Does Literature Still Matter?

New Book Asks Whether Literature Still Matters
In era that prizes the 140-character tweet, Harvard professor ponders the value of literature

"The Use and Abuse of Literature" (Pantheon Books), by Marjorie Garber: In an age that prizes short bursts of electronic information, Harvard English professor Marjorie Garber asks whether literature still matters. As might be expected of someone who has spent her career teaching Shakespeare to undergraduates, she answers with a resounding "yes."

. . . and here’s why . . .

For Garber, of course, literature does matter. "Language does change our world," she writes. "It does make possible what we think and how we think it." Echoing an argument made by the eminent literary critic Harold Bloom, Garber claims for literature a sort of stem cell-like power to generate fresh and new imaginative experiences in those who read it.

HERE

If you’ve  been reading Poe’s stories and poems, it’s unlikely that you will deny Garber’s claims for literature.  When was the last time you received a 140 character message on Twitter that made you think as much as these twenty-one words from Poe:

“Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there, wondering, fearing, doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before.”

Poe Wasn't in the Club

Age is opportunity no less
Than youth itself, though in another dress,
And as the evening twilight fades away
The sky is filled with stars, invisible by day.

Now that’s Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, the Hiawatha and Spreading Chestnut tree guy.  The Great Gray Poet.  He looked like this. 



Who could ever be hard on this thoughtful looking, stereotype of a grandfather? Well, Edgar Allan Poe took aim at him regularly.  Poe also picked critical fights with more than a few other poets of his times.  Here’s a recent news article on Poe’s criticism of the New England poets of his day, “Edgar Allan Poe’s case against the Boston literati.”  What do you think of his tone? 

GO HERE

The Tell Tale Heart by FuserXXI

Richard Kopley: Discovering Poe

DESPERATION or inspiration?

The Aussies, Brits and Irish are also are struggling with the problem of alliterates (readers who no longer read).   They're trying a 1 million book give away.  So, if you're across the pond or down under on March 5, grab and read a great book.  However, if you are in The Haute or nearby in March, you should already have your free copy of Edgar Allan Poe's stories and poems and have read a good part of  it.  Programs and discussions of these works start soon.




Here's a story on the million book give away.  How many books have been given away by the Big Read  project in Vigo County?  Nope.  You're way too low.  And remember: "Read and Pass It On."

theaustralian.com.au
February 26, 2011 12:00AM

Desperate chapter in life of books
DESPERATION or inspiration? Opinions are divided among Australian authors, publishers, academics and readers about a scheme to encourage adults to read more.

One million books, accessible works of enduring quality by some of the world's most successful authors, will be given away in Britain and Ireland on March 5. . . .

GO HERE for full article 

Was Edgar Allan Poe kicked out of West Point for nakedness?

Jeff Schogol writes for Stars and Stripes and calls himself The Rumor Doctor.  Here’s his take on the story of Poe’s short and stormy life as a cadet at West Point.

"It’s not hard to believe that Edgar Allan Poe, author of “The Pit and the Pendulum” and other horror stories, went to the United States Military Academy at West Point, an institution conspicuously absent from the list of top party schools.

Poe tried hard to get kicked out of West Point, and in 1831, he succeeded. Rumor is that the final straw came when he reported for drill wearing belts for his cartridges, a smile and nothing else, but did he actually do it? . . . But there are no records of Poe showing up for drill naked. Instead, Poe was court-martialed after he stopped going to class, parade, roll calls and chapel in January 1831. The following month, he was dismissed.

THE RUMOR DOCTOR’S DIAGNOSIS: The true story about why Edgar Allan Poe left West Point is sad and short, much like Poe’s life, but will the legend of him appearing naked ever die? Quoth The Rumor Doctor: Nevermore!"

GO HERE for full article.

Poe is the only major American writer to attend the United States Military Academy at West Point. Why Scholgol thinks Poe's enrollment there was, in his words, "not hard to believe" as it was "an institution conspicuously absent from the list of top party schools" is either a typo or an attempt at humor. Poe was a gambler and a hell-raiser at the University of Virginia (a major party school even back then). He appears to have continued on this course while at West Point. Jeffrey Myers’ biography of Poe states “only a quarter of the cadets in each class ever graduated; the rest were dismissed for bad conduct or scholastic deficiency.”  Poe never suffered from "scholastic deficiency."

For Poe’s military record in the National Archives GO HERE.

Your views on this aspect of Poe’s life?  Do you see any of Poe’s military career in his writings?

“The Raven” by Edgar Allan Poe Published on This Date, Jan. 29, 1845

January 29, 1845: “The Raven” by Edgar Allan Poe reaches print for the first time in the New York Evening Mirror. . . .

Often called the most famous poem ever written, early reviews of “The Raven” were ecstatic.  We have to remember these are the days before press agents roamed the land and cyberspace.

“Everybody reads the Poem and praises it . . .”

“A BEAUTIFUL POEM.”

“wild and shivery,”

“A Stanza unknown before to gods, men, and booksellers”

Isn't it a wonder and something to think about that poetry was once reviewed regularly in the press?  How and why has poetry and poets gone out of our lives?  What have we lost?  

It should be added, however, that “The Raven” was not destined to remain without critics. One example:   William Butler Yeats thought the poem “insincere and vulgar.”  Do you see this in the poem?

Kenneth Silverman, one Poe's finest biographers, concludes: “Poe [with “The Raven”] succeeded all too well in suiting the popular taste, a work fatally destined to be Beloved, a poem for people who don’t like poetry.”

Is this harsh?  Too sweeping?  What do you think?

Here are some outstanding readings of the poem (and, inevitably, one spoof).

QMx Presents: The Raven read by John De Lancie

The Raven: Read by Christopher Walken

The Raven read by James Earl Jones

The Simpsons the Raven