I REALLY NEED a sumary of The Angel Of The Odd .... i think i mite be the only person who hd EVER read it !!! HELP ME!!!

-- Anonymous, February 09, 2003

Answers

Dear Mary,

I don't think necessary to give you a summary (all things speaking by themselves), but here are some minor clues for your well-chosen reading.

One of Poe's "Marginalia", written at the same epoch, seems the best (and repeated) comment on all this pseudo-extravagant matter:

"Twenty years ago credulity was the characteristic trait of the mob, incredulity the ditinctive feature of the philosophic; n o w the case is conversed. The wise are wisely averse from disbelief. To be sceptical is no longer evidence either of information or of wit" (Democratic Review, Dec., 1844).

In "The Angel of the Odd" (Oct., 1844) - a kind of funnier remake of his (1832/35) "Bon-Bon", Poe is just playing (mentally punning) with some Tex Avery-like free associations of ideas (as already staged in his 1832/35 "Loss of Breath") to expose, in a new manner, the classical "Truth stranger than Fiction" that he took again as central theme of his (Feb, 1845) "The Thousand and Second Tale of Scheherazade". Read them all for a better comprehension of the whole matter. And you'll be surprised of your own powers of summarizing.

Moreover,You may catch the following ingredients for the excellence of the "sauce", e.g.:

"To doubt everything" versus "To swallow/believe everything".

"Scepticism" versus "Gullibility".

"A tale of Genii/Djins" and... "Gin"!

"Raw Spirits" and... "New Spirits of the Age"!

"Truth stranger than Fiction" and... "In Vino Veritas"!

And thereafter, let your own imagination work by itself... far from the bottle!

Yours sincerely,

Raven's Shade (Belgium).

P.S. Though not often evoked, "The Angel of the Odd" is really a masterwork. No time nor space to tell you more about it just now. Good luck.

-- Anonymous, February 11, 2003