Book Club, March 08, Short Stories by Edgar Allen Poe

by TheSilence 26 Replies latest social entertainment

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  TheSilence

  Hello, everyone,

  Welcome to the first Book Club thread... let's hope it works out and it's something we can all enjoy.

  Due to time constraints, for the first month we are discussing short stories by Edgar Allen Poe. The format is open to any discussion you wish to have about the topic at hand, but if you're looking for something to stimulate some discussion you are welcome to use the questions below or come up with some of your own for others to answer.

  Possible Topics for Discussion

  - Which of Poe's short stories did you enjoy the most and why? What message did it send?
  - Which of Poe's short stories were not so enjoyable and why?
  -Poe has been called the father of science fiction on the basis of fantasies and hoaxes he wrote in his short stories. Do you agree with this analysis?
  -Poe has also been called the father of the detective story. In reading any of his stories of detection did you notice the use of any literary devices that have been used subsequent to Poe's usage of them?
  -Poe believed that a short story should concentrate upon 'a certain unique or single effect'. What examples of this did you notice?
  -Julian Symons said, "Poe seems always to be trying to express something that he does not dare to say, and this sense of something unstated in the stories, of a final curtain never pulled aside, adds to their effectiveness." Do you agree with this statement, and if so what is it you think Poe is trying to express that he does not dare to say?
  -Poe was known to be a heavy drinker. Do you think this had an effect on what or how he wrote?

  Next Month

  Next month we will be discussing The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood. This selection was suggested by AWAKE&WATCHING.

  If you have any book suggestions you would like added to the list please send me a pm.

  Thanks,

  Jackie
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  SnakesInTheTower

  ah, hell...I just returned that book to the library....yep...Short Stories and Poems of Edgar Allen Poe...never even looked at..I had no time. And it was 9 days overdue. I had it out for a college class, ended up using something else.

  Snakes ()
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  TheSilence

  I just returned that book to the library....yep...Short Stories and Poems of Edgar Allen Poe...never even looked at..I had no time.

  Well, in the original thread where I proposed a Book Club idea I posted a link to Poe's stories online. If you have the time you could always read them that way ;)

  Jackie
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  CyrusThePersian

  "The Gold Bug" is a personal favorite of mine, despite the offensive portrayal of the African-American character Jupiter.

  I guess it belongs in the detective-mystery genre in that it involves breaking secret codes and finding buried treasure.

  What I liked about it was the detailed method used by Legrand to break the pirate's code and then interpret it to locate the booty.

  Cool story, and still entertaining over a hundred years after it was written!

  CyrusThePersian
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  TheSilence

  What I liked about it was the detailed method used by Legrand to break the pirate's code and then interpret it to locate the booty.

  I enjoyed that as well. I think Poe's writing of Legrand's explanation of how to break the cypher was well done because it explained it reasonably and simply without being a dry synopsis of how to break a code. I also enjoyed that Legrand knew his friend thought he was somewhat out of his head so he screwed with him a little. ;)

  Jackie
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  TheSilence

  My favorite Poe story is Silence -- A Fable. To me it's message is that man's greatest fear is facing himself. I love it that the maelstrom and the beasts are something the man in the story can face, but the silence is what terrifies him. I also enjoy The Mask of the Red Death. I think it's message is pretty simply that none of us can escape death, but I enjoy the mode of the story.

  Jackie
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  Forscher

  Poe is one of my favorite authors

  I did my freshman English research paper on The Fall Of The House Of Usher

  .

  However, my favorite story is The Purloined Letter

  Poe's character Dupin shines as the archetypal detective Poe defined for the genre. To this day that archetype still holds. The story is so believable that one can still see it happening today, even with all our sophisticated search and forensic practices. All to often folks still forget to look at the simple and obvious.

  Forscher
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  Hope4Others

  There are a lot of short stories to choose from, should we be trying to read the same ones or just choose randomly?

  Some have listed ones they like here, I'll perhaps go with that. This should be fun.

  Hope4Others
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  TheSilence

  There are a lot of short stories to choose from, should we be trying to read the same ones or just choose randomly?

  You are welcome to read and/or comment on any of Poe's short stories. You can pick and choose which in any manner you like ;)

  Jackie
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  TheSilence

  Poe's character Dupin shines as the archetypal detective Poe defined for the genre. To this day that archetype still holds.

  Of the three stories in which Dupin is featured, The Purloined Letter is certainly my favorite. You can see Poe's usage of a brilliant detective and a less brilliant friend who needs the reasoning explained as a mode to tell detective stories in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's stories, most notably, among many others. If I remember correctly, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle also used the loud noise outside a window to help solve a case, once.

  The story is so believable that one can still see it happening today, even with all our sophisticated search and forensic practices. All to often folks still forget to look at the simple and obvious.

  That's a great message to take from it, and very true, I think.

  Jackie