In addition to 'Anarchism and Other Essays' by Emma Goldman and 'The Concorde Story' (7th ed.) by Christopher Orlebar, I'm still working my through the tales of Edgar Allen Poe. Of his stories I've read thus far my favourites are:
'The Unparalleled Adventure of One Hans Pfaall' (to the moon in a hot air balloon!)
'The Thousand-and-Second Tale of Scheherazade' (by which I was necessarily also introduced to the delightful framing tale of 'Arabian Nights')
'The Murders in the Rue Morgue' (the absurd explanation for the crime presented in this, the 'birth of the detective genre', caught me quite by surprise and renders the tale forever memorable)
'The Purloined Letter'
'The Fall of the House of Usher'
'The Black Cat'
'The Island of the Fay' (a rare and beautiful written expression of an apparent - but only, of course, apparent - stream of whimsical consciousness)
'The System of Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether' (is this the origin of the phrase 'the lunatics are running the asylum'?)
'How to Write a Blackwood Article' and 'A Predicament' (ah, humour, something I'd not expected from Poe. I'm not sure I'll ever forget the name, manner or fate of one Miss Psyche Zenobia.)
'The Business Man' (I like to think of this as a wry commentary on American values)
'Mellonta Tauta' (one-thousand years into the future and still we use hot-air balloons! Also I am indebted to Mr. Poe for his delightful characterisation herein of induction and deduction as respectively the methods of the Hog and the Ram)
Reply With Quote
Originally Posted by Ian
