Edgar Allan Poe is a master of the Gothic form, and this edition brings together some of his more memorable poems and short stories. Hailed as the grandfather of horror and the founder of the mystery genre, I really enjoyed what he had to offer. But this review must necessarily deal with the book in thirds, divided as it is, into three parts. To begin with, we'll glance over his poetry. The Penguin Clothbound book brings us seventeen of them, ranging from the instantly recognisable (and excellent) The Raven to some of his lesser known sonnets. I have to say, The Raven stands head and shoulders above the rest on account of its sheer lyricality and quotability.
Then we come to his short stories, the meat and bones of the book, and here lies the main interest. Many of the titles are well known, but with the exception of The Oval Portrait, which I remembered from sixth form college English class, I had never read them. I was pleasantly surprised by many, and underwhelmed by a few. The Murders in the Rue Morgue stood out as being notable for its excessive graphic violence, and also for being the first ever detective story. We even have a proto, gothic Sherlock Holmes in the character of Le Chevalier C. Auguste Dupin. The Fall of the House of Usher and The Telltale Heart, however, were not as exciting as I'd hoped, and were over before they really began. It's a shame Poe never properly turned his hand to novels, as I repeatedly felt myself wanting more from his short stories. I'm aware he did publish one.
But now onto the final section, the 'Other Writings' part of the book's title, and here lies the problem. Poe may be adept at crafting spine-tingling tales of horror, but by all accounts he was a terrible little man in his personal life and who, if he were alive today, would be rightly branded a paedophile. I'm therefore not hugely enthusiastic about reading his miscellaneous scribblings, and quite honestly, I'd rather the volume didn't have them. Not only do they take up precious shelf space, but they also make for incredibly dry reading. Reviews of books I've never heard of, behind the scenes on how he created The Raven - it's all mathematics! - and even essays on furniture, magazine composition, and lots of slandering of his literary peers which really betrays his poisonous personality. Avoid the last section if you aren't cursed with completionist tendencies.
No comments:
Post a Comment