Hey just wondering if theris any more info on who or how Poe influenced us now. Please Help this paper is due 2morrow. Thax

-- Anonymous, February 02, 2004

Answers

Poe influences the way we unfold a story---be it in literature or film---today. Because of Poe, writers (later filmmakers) are more conscious about creating a mood. Once the mood is created, we are conscious of how we build a story, build suspense---detail by detail, cutting out anything unnecessary. Alfred Hitchcock said that Poe was a big influence on him. In an interview, Hitchcock said that he tried in his films, to do what Poe did in his stories. That is, to create "a completely unbelievable story told to the readers with such a spellbinding logic that you get the impression that the same thing could happen to you tomorrow." (From http://www.cswnet.com/~erin/eap4.htm) Because of Poe, we're also more conscious of when we let the reader "in on a secret" that the other characters don't know. Example: in "The Black Cat" or "The Tell-Tale Heart," the police are unknowingly right next to, or nearly standing on top of, the buried body. It's a "whodonit" turned upside-down---we know "who done it," and Poe lets let police and the murderer chit-chat, until we're almost going nuts with suspense. The beginning of the psychological thriller.

-- Anonymous, February 03, 2004