Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Anatomy of a Reader: Let's Talk About Edgar Allan Poe

Anatomy of a Reader is an occasional post in which we highlight a book, even if it’s not a YA title, that has had an impact on us and shaped us into the readers that we are today.

I'm kind of cheating this time by devoting this post to an author rather than a specific book. With Halloween right around the corner, I thought that this would be the perfect time to spotlight Edgar Allan Poe, one of my all-time favorite authors. His short stories were my first foray into adult literature; I was about eleven and looking to branch out beyond the Sweet Valley Twins books when I obtained my first collection of Poe’s tales. It was a very modest compendium, containing only four stories, and was an edition aimed at younger readers. I actually found it in a neighborhood five and dime store, along with a few other bargain-priced classics like The Count of Monte Cristo. It was the cover of the Poe book, though, that had really caught my eye that day; I was completely intrigued by the cover illustration of an eerie, haunted-looking house. This was quite surprising because I was a complete chicken when it came to anything even remotely horror-related. (To this day I’m still a scary movie/TV show coward, but I’m gradually getting braver about reading scary books.) I wasn’t afraid of this Poe book, however, and I couldn’t wait to start reading it.

My favorite Poe story is still the first one that I ever read, “The Tell-Tale Heart.” I was just riveted, as well as more than a little spooked, by this story of a poor old man who is killed because his creepy eye freaks out the story’s narrator. What amazed me the most about this tale was how Poe managed to tell such a compelling, memorable, and of course, macabre, story so succinctly. Although reading this gave me the chills, I became fascinated with Poe’s writing, and he forever secured a place on my list of favorite authors.

I know that “The Cask of Amontillado,” which also ranks among my favorite stories, and “The Gold-Bug” were also part of this collection, but I’m slightly less sure about the remaining tale that was included. Sadly, I no longer own this book, so I can’t go check. When I upgraded to a slightly larger Poe compilation through my school’s book club maybe a year later, I sold the original one in a yard sale, probably along with the Sweet Valley Twins books. My gut feeling tells me that the story in question was “The Fall of the House of Usher” because when I had to read it in sophomore year of high school, I remembered having read it already. This story wasn’t in the newer Famous Tales of Mystery and Horror that replaced my original Poe collection, so it must have been the fourth tale in the latter. Do I regret selling that book? Perhaps a bit. It’d be a great piece of nostalgia to have today, but Famous Tales of Mystery and Horror still sits on my bookshelf next to a complete anthology of Poe’s stories and poems that I purchased a few years ago, so it’s not as though I sold the book and forgot all about him.

Becoming acquainted with Poe’s works was sort of a turning point in my reading life because after reading his stories, I wanted to continue reading grown-up books. I never really went back to reading young adult books for the rest of my school years. Ironically, it wasn’t until I was well into adulthood when I started reading YA again. If you happen to love both Poe and YA, then I highly recommend Bethany Griffin’s Masque of the Red Death, which is an excellent Poe retelling.

I continue to love Poe because his stories are so cleverly crafted and mesmerizing. I love that thrilling moment in a tale when the twist that you’ve been waiting for finally happens. If you’re a fellow Poe fan, I’d love to hear from you! Please feel free to share your favorite works in the comments!

6 comments:

  1. The very first time I heard of Poe was in 5th grade. During Halloween, we listened to an audio version of the Tell-Tale Heart. It was terrifying and I was hooked from the start. That book you show in the photo was the one I then took out of the library.
    It's funny - kids now have things like R.L. Stine to start reading "horror" but when i was younger it was like you said, you skip from Sweet Valley High right to Poe. And what a transition! Great Post Lee

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    1. If I'd listened to the audio version of The Tell-Tale Heart as a kid, I probably would have been too spooked to try reading it. I was definitely meant to discover Poe through print books, lol.

      I remember when the Goosebumps series first came out and wishing that they'd been around when I was younger. Today's middle-grade readers have such an amazing selection of books available to them.

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  2. All that darkness in his work. He was one depressed dude that made the most out of his lack of endorphins. I am happy that anti-depressants weren't available during his time otherwise we would've lost a great artist.

    Braine

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    1. So true! Such a tragic life, and yet so much genius came out of it.

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  3. I really enjoyed this post, especially your comment about getting away from the Sweet Valley Twins lol! I really need to read more of Po's work. I have a compendium of some of his poems but I'm missing some of his short stories. My favorite of Po's is "The Raven" since it's also the first one I ever read of his works, but I really love the Tale-Tale Heart as well! Thanks for sharing Lee :)

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    1. The Sweet Valley Twins books were such a huge part of my childhood; I definitely plan on featuring them in a future post. :) "The Raven" is one of my favorite poems, too- so haunting!

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