I enjoy Poe's stories and it's interesting to compare his "detective" fiction with that of Wilkie Collins, most notably the latter's brilliant The Moonstone. I'm not going to sit in judgement because the two writers were very different and it would be a bit like asking whether an apple tastes better than a pear. In some ways, the pair of them led the way to the creation of the detective genre and also laid down the path for later gothic novels. Gothic fiction had been very much along the line of "big castle, mysterious foreign count, beautiful girl, count locks up beautiful girl in big castle and strange things happen." Poe and Collins helped to bring the gothic/sensationalist into more everyday surroundings.
The Moonstone is an excellent book, and I remember reading that when I was a teenager as well. Another of Wilkie Collin's books that i enjoyed even more was called "The Lady in White". I actually didn't think that Wilkie Collins was similar to Edgar Allen Poe though. To me, Poe's stories were more on the macabre side than Collon's books were. Another writer that I thoroughly enjoyed was Daphne Du Maurier. I (of course) started out reading Rebecca, and then like it so well that I also read "Frenchman's Cove", and there was some other book by her that I liked also, and can't think what it was right now. Oh, yes, Jamaica Inn, was the other one I think.
I read - and studied - Wilkie Collins' The Woman in White as part of my degree course. It's a terrific novel, with one of the best villains anywhere in literature. Count Fosco surely inspired many a Bond villain.
To be honest I never read any of Poe's actual stories. Oh I did read his poetry while in school, including the iconic The Raven. I have also seen a few movies based on his books, although again you have to wonder how much of these are true to the book itself. I will give Poe this credit he did make a name for himself and his works have kept him immortalized.
Since you comment on the subject of Edgar Allen Poe, perhaps someday you will read some of his writings beside the Raven! As you already know, watching a movie and reading a book are two entirely different forms. Granted this does provide insight into an authors story but not so much his prose. Tom and Yvonne's grasp on Poe clearly shows that his influence went further then making a name for himself, immortalized (as you say). Although you have a relevant point about Poe being a type of cult figure these days, it was not the case during his lifetime or even immediately following his death. Sure, The Raven made a splash, but his persona was nothing like it is today. Do you enjoy this type of genre? In addition, to the already discussed topic on Wilkie Collins, Moonstone. Other authors; such as the famous Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and H.G. Wells come to mind, too.
Wells is best known for his 'futuristic' works, but he also wrote many fine contemporary novels like Kipps and The History of Mr Polly, which were quite Dickensian. There is also the semi-autobiographical Tono-Bungay, which is one of my favourites. Authors like Dickens, Collins and Wells addressed many of the big questions and problems facing society at that time and their works provide a wonderful window into life in the late 19th and early 20th century.
Yup, Edgar Allen Poe was an alcoholic and an opioid freak which is in some way seems suitable for an American author.
Yeah, he was a tragic figure; chasing fame and ending up with derelicts as friends, but I can still reread The Fall Of The House Of Usher over and over.
Ah yes, me thinks there just might be two halves of the house still buried beneath the waves of the tarn. Pure fantasy or is there some truth to the macabre as it is written by a slightly deranged mind? We will never know for sure.
I find his evocation of the landscape around the house haunting. Mist, dead and dying trees..... The outside mirrored the hopelessness inside. As in The Telltale Heart, where the main character's guilt is projected outside of himself, Poe knew something about our inner demons.
...the blood-red moon (usually indicating a total lunar eclipse, which adds to the eerie darkness.) There was one of his stories that had the analogy of an Earth-bound angel ("her pinions dragging the ground"), and for the life of me I cannot find it. Is that ringing any bells, or is it a different author?
I still have that American Lit book kicking around. I gotta go see if I can find the source. Stuff like this drives me nuts.
I just pulled out that American Lit book and went through all Poe's writings that I had highlighted and made notes on. I found one reference to "pinions," in "The Fall of the House of Usher." And that was not a negative/fatalistic line. I also pulled up his works online and did a word search, to no avail. Perhaps it was another author of that era. This is gonna drive me nuts. The guy sure was prolific given his early death and his likely frequent state of incapacitation.
He was indeed prolific but surprisingly, many of his works were not even published whilst he was alive and he died within two years after his wife’s death. Bottom line is that for about 2 years, most of his stuff was wife related and I believe his work that was based on the Quo’ran, Al something or other was also something linked to her death.