7526574289503738465..comments2023-09-25T06:03:20.143-07:00Comments on Elizabeth Varadan's Fourth Wish: Perusing PoeElizabeth Varadan, Authorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01708206753256682635noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8717808259082655272.post-44348728116864266572011-03-10T09:14:27.186-08:002011-03-10T09:14:27.186-08:00That's great, Rosi. Yeah, I hope what I write...That's great, Rosi. Yeah, I hope what I write will one day be a cliche, too! I just read Hop Frog last night, and to me, it was the best example of a true story so far in the collection that I have. It had all the elements I mentioned above.<br /><br />Carrie, I love your query for The Tell-Tale Heart. You're right about the scariness of that story. I remember my brother read it when we were teens and he loved horror stories and retold it to me, so that I was scared witless. :-)Elizabeth Varadan, Authorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01708206753256682635noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8717808259082655272.post-75214342955093566642011-03-09T19:54:00.669-08:002011-03-09T19:54:00.669-08:00Thanks for the mention, Elizabeth! I haven't r...Thanks for the mention, Elizabeth! I haven't read 'The House of Usher' for awhile but I taught 'The Tell-Tale Heart' to groups of tenth graders for a few years. It still has the power to scare! How would Poe query that one...?<br /><br />"Our narrator doesn't have a name, but he does have a very big problem: he bludgeoned his employer to death and buried him under the floor..."Carriehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03733651711754068802noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8717808259082655272.post-62625830341682785692011-03-09T19:29:04.237-08:002011-03-09T19:29:04.237-08:00No question much of what was written over a hundre...No question much of what was written over a hundred years ago has formed the cliches of today, and that makes it hard for us as writers to read them. We've been trained to avoid them. I hope what I write today will become the cliches of the future. That will mean many have read and absorbed what I've written.<br /><br />My favorite of Poe's stories is Hop Frog. It is a real horror story and the character of Hop Frog has stayed with me all these years. He was, in some ways, the inspiration for one of my characters in my second novel. Poe certainly made an impression on me.Rosihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01294774973863802821noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8717808259082655272.post-55529859817904188532011-03-09T10:51:15.729-08:002011-03-09T10:51:15.729-08:00Hi, Tanya, thanks for following me. I wonder that...Hi, Tanya, thanks for following me. I wonder that, too. Will the book we read today (the award winners, etc.) be considered "classics" 100 years from now?<br /><br />Naomi, the comment above was in response to your comment, which I loved. I'd really like to get a discussion going on this! :-)Elizabeth Varadan, Authorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01708206753256682635noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8717808259082655272.post-24678223405266342282011-03-09T10:40:55.432-08:002011-03-09T10:40:55.432-08:00You raise a good point about the "cliche"...You raise a good point about the "cliche" aspect. And I do think he's a master of atmosphere and suggestion and innuendo. I am enjoying finally reading these, since they are classics, and I know Poe is considered the father of the short story. (I think I know that. :-) )<br />In the case of Usher, though, is it really a story or a literarily written "event" or long, drawn out anecdote? It's almost like a campfire story where the teller shrieks at the end and sends all the listeners scattering. I've probably had it drummed into me too much: "beginning-middle-end" "arc" "denouement" "dimensional characters" etc., etc. He's a master of setting and staging, but all the mysteries remain mysteries, and the story as it happened still remains a horrible event the narrator witnessed. I like discussions like this by the way, so I'd love your follow up comments.Elizabeth Varadan, Authorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01708206753256682635noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8717808259082655272.post-12459757688243803832011-03-09T10:35:45.918-08:002011-03-09T10:35:45.918-08:00Interesting thoughts. It is sometimes hard to get ...Interesting thoughts. It is sometimes hard to get into books written for different times, eras. We evolved, not just as writers but as readers. <br />We call them classics, what will future generations call our work? Weird? Dated? Crap? You got me thinking. <br />Look out.Tanya Reimerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00293977395016853814noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8717808259082655272.post-52087449679365378202011-03-09T10:28:06.486-08:002011-03-09T10:28:06.486-08:00Didn't know about the March challenge, but did...Didn't know about the March challenge, but did read "Heart of Darkness" this month -- a book I've long felt guilty about not having read. As for Poe, I'm a huge fan. His writing seems excessive & predictable to us -- all those adjectives! all that gloom! But he was really a pioneer of horror & mystery, and what he did has now become so commonplace as to feel cliched. I think the letdown you're feeling may in part be because of that. I teach "Usher" in my undergrad English lit & composition class, and some of the things we look at are his personification of the house & then the way the Ushers & their dwelling become conflated with each other. Also: Is it really just the fulfillment of an old curse that the narrator "happens" to witness? Or does that narrator in fact imagine -- or perhaps even *cause* -- the events in the story? And then there are all the weird incestuous innuendos between Roderick & Madeline. It's over-the-top, but I think delicious good fun.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8717808259082655272.post-26733303984390031032011-03-09T07:41:23.924-08:002011-03-09T07:41:23.924-08:00Have not read Edgar Allan Poe, will try to read it...Have not read Edgar Allan Poe, will try to read it. Thanks for alerting us to Carrie's blog.Rachna Chhabriahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16900999965919504282noreply@blogger.com