Poll

Poe should get past the first round.

Ang wrote: "Poe should get past the first round."

Yes.

"The Tell-Tale Heart" is one my favorites from childhood and I'm not giving up on the story yet, despite the critical flaws. I am floored by the second paragraph. What a fascinating rationalization of an irrational act by the narrator, with the string of negations of cause, followed by the exaggerated focus on a physical flaw as reason for the murder.

Haven't read Intervention yet, but am eager to vote for The Tell-Tale Heart, the first short story I remember reading and it shook me, especially living in a house with loose/chinked floorboards over a crawlspace. I had to repeat aloud, "it is only a story" as my father said to comfort me, but I was awed by Poe's world and mind, which were alien to a naive girl.

I reread it a few months ago along with The Black Cat and both are even more fascinating. I am a devotee of narcissistic, rationalizing criminal minds.

Sam wrote: ""The Tell-Tale Heart" is one my favorites from childhood and I'm not giving up on the story yet, despite the critical flaws."

I'm curious what critical flaws you're talking about, Sam. I think the story is darn near perfect!

By the way, if you haven't read "Intervention," Jill McCorkle has the whole story on her website (so I assume it's legal). You can find it here.

Ang wrote: "Poe should get past the first round."

Poe should get a pass, a bye, in the first round.

Bad luck of the draw for Intervention with its many merits. I laughed most of the first few pages (and here's how I cover all his incarnations: P Puff Diddy Daddy), but the title meant that laughter wouldn't last. An affair as the central destabilizing event is a bit overwrought, but McCorkle earns a nod while Poe wins the vote.

Trevor wrote: "Sam wrote: ""The Tell-Tale Heart" is one my favorites from childhood and I'm not giving up on the story yet, despite the critical flaws."

I'm curious what critical flaws you're talking about, Sam...."
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I should have said academic criticisms. When I was in school,there was a visible grimace on the teacher's or professor's face when Poe came up for discussion, Poe was perceived as a lesser writer and I won't list all the criticisms, but they should be easily found on the internet. Harold Bloom's "Inescapable Poe," from The New York Review of Books comes to mind. My thoughts when I wrote my comment were that such thinking might prevail and the anti-Poe sentiment might have grown and Poe would be dismissed on principle. Thankfully, it has not. I do see the criticisms levelled at Poe, even if I do not agree with his toaldismissal based on them

1. Critics of Poe exist?
2. How dare they!