Two Poe Tales: How to Write a Blackwood Article and A Predicament (audio)

What it is

This is an audio recording of two satirical tales by Edgar Allan Poe, "How to Write a Blackwood Article" and "A Predicament". The recording was made by a LibriVox volunteer, Catharine Eastman, and released into the public domain. It is a modern reading of Poe's text, so it is not recorded in the figure's own voice.

Why it matters

Poe is best known for his horror stories, but these two pieces show his comic side. They mock the formula of short horror stories published in the Scottish periodical Blackwood's Magazine, and in "A Predicament" they poke fun at a woman author who successfully uses that formula. The tales show how Poe thought about the literary fashions of his day.

Look closer

• What does Poe make fun of in the formula he describes, and why might a writer of his time find it funny?
• How does the volunteer reader's voice change the way you hear the humour compared with reading the text on a page?
• What might this recording leave out about the magazines and readers Poe was writing for?