Belloc, Gorey & Poe - A Deeply Twisted Conglomeration
Hilaire Belloc's Cautionary Tales for Children and Edgar Allan Poe's Poems and Tales (as collected in the Riverside Literature Series double-number 119-120) are my tenth and eleventh conquests of January.
The edition of Belloc that I read is the more recent one, illustrated by Edward Gorey, in his delightfully irreverent way. The cautionary tales are in verse, with such titles as "Algernon, Who played with a Loaded Gun, and, on missing his Sister, was reprimanded by his Father." and "Henry King, Who chewed bits of String, and was early cut off in Dreadful Agonies.". It's a stitch, the ethical lessons are all quite correct (more or less), and I'll be going to the library to see if I can find the original illustrations by Basil T. Blackwood, which are also supposed to be quite funny.
I taught Poe's "The Purloined Letter" last term, using my RLS copy. It having been a long time since I'd read much of his work, I decided to read the rest of the volume before I reshelved it. Collected half a century after the pieces were originally published, the selection seems to reflect the Poe canon we use today. The poems are "The Raven", "Lenore", "Ulalume", "The Bells", "Annabel Lee", "Israfel", "To One in Paradise" and one of the "To Helen"'s. The tales are "A Descent into the Maelstrom", "The Masque of the Red Death", "The Fall of the House of Usher", "Shadow - A Parable", "The Gold-Bug", "The Purloined Letter", "The Tell-Tale Heart" and "Eleonora". The volume has useful footnotes, including the original publication information. The Introduction, by William P. Trent, discusses the difference between Poe's literary acceptance in Europe as opposed to his relegation to the second tier in the United States. Trent suggests, which is undoubtedly true, that Poe's dissipated and irregular life story helped undermine his reputation at home.
One has to read him with one's 19th-Century-prose-filter on, but Poe stands up rather well to the passage of time. He has been so often repackaged, that it's also fun to be reminded of the originals.
CBsIP: Down the Great River, Captain Willard Glazier, the Soldier-Author
Motherless Brooklyn, Jonathan Lethem
Personal and Military History of Philip Kearny, Major-General United States Volunteers, John Watts De Peyster (this is pretty dreadful)
The Big Sleep, Raymond Chandler