I thought at the ripe old age of 67 it was time to visit the works of E.A.P and M R James . The latter I just find too dull ? I understand the time they were written and was looking forward to suggested scares but some of it is just so dull that when the " scarry" bit comes I think jeez is that it ?
As for Mr Poe I've read a couple of the stories so far Usher and the Black Cat , my god that bloke was troubled wasn't he ? The introduction says his are some of the first books American school kids read , really?
So do I plough on and try and get into the stories or do I have to accept I'm just not " intellectual" enough for these kids stories?
I think it peaks with the Simpon's halloween version of The Raven
jim maybe if the Simpsons enacted the other stories I'd find them more palatable 😁
they also did Tell-Tale heart (sort of!). That’s my favourite EAP story, I also found The Raven a bit meh FWIW.maybe if the Simpsons enacted the other stories I’d find them more palatable
I do wonder if there's an element of The Emperor's New Clothes to works like this . On The Road and The Ragged Trousered Philanthropist come to mind , perhaps I'm not on the same intellectual wavelength?🤔
I think it’s more just the language we’re not used to, especially in the case of the poem, plus as you say it was probably scary/creepy BITD but now seems incredibly tame compared to modern horror!
Gouging a cats eye out then burying an axe in your wife's head then bricking her up in the cellar , I can't understand why that's not on the curriculum or is it ? 🤔
Comes to thread expecting to see a mention of Lance Armstrong. Is disappointed.
I do wonder if there’s an element of The Emperor’s New Clothes to works like this . On The Road.............
I think in general there might well be but "on the road" is not difficult other than the stream of consciousness writing. Once you are past that its a very simple story
In the case of Poe - I have read some. Its very archaic in the language and style IIRC and that can be off putting. But it matters not one jot. Read what you like, try different things, if you don't get on then try something else
I like MR James' ghost stories. There are some decent (and some so so) screen adaptations which typically get shown by BBC around Christmas.
I've got the book of his collected works but I like an old fashioned ghost story. Modern gory horror does nothing for me.
I read the collected works of EAP when I was a teenager/early 20s and enjoyed the Victorian gothic weirdness and obsessive fear of being buried alive.
On The Road and The Ragged Trousered Philanthropist come to mind , perhaps I’m not on the same intellectual wavelength?
Poe and MR James were good writers, you might not like them but they had some mastery of the craft. TRTP is just a sledgehammer of a book, more about getting its point across than the quality of the writing. TRTP has an important point but it really is a poor book.
You either like books or you don’t, I can think of lots of classics that are a bit meh! I read On The Road about 5 times before I was 18 and it partly inspired me to pack a bag and go on an extended trip. It’s not brilliantly written or mind blowing but some things just catch the imagination some don’t.
If you like an old fashioned ghost story try Michelle Paver's 'Dark matter'
If you like an old fashioned ghost story try Michelle Paver’s ‘Dark matter’
Proper book that! Read it cover to cover in one evening! See also 'Thin Air' and, to a lesser extent, 'Wakenhyrst'.Would be interested to know if any of her other books measure up to those?
I love a bit of Poe. Haven't read much of it since I was a teenager, but adored him then.
Deffo not for all though. Nor is poetry tbh. But whilst not to everybody's tastes it's undeniably great in and of itself.
I've just started reading his collected works which I purchased years ago but it took that recent film to make me try it again. I'd recommend reading the first page of a story to see if it piques your interest. The Maelstrom is quite good.
Michelle Paver does the classic horror thing really well - all three of those books mentioned above are well worth a read.
I believe all her other stuff is "young adult" so probably not quite the same.
Listen to this - Propaganda doing “Dream Within a Dream”
Ive found with many authors - Dickens, Austen, various Brontës, Hemingway, Damon Runyon - that it takes a while to get the ‘rhythm’ of their writing. Slow down, try to imagine them sitting across from you telling you the story. I love all those I mentioned, and Poe, but it sometimes took me a while.
it matters not one jot. Read what you like, try different things, if you don’t get on then try something else
This
There is so much literature out there to enjoy, likewise I have struggled through 'classics' and just thought meh. But find a book you connect with and it can be life changing.
I studied EAP at school in France as a kid but mostly because the translator of his work was Charles Baudelaire, who probably enhanced the quality of his work!
I think the reverence around Poe is his ideas and the time he was writing. To read it in 2023 and feel a bit meh is totally understandable.
I do wonder if there’s an element of The Emperor’s New Clothes to works like this.
He was born in 1809 and died in 1849, so I don’t think that really applies.
Modern book series where the first book is the size of a breeze-block, on the other hand, with all sorts of gushing blurb on the jacket while the story is yet another re-hashed fantasy story little different to all the others, a small part of me dies whenever I see yet another one on a bookshop’s shelves.
I think the mark of a classic is that you keep thinking about it and having new realisations long after you've finished it.
You can make excuses for the age or seminal nature of a book, but then consider that Frankenstein was written in 1818 and I still keep thinking about it.
He was born in 1809 and died in 1849, so I don’t think that really applies.
I think he's saying that people like it because everyone says they like it, rather than on merit - which is not related to its age.
Get some HP Lovecraft on the go
I remember reading The Pit and The Pendulum as a kid and loving it.
Stuff like this doesn't hold up in the internet age. Everything is 'a bit meh' when you can know everything instantly.
I think the reverence around Poe is his ideas and the time he was writing.
The Murders if the Rue de Morgue is often called the first detective story. To spawn a genre is a considerable achievement. But given the thousands and thousands of similar novels, plays, films, TV shows that have followed the same concept it's inevitably going to seem simplistic and outdated.
"Modern book series where the first book is the size of a breeze-block, on the other hand, with all sorts of gushing blurb on the jacket while the story is yet another re-hashed fantasy story little different to all the others, a small part of me dies whenever I see yet another one on a bookshop’s shelves."
Even worse when they are actually good, but the lazy author never gets round to writing the last book- Yes Patrick Rothfuss, I'm looking at you 🙁
