What an odd story! As with a few before it, I didn't enjoy this one much when reading it, but the discussion in the episode really helped put a better perspective on it. In particular I really liked the framing of it as a plague story with the spectre of cholera hanging over everything (for some reason it hadn't occurred to me that the omen of death was an omen of them getting cholera), and the idea of it as a reaction to the science of the Enlightenment.
Thanks also for making the weird political digression make sense! It completely boggled my mind what it had to do with anything else in the story. I'm still not completely convinced, but I guess it worked for Poe.
Overall I thought this story had a lot of great set-up; the evocative description of the cholera epidemic and the tantalizing hints of the tomes in the library would make an excellent introduction to a different weird story. As it stands, though, the description of the beast and the revelation about it didn't do anything for me. Maybe that's a problem of perspective as a modern reader, which at least would fit with the theme of the story in a roundabout sort of way.
I agree. I think this story has a lot in common with "An Authentic Narrative of a Haunted House." I can see how it would have worked for a contemporary audience, but it just doesn't do much for readers now. Still, I found this to be of much greater historical interest than the La Fanu story, and I always enjoy Poe's wordsmithing, especially in these short doses.
Yeah, I think that's a good comparison. And I agree that this was more historically interesting that the La Fanu story. I'll admit that I haven't read much Poe, and I struggle a bit to get into his writing style. But I'm reading "The Fall of the House of Usher" for the first time and rather enjoying it. Very Gothic.