Written by Jon Williams
As noted on our Twitter feed, yesterday marked the 170th anniversary of the first publication of Edgar Allan Poe’s classic poem “The Raven,” for my money one of the finest examples of poesy in the English language. The long narrative poem tells the tale of a man lamenting for his lost love to a raven that he has inadvertently let into his home. Appearing first in the New York Evening Mirror on January 20, 1845, the poem is a delight in print, but for the musicality of the language, it must be heard aloud for the full effect. One such performance can be found on Select Stories of Edgar Allan Poe, narrated by Chris Lutkin.
That
audiobook also features eleven other classics from Poe, the others being pieces
of his short fiction rather than poetry. Several of them are classic examples
of the style that has led to Poe being known as the “Master of Macabre,” like “The
Tell-Tale Heart” and “The Cask of Amontillado.” As much as he is associated
with the horror genre, though, that was by no means the only trick in his bag. “The
Murders in the Rue Morgue” contains some grisly details, but it’s most notable
for being the first modern detective story. So although this sometimes gets
lost, Sir
Arthur Conan Doyle owes as much to Poe as does someone like, say, Stephen
King (who, in truth, is another writer associated with the horror genre
that writes in a number of styles).
Classic
literature never goes out of style or favor, of course, but merely sits on the
shelf and patiently waits to be discovered by new generations of readers and/or
listeners. And that’s why Dreamscape Media, publishers of the aforementioned
Poe title, is producing a line of classic titles on audiobook with new
recordings that will appeal to longtime literature lovers and first-time
listeners alike. This includes such beloved favorites as A
Christmas Carol and other
Christmas stories from Charles Dickens, The
Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry
Finn by Mark Twain, The
Awakening by Kate Chopin, and The
Wonderful Wizard of Oz and a number of other Oz stories from L. Frank
Baum, to name just a few.
And that’s
not all. Along similar lines, Dreamscape is also putting together narrations of
historical texts. These include Thomas Paine’s Common
Sense, Recollections
and Letters of General Robert E. Lee as well as Letters
from Lee’s Army, President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation
Proclamation (plus another edition that also includes the Gettysburg
Address).
