Though he lived only forty years, Edgar Allan Poe was one of the most prolific writers of his times. The most often reported number of short stories is sixty-nine, the number provided by the Edgar Allan Poe Society of Baltimore. I haven’t been able to find the number of poems he wrote, but his...
Several times in this survey of Edgar Allan Poe, I alluded to a nonexistent list of my favorite short stories. The list doesn’t exist, because how can it? I’m distrustful of claims of favorites. Such claims seem, at best, fluid, and, at worst, fraudulent. Fraudulent perhaps is too harsh a word, too judgmental. But...
One afternoon in 6th grade, Miss Chapman sat us down and opened a book. From it, she read “The Tell-Tale Heart.” I don’t remember much else from 6th grade; I’m not even sure that Miss Chapman was the teacher’s name. But I remember that afternoon. Without a doubt, it’s my most vivid memory of...
My screen entertainment this past week was The Boys. This is an Amazon Prime series based on a comic book by Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson. Eric Kripke adapted it for Amazon. It stars Karl Urban, Jack Quaid, and Erin Moriarty. It’s an edgy superhero show, but the superheroes are horrible people. They aren’t...
Of all the stories by Edgar Allan Poe that I’ve been reading during these past few weeks, I considered “The Murders in the Rue Morgue” my least favorite. Please do not read too much into that claim. I enjoyed reading it, and I recommend you read it. Even my least favorite story by Poe...
“The Masque of the Red Death” reads like a fable. One could imagine it beginning with the stock line, Once upon a time… It’s loaded with irony, symbolism, and poetic justice; in fact, I think it’s Poe’s most ironic story. It reminds us that, in the end, death comes for us all. As the...
The current novel I’m reading is Friday by Robert R. Heinlein. It’s a 1982 science-fiction novel about an android—or artificial person as she’s called in the novel—who’s a trained assassin and spy. At least that’s what the cover blurb tells me. I bought the novel in the 80s and began to read it, but...
The Spanish Inquisition began in 1478, under the reign of Ferdinand II and Isabella I. It started with the mundane but morally questionable goal of identifying heretics. That was a slippery slope that eventually led to searching for and persecuting all enemies of the church and crown. It became a witch hunt. Its victims...
Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary/Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore—so reads, arguably, the most famous couplet in American poetry. It’s surely is the most famous quotation in Edgar Allan Poe’s oeuvre. One doesn’t have to be a literary scholar to recognize it and know...
This last week, I rewatched The Amazing Spider-Man (2012). I’ve heard it said that Toby Mcguire understood Peter Parker but not Spider-Man, but Andrew Garfield understood Spider-Man but not Peter Parker. Tom Hollands understands both Spider-Man and Peter Parker. That’s why he’s the best actor to play the character we’ve seen. But there’s something...
