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A review by redhairedashreads
Edgar Allan Poe: Master of Horror by Mark Canada
3.0
Rating: 3 stars - I liked it
In these 10 lectures, Mark Canada dissects some of Edgar Allan Poe’s most famous works. With heavy focus on the symbolism, imagery, rhythm and rhyme, and foreshadowing, Canada relates that back to Poe's life and how it created such enthralling stories.
While this was very interesting, I also had a few issues with it. First, if you liked dissecting literature in English class then you will probably like this. Unfortunately, I don’t like dissecting and picking apart stories. I read them to enjoy the stories, not to pick them apart for hidden symbolisms. Another issue was that the author, and narrator, would do a specific voice any time he read from Poe’s work, and it was very unflattering and annoying.
If you have not read the majority of Poe’s works, this discussion of them will most likely spoil what happens. So I recommend reading at least The Tell-Tale Heart, The Pit and the Pendulum, The Fall of the House of Usher, The Purloined Letter, The Raven, Ulalume and Annabel Lee before listening to this if you care about that. These are the ones that he discusses the most.
So if you are a Poe fan and you want to dive deep into the symbolism of his work and learn more about how his life influenced it, than you might enjoy this audiobook. But if you are going into this expecting a biography then look somewhere else.
In these 10 lectures, Mark Canada dissects some of Edgar Allan Poe’s most famous works. With heavy focus on the symbolism, imagery, rhythm and rhyme, and foreshadowing, Canada relates that back to Poe's life and how it created such enthralling stories.
While this was very interesting, I also had a few issues with it. First, if you liked dissecting literature in English class then you will probably like this. Unfortunately, I don’t like dissecting and picking apart stories. I read them to enjoy the stories, not to pick them apart for hidden symbolisms. Another issue was that the author, and narrator, would do a specific voice any time he read from Poe’s work, and it was very unflattering and annoying.
If you have not read the majority of Poe’s works, this discussion of them will most likely spoil what happens. So I recommend reading at least The Tell-Tale Heart, The Pit and the Pendulum, The Fall of the House of Usher, The Purloined Letter, The Raven, Ulalume and Annabel Lee before listening to this if you care about that. These are the ones that he discusses the most.
So if you are a Poe fan and you want to dive deep into the symbolism of his work and learn more about how his life influenced it, than you might enjoy this audiobook. But if you are going into this expecting a biography then look somewhere else.