Should have read classics discussion

This is the discussion thread for this story in the buddy reads.

The Masque of the Red Death seems very short and somewhat pointless to me, like a lot of Poe's spooky stories.
Poe provided a lot of material for other writers to expand on. He was a great influence on later writers. But most of his spooky stories do not appeal to me.
It helps me understand them to know that he was writing for newspapers and literary journals, with the goal of selling more copies. Many of the stories do seem like sensationalist popular fodder, rather than true classics, to me.

You didn't feel the horror of the people who were trying to escape the plague by isolating themselves? What could be more frightening than doing all you could to run away, but not being able to hide?

Much has been written about Poe in modern times, but its to the point where modern readers may be confused about his achievement. The simplicity of Poe's tales may be deceptive.

Anyone interested in fathoming what Poe is really doing, should read the portion of analysis HP Lovecraft devotes to him in his seminal study, 'Supernatural Horror in Literature'. (1934) Its available as a free download, online.

Next, you ought to read Edmund Wilson's chapters on TS Eliot and WB Yeats to see how profoundly Poe--an American--affected European poets. This analysis is contained in Wilson's 'Axel's Castle: A Study of the Imaginative Literature of 1870-1930'. First and foremost, Poe is the inspiration for the career of Charles Baudelaire. Poe really started the entire Symbolist movement in modern literature; Symbolism which eventually led to Surrealism, Dada, and everything else.

I personally would suggest that no, its not really all that germane to bear-in-mind that Poe was 'writing for newspapers'. Periodicals were the primary form of mass media in the 1800s.

A better way to read Poe is to look for the symbology of the elements he chooses, and the way they interact with each other. For example, just take two of his tales based on the theme of "guilty conscience". I refer to 'The Black Cat' and 'The Tell-Tale Heart'..do you imagine Poe happens on these props merely by accident? Unlikely. As each story progresses, these features become thoroughly enmeshed with the psychology of the characters throughout the tale. They also become the structure of the story itself.

The cat ..'keeps-returning'; the sound of the beating heart ...'keeps-returning'; exactly in parallel to the strain of the protagonists (unable to keep their secrets any longer). Meanwhile, in 'Amontillado'..the successful murder is buried in a catacomb 'deep within' the 'house' of the murderer and 'deep within' his utterly remorseless conscience. In 'Usher', the house has a split consciousness, mirroring the split consciousness of Rupert and his sister (former Siamese twins).

So, its all about the structure. Poe is a structuralist. His stories are (as Lovecraft points out) near-perfect examples of concise, vivid, economical storytelling.

Hi! Yes, Poe is very concise and economical. Part of my problem with Poe is that horror stories don't really appeal to me. As Poe himself points out in the beginning of The Premature Burial, many readers find made up fictional horrors simply abhorrent. I'm afraid I am one of those. A memoir about atrocities is fascinating and commendable to me. But horror for horror's sake does not appeal to me. For example, I have no desire to read HP Lovecraft, most of Steven King's body of work, or James Patterson. On the other hand, I do like a good detective story. And I'm now very appreciative of Poe for getting that genre started.

I do now understand how seminal Poe was and the great influence he had on the course of literature. So I do appreciate him for that.

Emily, I think it is the supernatural character of the Red Death ghost that spoils the story for me. I would have found it more interesting if the people who had isolated themselves ended up ironically destroying themselves by ordinary means -- something more like The Lord of the Flies, for example.

In general, Poe was imaginative and had a lot of great ideas, but that's what most of his stories seem to be to me. A sensationalist idea, well illustrated. Not a real "story", in the full sense of the word.

I also think I may not be doing him justice, in that he was writing in the early 1800's, very much still in the style of Gothic romanticism. Whereas I want him to write like Charles Dickens, more a realist.

I salute you for understanding your own tastes so well.