Halloween Countdown 2017, Day 7

[eldritchhobbit]

On this day in 1849, Edgar Allan Poe died at the age of forty under mysterious circumstances.

For more information, read “Mysterious for Evermore” by Matthew Pearl, an article on Poe’s death from The Telegraph. Pearl is the author of a fascinating novel about the subject, The Poe Shadow.

This is Edgar Allan Poe - The Black Cat by the wonderful Alexander Levett:

Here are some links from me:
* In this episode of StarShipSofa, I review the “Madness: Insanity in the Works of Edgar Allan Poe” temporary exhibit at The Poe Museum, a place I always love to visit. I thought this was a very insightful exhibit, and in my “Looking Back on Genre History” segment I try to pass some of those insights along to listeners. If you check it out, I hope you enjoy!
* While we’re talking Poe, I invite you to vote on my Goodreads list of “Fiction Featuring Poe as a Character.”
* Hocus Pocus Comics is Poe-centric, and you’re invited to visit the site. In addition, check out this beautiful time-lapse video of David Hartman drawing the exclusive Kickstarter cover for The Imaginary Voyages of Edgar Allan Poe.


The following are some of my favorite links about Edgar Allan Poe:
* PoeStories.com: An Exploration of Short Stories by Edgar Allan Poe
* The Poe Museum of Richmond
* The Edgar Allan Poe Society of Baltimore

This haunting doll is Edgar Poe 2 by the talented Gogolle:

One of my favorite works by Poe is “The Masque of the Red Death.” One of the best film representations of the story I’ve ever seen is this gorgeous, silent adaptation from Extraordinary Tales. Perhaps my favorite reading of the story is this one by Gabriel Byrne, which hits all the right notes.

There are chords in the hearts of the most reckless which cannot be touched without emotion. Even with the utterly lost, to whom life and death are equally jests, there are matters of which no jest can becmade. The whole company, indeed, seemed now deeply to feel that in the costume and bearing of the stranger neither wit nor propriety existed. The figure was tall and gaunt, and shrouded from head to foot in the habiliments of the grave. The mask which concealed the visage was made so nearly to resemble the countenance of a stiffened corpse that the closest scrutiny must have had difficulty in detecting the cheat. And yet all this might have been endured, if not approved, by the mad revellers around. But the mummer had gone so far as to assume the type of the Red Death. His vesture was dabbled in blood – and his broad brow, with all the features of the face, was besprinkled with the scarlet horror.

- Edgar Allan Poe, “The Masque of the Red Death”