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In the Shadow of the Master: Classic Tales by Edgar Allan Poe
Few have crafted stories as haunting as those by Edgar Allan Poe. Collected here to commemorate the 200th anniversary of foe's birth are sixteen of his best tales accompanied by twenty essays from beloved authors, including T. Jefferson Parker, Lawrence Block. Sara Paretsky, and Joseph Wambaugh, among others, on how Poe has changed their life and work.
Michael Connelly recounts the inspiration he drew from Poe's poetry while researching one of his books. Stephen King reflects on Poe's insight into humanity's dark side in "The Genius of 'The Tell-Tale Heart.'" Jan Burke recalls her childhood terror during late-night reading sessions. Tess Gerritsen, Nelson DeMille, and others remember the classic B-movie adaptations of Poe's tales. And in "The Thief," Laurie R. King complains about how Poe stole all the good ideas ... or maybe he just thought of them first.
Powerful and timeless, In the Shadow of the Master is a celebration of one of the greatest literary minds of all time.
--back cover
Michael Connelly recounts the inspiration he drew from Poe's poetry while researching one of his books. Stephen King reflects on Poe's insight into humanity's dark side in "The Genius of 'The Tell-Tale Heart.'" Jan Burke recalls her childhood terror during late-night reading sessions. Tess Gerritsen, Nelson DeMille, and others remember the classic B-movie adaptations of Poe's tales. And in "The Thief," Laurie R. King complains about how Poe stole all the good ideas ... or maybe he just thought of them first.
Powerful and timeless, In the Shadow of the Master is a celebration of one of the greatest literary minds of all time.
--back cover
416 pages, Paperback
First published October 1, 2003
322 people are currently reading
1,699 people want to read
About the author
Michael Connelly
379?books33k?followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ' database with this name.
Michael Connelly decided to become a writer after discovering the books of Raymond Chandler while attending the University of Florida. Once he decided on this direction he chose a major in journalism and a minor in creative writing ¡ª a curriculum in which one of his teachers was novelist Harry Crews.
After graduating in 1980, Connelly worked at newspapers in Daytona Beach and Fort Lauderdale, Florida, primarily specializing in the crime beat. In Fort Lauderdale he wrote about police and crime during the height of the murder and violence wave that rolled over South Florida during the so-called cocaine wars. In 1986, he and two other reporters spent several months interviewing survivors of a major airline crash. They wrote a magazine story on the crash and the survivors which was later short-listed for the Pulitzer Prize for feature writing. The magazine story also moved Connelly into the upper levels of journalism, landing him a job as a crime reporter for the Los Angeles Times, one of the largest papers in the country, and bringing him to the city of which his literary hero, Chandler, had written.
After three years on the crime beat in L.A., Connelly began writing his first novel to feature LAPD Detective Hieronymus Bosch. The novel, The Black Echo, based in part on a true crime that had occurred in Los Angeles, was published in 1992 and won the Edgar Award for Best First Novel by the Mystery Writers of America. Connelly has followed that up with over 30 more novels.
Over eighty million copies of Connelly¡¯s books have sold worldwide and he has been translated into forty-five foreign languages. He has won the Edgar Award, Anthony Award, Macavity Award, Los Angeles Times Best Mystery/Thriller Award, Shamus Award, Dilys Award, Nero Award, Barry Award, Audie Award, Ridley Award, Maltese Falcon Award (Japan), .38 Caliber Award (France), Grand Prix Award (France), Premio Bancarella Award (Italy), and the Pepe Carvalho award (Spain) .
Michael was the President of the Mystery Writers of America organization in 2003 and 2004. In addition to his literary work, Michael is one of the producers and writers of the TV show, ¡°Bosch,¡± which is streaming on Amazon Prime Video.
Michael lives with his family in Los Angeles and Tampa, Florida.
Michael Connelly decided to become a writer after discovering the books of Raymond Chandler while attending the University of Florida. Once he decided on this direction he chose a major in journalism and a minor in creative writing ¡ª a curriculum in which one of his teachers was novelist Harry Crews.
After graduating in 1980, Connelly worked at newspapers in Daytona Beach and Fort Lauderdale, Florida, primarily specializing in the crime beat. In Fort Lauderdale he wrote about police and crime during the height of the murder and violence wave that rolled over South Florida during the so-called cocaine wars. In 1986, he and two other reporters spent several months interviewing survivors of a major airline crash. They wrote a magazine story on the crash and the survivors which was later short-listed for the Pulitzer Prize for feature writing. The magazine story also moved Connelly into the upper levels of journalism, landing him a job as a crime reporter for the Los Angeles Times, one of the largest papers in the country, and bringing him to the city of which his literary hero, Chandler, had written.
After three years on the crime beat in L.A., Connelly began writing his first novel to feature LAPD Detective Hieronymus Bosch. The novel, The Black Echo, based in part on a true crime that had occurred in Los Angeles, was published in 1992 and won the Edgar Award for Best First Novel by the Mystery Writers of America. Connelly has followed that up with over 30 more novels.
Over eighty million copies of Connelly¡¯s books have sold worldwide and he has been translated into forty-five foreign languages. He has won the Edgar Award, Anthony Award, Macavity Award, Los Angeles Times Best Mystery/Thriller Award, Shamus Award, Dilys Award, Nero Award, Barry Award, Audie Award, Ridley Award, Maltese Falcon Award (Japan), .38 Caliber Award (France), Grand Prix Award (France), Premio Bancarella Award (Italy), and the Pepe Carvalho award (Spain) .
Michael was the President of the Mystery Writers of America organization in 2003 and 2004. In addition to his literary work, Michael is one of the producers and writers of the TV show, ¡°Bosch,¡± which is streaming on Amazon Prime Video.
Michael lives with his family in Los Angeles and Tampa, Florida.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 64 reviews
October 15, 2012
Edgar Allan Poe has become one of my personal favourite authors after I read this stunning compilation featuring from amongst Poe's greatest works. This includes my personal favourites: The Tell Tale Heart, The Masque of the Red Death, The Raven and The Pit and the Pendulum. Add to that essays by writers influenced by Poe's genius and this compilation becomes a must for any classic literature lover.
The one reason I love Poe's writing so much is because he was a poet and also a writer of prose. I also like to write both poetry and prose although I am completely unable to match the genius of his beautiful flowery writing style. A style that created uniquely gothic and haunting tales of macabre genius that show the inner darkness of humanity.
If you haven't read Poe I recommend that you do. Perhaps you'll find the language daunting, too dramatic, too flowery and his plots a little melodramatic. It is the one flaw in his genius. And yet such melodrama is necessary to help convey the allegorical ideas and metaphoric ideas Poe fiendishly creates. Any way I recommend that you read Poe and also be impacted by the grandeur of his work.
The one reason I love Poe's writing so much is because he was a poet and also a writer of prose. I also like to write both poetry and prose although I am completely unable to match the genius of his beautiful flowery writing style. A style that created uniquely gothic and haunting tales of macabre genius that show the inner darkness of humanity.
If you haven't read Poe I recommend that you do. Perhaps you'll find the language daunting, too dramatic, too flowery and his plots a little melodramatic. It is the one flaw in his genius. And yet such melodrama is necessary to help convey the allegorical ideas and metaphoric ideas Poe fiendishly creates. Any way I recommend that you read Poe and also be impacted by the grandeur of his work.
July 18, 2009
So I was thinking I enjoyed this book a lot. I think it's clearly established that Edgar Allan Poe is a master of story-telling suspense, and I always like returning to my favorites. And the book itself is superb, it has a nice retro look to it and features the Harry Clarke illustrations, which seriously bump up the already high creepy factor of the stories significantly.
But the shtick of this particular edition of Poe stories is what didn't really work for me. It's put out the Mystery Writers of America, which seems fitting because their annual award is called the Edgar, for obvious reasons. A number of successful members of this group were asked to contribute pieces on Edgar Allan Poe. And with some few exceptions (Nelson DeMille, Laura Lippmann), these short writings add very little. Overwhelmingly, they're so insubstantial. And this is so consistent that I strongly suspect the editor and whoever else was working on this project made the requests in such a way that lead people to believe it was okay to toss off a few paragraphs and call it a day. I feel as though they must have been asked "hey, could you write something? Just a little something? Don't feel you have to spend much time on it, anything you jot down would be just fine. You know, in your spare time." My general feeling after reading most of them, even from authors I very much like, was "wow, talk about phoning it in." I think fewer essays of more substance would have been a better way to go.
Grade: A for Poe, clearly. C for almost everyone else. The authors' essays felt much too obligatory.
Recommended: There are more complete works of Poe, but this is an especially nice-looking volume with good hand feel to it.
2009/46
But the shtick of this particular edition of Poe stories is what didn't really work for me. It's put out the Mystery Writers of America, which seems fitting because their annual award is called the Edgar, for obvious reasons. A number of successful members of this group were asked to contribute pieces on Edgar Allan Poe. And with some few exceptions (Nelson DeMille, Laura Lippmann), these short writings add very little. Overwhelmingly, they're so insubstantial. And this is so consistent that I strongly suspect the editor and whoever else was working on this project made the requests in such a way that lead people to believe it was okay to toss off a few paragraphs and call it a day. I feel as though they must have been asked "hey, could you write something? Just a little something? Don't feel you have to spend much time on it, anything you jot down would be just fine. You know, in your spare time." My general feeling after reading most of them, even from authors I very much like, was "wow, talk about phoning it in." I think fewer essays of more substance would have been a better way to go.
Grade: A for Poe, clearly. C for almost everyone else. The authors' essays felt much too obligatory.
Recommended: There are more complete works of Poe, but this is an especially nice-looking volume with good hand feel to it.
2009/46
October 28, 2017
I have to confess that I didn¡¯t read all of this, but I absolutely loved what I read! I know many people complained about the essays attached to the stories, but I loved them.I found them to be like fun blog posts made by other adoring fans <3
I will be pulling this back out again next Halloween to read more of his stories :D
I will be pulling this back out again next Halloween to read more of his stories :D
October 19, 2022
In pace requiescat
November 19, 2019
I picked this up to just read, "The Fall of the House of Usher", but got sucked in to Poe's writing by an essay on Poe. And wow, was he a master or what? I loved reading his material. The essays by others were hit or miss, but this book is a great introduction to Poe. I love him!
February 3, 2020
3 1/2 stars from me. I enjoyed most of these short stories and poems, and, unlike many of the reviews on here, I actually liked the anecdotes by the mystery writers. Nelson De Mille's was a particular standout for me
June 8, 2015
I would like to have rated this volume, produced by the Mystery Writers of America in celebration of of Poe's 200th birthday, with more stars. It is a good collection, but overall I think the book squandered some opportunities. The stories included are largely the ones we have all read, like "The Tell-Tale Heart" and "The Black Cat," although I applaud the inclusion of "William Wilson," a story not anthologized as often as the others.
The real shortcoming, though, is in the brief essays interspersed throughout the book, short appreciations by well-known writers such as Stephen King, Sue Grafton, Jeffrey Deaver and others. They are for the most part anecdotal, simply offering a few short thoughts from each author regarding their own appreciation of Poe's work. They are entertaining, but not groundbreaking, and offer no new insights for the most part.
So ... it is a good collection of Poe stories you probably already own, interspersed with anecdotes from mystery writers that basically just explain why they like Poe. To mark a 200th anniversary, I guess I was expecting more.
The real shortcoming, though, is in the brief essays interspersed throughout the book, short appreciations by well-known writers such as Stephen King, Sue Grafton, Jeffrey Deaver and others. They are for the most part anecdotal, simply offering a few short thoughts from each author regarding their own appreciation of Poe's work. They are entertaining, but not groundbreaking, and offer no new insights for the most part.
So ... it is a good collection of Poe stories you probably already own, interspersed with anecdotes from mystery writers that basically just explain why they like Poe. To mark a 200th anniversary, I guess I was expecting more.
April 8, 2019
I read In the Shadow of the Master for two main reasons. Reason one is I'm really intrigued with Edgar Allan Poe and his unbelievable history. The second reason is I'm a huge Michael Connelly fan. I somehow had this book as previously read. But that was a mistake, because this is not a forgettable book. I enjoyed this short story and a few poem collection. I especially enjoyed the special guest author takes after the end of each short story. There were some really interesting takes. The most relatable take was having to consult the dictionary multiple times. This is definitely not a gorge or binge book. I had to take it one story at a time so I could digest the complexity of the language and the symbolism portrayed by the great EAP. Just a little observation on my part the great Edgar Allan Poe has the same initials as another great, but also somewhat trouble artist, Elvis Aaron Presley. In the Shadow of the Master is a fabulous collection that I highly recommend.
October 9, 2024
Cool premise (and superb title) for a story collection: contemporary crime and mystery writers explain how they were influenced by Edgar Allen Poe, each followed by the author's favorite (or most influential or memorable) EAP story. I read all of the EAP stories, Michael Connelly's essay (natch), plus a few others that were short (!) and/or names that I recognized (these essays were all pretty forgettable). Among the Poe tales there were a few too many instances of people being built into walls - this was a fine narrative choice the first time but then perhaps he needed to come up with another horrible way to die. Many of the stories begin with lengthy philosophical big-picture ruminations that, read one after the other as one does with a collection, become tedious. He's much better once the action of the story starts. I found myself wishing the EAP material was annotated as there were plenty of references I wasn't familiar with. Murder in the Rue Morgue, generally considered to be the first detective murder mystery story, is exactly like a Sherlock Holmes story, although of course it is more proper to say that Sherlock Holmes stories are exactly like Murder in the Rue Morgue. Auguste Dupin and Holmes seem pretty interchangeable.
My favorite part of reading the Poe stories was the magnificent vocabulary. Feast your eyes: simoom, coxcombry, burthen, ebon, phantasm, tarn, pertinacity, prolixity, harkened, phthisis, sable, bedewed, fruiterer, habiliments, manumitted, foolscap, gambols, brusquerie. I just cannot get enough of this type of thing. Way to go, Edgar. Respect.
My favorite part of reading the Poe stories was the magnificent vocabulary. Feast your eyes: simoom, coxcombry, burthen, ebon, phantasm, tarn, pertinacity, prolixity, harkened, phthisis, sable, bedewed, fruiterer, habiliments, manumitted, foolscap, gambols, brusquerie. I just cannot get enough of this type of thing. Way to go, Edgar. Respect.
August 22, 2020
When I saw the title of this book, I had to immediately request it of my library. Then, when I started reading it, I realized I had not properly understood that title.
I thought it was going to be this:
An Edgar Allen Poe story, then a story written by a modern writer inspired by that story.
It was actually this:
An Edgar Allen Poe story, then an essay written by a modern writer telling how they discovered EAP or were inspired by EAP or something else about EAP.
At first, I was terribly disappointed, but after reading all of it, it was a wonderful read. I was comforted in the knowledge that I'm not alone in having originally discovering EAP through the Vincent Price/et al. Poe-esque movies of the 60s and 70s. And there are also a couple of delightful poems instead of essays. One of the "essays" was almost exactly as long as the essay-writer's bio! All the bios about each essay writer were written by that essay writer, and many are equally as entertaining as their essay!
Not only has this inspired me to check a more complete book of EAP from the library, but also to seek out those delightfully awful, barely-based-on-Poe's-stories movies!
I thought it was going to be this:
An Edgar Allen Poe story, then a story written by a modern writer inspired by that story.
It was actually this:
An Edgar Allen Poe story, then an essay written by a modern writer telling how they discovered EAP or were inspired by EAP or something else about EAP.
At first, I was terribly disappointed, but after reading all of it, it was a wonderful read. I was comforted in the knowledge that I'm not alone in having originally discovering EAP through the Vincent Price/et al. Poe-esque movies of the 60s and 70s. And there are also a couple of delightful poems instead of essays. One of the "essays" was almost exactly as long as the essay-writer's bio! All the bios about each essay writer were written by that essay writer, and many are equally as entertaining as their essay!
Not only has this inspired me to check a more complete book of EAP from the library, but also to seek out those delightfully awful, barely-based-on-Poe's-stories movies!
January 16, 2025
I have always loved the poems and stories of Edgar Allan Poe and have read all of his works as a child. I used to have, and still have, a hardcover book of Edgar Allan Poe's stories and poems which came with me wherever I went as a child. Talking books sent this book to me so I read his stories and poems again and still immensely enjoyed them. I also liked the different authors essays at the end of each story and poem and found them very interesting. Edgar Allan Poe is the master!
January 10, 2022
I just read the Michael Connelly part of the book. It is a fascinating essay from Michael in his early years as a writer. He tells us about how Edgar Allen Poe effected him especially with his writing the poet and how an incident that happened to him while reading Poe in a Hilton Hotel made it into the book.
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January 26, 2024I read the short story by Edgar Allan Poe before: The Cask of Amontillado. They're all mad.lol ͻȻ°l¬FÎÒ×xß^ۂƵÄ×÷Æ·£ºÒ»Í°°¢Ãɵن¶È¾Æ£¬¿´ÖÐ×gµÄ¸ÐÓXîHÌØ„e£¬¶¼Óв¡…È #ÎÄŒW×÷Æ·Œ§×x
¿´ÆðíºÃÏñÓÐücÆæ¹Ö£¬²»ß^ëmÈ»Íþ –ÉÅcÎÒ×÷Œ¦£¬ÁîÎÒÈÌŸo¿ÉÈ̵ط´ñgÎÒ£¬Ê¹ÎҸе½ÐÄŸ©£¬µ«ÎÒ…s›]Þk·¨ÕæÕýºÞËû¡£ÎÒ‚ƒŽ×ºõÿÌì³³¼Ü£¬±íÃæÉÏËû¹«È»°Ñ„ÙÀû·îËͽoÎÒ£¬Ë½µ×ÏÂËû…sÓñMÐÄ™C׌ÎÒÓXµÃ„ÙÀû‘ªÔ“ŒÙì¶Ëû£»È»¶øµKì¶ÎÒµÄ×Ô×ðhËûµÄ×ð‡À£¬×ŒÎÒ‚ƒÊ¼½K¾S³ÖËùÖ^¡¸·º·ºÖ®½»¡¹µÄÏàÌŽ¡£ #ÍþÁ®Íþ –É
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¿´ÆðíºÃÏñÓÐücÆæ¹Ö£¬²»ß^ëmÈ»Íþ –ÉÅcÎÒ×÷Œ¦£¬ÁîÎÒÈÌŸo¿ÉÈ̵ط´ñgÎÒ£¬Ê¹ÎҸе½ÐÄŸ©£¬µ«ÎÒ…s›]Þk·¨ÕæÕýºÞËû¡£ÎÒ‚ƒŽ×ºõÿÌì³³¼Ü£¬±íÃæÉÏËû¹«È»°Ñ„ÙÀû·îËͽoÎÒ£¬Ë½µ×ÏÂËû…sÓñMÐÄ™C׌ÎÒÓXµÃ„ÙÀû‘ªÔ“ŒÙì¶Ëû£»È»¶øµKì¶ÎÒµÄ×Ô×ðhËûµÄ×ð‡À£¬×ŒÎÒ‚ƒÊ¼½K¾S³ÖËùÖ^¡¸·º·ºÖ®½»¡¹µÄÏàÌŽ¡£ #ÍþÁ®Íþ –É
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December 24, 2020
I love Edgar Allen Poe, so my rating reflects the authors¡¯ essays; I only enjoyed a handful of them (Lisa Scottoline¡¯s and Nelson DeMille¡¯s especially). I recommend reading the book if you want to mix some modern writers¡¯ experiences reading Poe with your own.
April 8, 2024
Excellent, excellent. Here we are given selected EAP stories followed by modern mystery/thriller writers with either their own stories or a critique of Poe's work.
No one story reaches out, you are made very aware of Poe's genuine skill at the format.
No one story reaches out, you are made very aware of Poe's genuine skill at the format.
May 4, 2017
I'm not convinced I'm a huge Poe fan after reading this compendium of some of his most popular stories, but his command of English is spectacular.
October 11, 2017
Good read,the stories and essays about this remarkable writer,made me appreciate the written word ,as I have never done before.The language is luminous .
February 20, 2018
Authors talk about Poe's short stories.
April 11, 2018
Some great essays, from some great mystery writers, about the effect Edgar Allan has had on them
June 30, 2020
Somewhat difficult to read and understand, but I grew into liking the mystery and master story teller the he was with each short story.
April 2, 2021
Amazing!
May 26, 2023
Poe short stories interspersed with essays by various horror and mystery writers about their experiences with Poe's work. It's pretty neat!
January 18, 2024
Some of the Poe I'd read, some was new to me, but the essays by the writers were amazing. Even turned me on to reading at least one I wasn't familiar with, so win win.
March 20, 2024
I have read all he stories in this collection previously but wanted to read what contemporary writers thought.
Meh.
Meh.
August 30, 2024
Poe is superb, no surprise there. But the quality, fun, moving quality of several of the contributions were surprisingly good. And some were trite and boring
November 23, 2024
This confirmed for me that I love the idea of Poe and appreciate all that he has inspired and influenced but actually reading the majority of his work is not for me. A handful of great stories but the rest were pretty much unreadable to me
May 20, 2023
I¡¯ve always, with the exception of ¡°A Cask of Amontillado,¡± had trouble with EAP. ¡°Tell Tale Heart¡± and ¡°The Black Cat¡±* are fine but I had trouble with the language and simply didn¡¯t know what was going on in the stories.
It¡¯s odd, too, because, in 1965, the first thing I read by Poe was ¡°ACofA¡± in my 10th grade English class. I was stunned. It is still one of the greatest works of art I have ever come across. It¡¯s just perfect. I don¡¯t know how else to put it. We read ¡°Tale of Two Cities¡± in the same class and I have, to be honest, the same reaction to that one. I re-read them both every once in a while and yep, they work just fine. Dickens¡¯ hokum becomes more apparent, but what works really, really works. And like with Poe, I¡¯m not that crazy about a whole lot of Dickens. ¡°David Copperfield¡± is okay, but I wasn¡¯t crazy about ¡°Great Expectations,¡± found ¡°Bleak House¡± undigestible and ¡°Little Dorrit¡± unreadable, even while simultaneously watching a PBS version. (Which may have been the problem. Loved ¡°Woman in White¡± (Wilkie Collins) but the recent PBS version? Gosh it was bad.)
Anyway, re: this book- read and enjoyed the whole thing. The commentary by the modern mystery writers helps put the work in context and frequent Google consultancy helped keep the actual plot mechanisms apparent. Was interested in the frequent references by the modern writers to the Roger Corman films which were fondly remembered and closer in spirit to Poe than one would generally think. (Think more Stephen King and less GREAT WRITER). ¡°The Murders in Rue Morgue¡± CLEARLY gave Arthur Conan Doyle his career, thank you very much, including the view point sidekick and ¡°I know he owns a Chinese fluent white terrier because the teeth marks on his walking stick have plum sauce in them¡± thing. I gave up on ¡°Arthur Pym¡± earlier this summer but the four chapters in this book gave me nightmares.
So, anyway, Harold Bloom was crazy about ¡°Pickwick Papers.¡± Read it when he was eleven or something. Maybe I¡¯ll give it a try.
¡ª¡ª-
*Except for the white splotch that looks like a gallows. A marking on a cat that looks like a gallows? Oh, wait. A Rorschach test. Oh. Got it. Never mind.
Oh, but while I got you here, I¡¯ve been reading a lot about unreliable narrators the last couple of years. I had a writing teacher tell me thirty years ago that ALL first person narrators are unreliable. When writing in first person you need third person confirmation to establish facts. So there.
It¡¯s odd, too, because, in 1965, the first thing I read by Poe was ¡°ACofA¡± in my 10th grade English class. I was stunned. It is still one of the greatest works of art I have ever come across. It¡¯s just perfect. I don¡¯t know how else to put it. We read ¡°Tale of Two Cities¡± in the same class and I have, to be honest, the same reaction to that one. I re-read them both every once in a while and yep, they work just fine. Dickens¡¯ hokum becomes more apparent, but what works really, really works. And like with Poe, I¡¯m not that crazy about a whole lot of Dickens. ¡°David Copperfield¡± is okay, but I wasn¡¯t crazy about ¡°Great Expectations,¡± found ¡°Bleak House¡± undigestible and ¡°Little Dorrit¡± unreadable, even while simultaneously watching a PBS version. (Which may have been the problem. Loved ¡°Woman in White¡± (Wilkie Collins) but the recent PBS version? Gosh it was bad.)
Anyway, re: this book- read and enjoyed the whole thing. The commentary by the modern mystery writers helps put the work in context and frequent Google consultancy helped keep the actual plot mechanisms apparent. Was interested in the frequent references by the modern writers to the Roger Corman films which were fondly remembered and closer in spirit to Poe than one would generally think. (Think more Stephen King and less GREAT WRITER). ¡°The Murders in Rue Morgue¡± CLEARLY gave Arthur Conan Doyle his career, thank you very much, including the view point sidekick and ¡°I know he owns a Chinese fluent white terrier because the teeth marks on his walking stick have plum sauce in them¡± thing. I gave up on ¡°Arthur Pym¡± earlier this summer but the four chapters in this book gave me nightmares.
So, anyway, Harold Bloom was crazy about ¡°Pickwick Papers.¡± Read it when he was eleven or something. Maybe I¡¯ll give it a try.
¡ª¡ª-
*Except for the white splotch that looks like a gallows. A marking on a cat that looks like a gallows? Oh, wait. A Rorschach test. Oh. Got it. Never mind.
Oh, but while I got you here, I¡¯ve been reading a lot about unreliable narrators the last couple of years. I had a writing teacher tell me thirty years ago that ALL first person narrators are unreliable. When writing in first person you need third person confirmation to establish facts. So there.
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March 25, 2010As most of the contributing mystery writers take care to mention in their essays in this book, much has already been written about Poe and I will merely echo a few sentiments. I¡¯m not sure the last time I read Poe material, perhaps in high school. The Murders in the Rue Morgue made the greatest impression on me for its grisliness and reminder of Sherlock Holmes; and I¡¯d never thought about the fact that Poe preceded Sir Arthur Conan Doyle until now. That is a common theme among the contributing writers here: Poe is the master because he set the stage for all the mysteries and horrors to follow. While I¡¯m not a reader of mysteries, I suppose a parallel example would be my experience with J.R.R. Tolkien. I can hardly bear to read any fantasy novels because they are all mere shadows of his masterpiece and inevitably a disappointment.
Like many great writers, Poe¡¯s prose is the perfect balance of challenge and beauty. It is made to be read aloud, slowly and enunciated. The lyrical beauty makes up for the stories¡¯ sometimes unsatisfactory conclusions. Perhaps that is the Achille¡¯s heel of masterful suspense. The more suspenseful a story, the higher the demand for a knock-your-socks-off ending. The ending to The Pit and the Pendulum felt rushed. Rue Morgue ending ho-hum. And because most of Poe¡¯s stories are written in first person, you know the hero is going to escape his predicament. But this is about the story, or the journey, or the experience, which I think is why Poe is so beloved. And The Raven is just the perfect poem - one of those literary works you think you know until you finally sit down and read it for yourself. Poe should be read at night, aloud, with friends. Around a campfire.
A word about the contributors¡¯ essays. I was expecting something a little more substantial, but they were mostly quite short and, if I were an English teacher, I¡¯d say they lacked effort. At least two authors joked about not wanting to contribute in the first place, which means they truly didn¡¯t want to, and the result is what you¡¯d expect. On the other hand, as many of the authors mentioned, there is hardly more to say about Poe that hasn¡¯t already been said (I take their word for it).
I had a great time reading this.
Like many great writers, Poe¡¯s prose is the perfect balance of challenge and beauty. It is made to be read aloud, slowly and enunciated. The lyrical beauty makes up for the stories¡¯ sometimes unsatisfactory conclusions. Perhaps that is the Achille¡¯s heel of masterful suspense. The more suspenseful a story, the higher the demand for a knock-your-socks-off ending. The ending to The Pit and the Pendulum felt rushed. Rue Morgue ending ho-hum. And because most of Poe¡¯s stories are written in first person, you know the hero is going to escape his predicament. But this is about the story, or the journey, or the experience, which I think is why Poe is so beloved. And The Raven is just the perfect poem - one of those literary works you think you know until you finally sit down and read it for yourself. Poe should be read at night, aloud, with friends. Around a campfire.
A word about the contributors¡¯ essays. I was expecting something a little more substantial, but they were mostly quite short and, if I were an English teacher, I¡¯d say they lacked effort. At least two authors joked about not wanting to contribute in the first place, which means they truly didn¡¯t want to, and the result is what you¡¯d expect. On the other hand, as many of the authors mentioned, there is hardly more to say about Poe that hasn¡¯t already been said (I take their word for it).
I had a great time reading this.
November 27, 2009
I remember reading The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe and I had heard of the Tell-Tale Heart. However, I don't remember ever being and Edgar Allen Poe fan. Being a Michael Connelly fan, however, I had downloaded anything related to Michael Connelly to my Kindle. This book, In the Shadow of the Master, is a collection of Edgar Allan Poe stories. Each one is followed by a reflection by a contemporary author who has won an Edgar award. The Edgar award recognizes mystery writers.
At first, I didn't want to get into this book because Edgar Allan Poe's writing style is quite "dense" and takes a little more concentration that my modern fiction mystery writers do. Then I started better understanding the Poe writing because of what each related author was writing about Poe. About half-way through this book, I took a break (rare for me) and read another book - Homicide, by David Simon. That book was what I would call a "reality detective novel". It took me about a week and a half to complete the David Simon book. Then, when I went back to the second half of "In the Shadow of the Master" I was really ready to enjoy it. The second half of the book read much more enjoyably for me. By the time I finished the book, I understand now why so many high school literature teachers encourage study of Poe in some form. I also understand more why several of my 8th-grade girls are big Edgar Allan Poe "fans". I am too, now.
At first, I didn't want to get into this book because Edgar Allan Poe's writing style is quite "dense" and takes a little more concentration that my modern fiction mystery writers do. Then I started better understanding the Poe writing because of what each related author was writing about Poe. About half-way through this book, I took a break (rare for me) and read another book - Homicide, by David Simon. That book was what I would call a "reality detective novel". It took me about a week and a half to complete the David Simon book. Then, when I went back to the second half of "In the Shadow of the Master" I was really ready to enjoy it. The second half of the book read much more enjoyably for me. By the time I finished the book, I understand now why so many high school literature teachers encourage study of Poe in some form. I also understand more why several of my 8th-grade girls are big Edgar Allan Poe "fans". I am too, now.
December 23, 2020
A nice enough -- though far from vital -- collection of Poe's greatest hits. The hook is that editor Michael Connelly recruited a couple handfuls of modern authors to write blurbs after each story. Stephen King and Sue Grafton are the headliners while the others are probably known only to fans of modern mysteries and thrillers.
Given the hook, the main disappointment of the volume is just how vacuous most of these blurbs are, with few of them having anything to say beyond, "Wow I remember how scary my first Poe story was when I was (insert age here). He has influenced everyone!" Several even admit to not really liking Poe but writing this as a favor to Connelly. That's strange stuff to mold a tribute out of.
It's nice enough to mark the occasion of Poe's 200th birth year, and it's always great to read classics like "The Cask of Amontillado," "Black Cat," and "The Raven," so you know there's no way it can be actively bad. But oddly enough the best thing I can say about the book is that its layout is impressively handsome, with wonderful title pages, illustrations and fonts. Beyond that, it's not indispensable for anyone except the most ardent Poe enthusiasts.
Given the hook, the main disappointment of the volume is just how vacuous most of these blurbs are, with few of them having anything to say beyond, "Wow I remember how scary my first Poe story was when I was (insert age here). He has influenced everyone!" Several even admit to not really liking Poe but writing this as a favor to Connelly. That's strange stuff to mold a tribute out of.
It's nice enough to mark the occasion of Poe's 200th birth year, and it's always great to read classics like "The Cask of Amontillado," "Black Cat," and "The Raven," so you know there's no way it can be actively bad. But oddly enough the best thing I can say about the book is that its layout is impressively handsome, with wonderful title pages, illustrations and fonts. Beyond that, it's not indispensable for anyone except the most ardent Poe enthusiasts.
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