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There Might Be Cupcakes and Books
— feeling amazing
In which I read a lesser-known short-story of Edgar Allan Poe's: "The Oval Portrait".
In which I read a lesser-known short-story of Edgar Allan Poe's: "The Oval Portrait".
Like with Le Duc de L’Omelette, I needed a translation, and not from French this time. Once again theExaminer saved my bacon.
Apparently this is a spoof of Zillah; a tale of the Holy City (1828) set in Jerusalem 6,000 years ago when animal sacrifices were in vogue. I haven’t readZillah and my knowledge of this Biblical time and place is virtually non-existent, so I had no idea what the clan names meant or their significance. As a modern reader, when it came to Pharisees, Israelites, Ammonites, Philistines – I pretty much drew a blank, and I didn’t particularly feel like researching them for what is, essentially, a nonsensical short story about a handful of Israelites guessing the species of animal they’ve purchased to be sacrificed. (Spoiler: It turns out to be an ‘unclean’ pig so they throw it back over the wall.) But back in 1832, when A Tale of Jerusalem was published – at the very beginning of Poe’s writing career – a few more readers had probably come across the source material. A little context would’ve been appreciated. On the other hand, considering the quality of writing, I very much doubt it would’ve inspired me to increase my rating.
Again, as a writer, don’t assume your audience is as educated as yourself, and reception of your work may be partially based on whether it stands the test of time.
Do you read French? No? Google Translate to the rescue! But even then this short story is confusing. I read it twice in hardcopy format and online. To fully understand what happens I had to resort to Google where I found the clearest explanation from the Examiner.
Hatfields & McCoys meets Sleepy Hollow(Tim Burton’s movie, not the awful book or TV show).
Metzengerstein is Poe’s first published short story, and it was not good. Seven pages of confusing, and almost nonsensical, Hatfields and McCoys tale of two feuding families.
The madness of grief personified.
Passionately in love with Ligeia, his wife, until she dies and he becomes obsessed with every detail of her memory. Later marrying Lady Rowena because he secretly likes that she ‘shunned’ him at every turn and that she’s Ligeia’s opposite in every way, but despite this he hates her because she’s not the one he loved most.
Unfortunately, Rowena succumbs to the same illness as his first wife: consumption (tuberculosis). At her bedside, high on opium he thinks of his love for Liegia and her demise, and on glancing at the body on the bed he believes he witnesses some imaginary sign of life in Rowena’s corpse. Frantically, he does everything he can to revive her, until Ligeia’s visage transforms Rowena’s body.
The horror of his misfortune was obviously too much for his tortured psyche to handle. Sadly, this correlates with Poe’s real life experience. His mother died when he was a infant, his father abandoned him soon after, his foster mother died, and then his wife died after more than a decade of marriage. That’s more than any one soul should have to bear. Condemned to walk alone and probably terrified to love anyone in case his curse catches up with him.
Ligeia predates The Raven by about seven years, although it goes without saying that they go hand-in-hand, both detailing the insanity brought on by the grief and loss of a dearly beloved wife.
This isn’t my first ride on the psychologically intriguing Poe-horror-go-round, and it won’t be my last.
