The Bibliophile's Compass

Title : P.'s Correspondence Author : Nathaniel Hawthorne Publication Year: 1845 Rating : ⭐⭐⭐ Genre : Short story Who could have predicted that what I was craving was a classic Hawthorne-style short story narrated by an unreliable man who may or may not be in a psychiatric institution, describing his apparent encounters with famous figures from across history? Lord Byron, Napoleon, John Greenleaf Whittier, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Charles Brockden Brown, and Joel Barlow all appear while the boundaries between past and present, life and death, reality and delusion quietly pack their bags and leave. What struck me most was how the narrator imaginatively reshapes these figures, rewriting their legacies and literary reputations to suit his own private version of reality. Or at least I think that is what was happening. With an unreliable narrator, interpretation also becomes an unreliable activity. Honestly, this may be the best possible form of delusion: imagining that you p...

Title : The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar Author : Edgar Allan Poe Publication Year : 1845, December Pages : 12 Rating : ⭐⭐⭐ Genre : Horror, Hoax Source : eBook and audiobook @storytel.tr Opening Sentence : Of course I shall not pretend to consider it any matter for wonder, that the extraordinary case of M. Valdemar has excited discussion. I have read this before, but for some reason, I didn’t write a review! So here I am again, revisiting the same horror story. What’s the horror this time? The familiar obsession of Edgar Allan Poe: mesmerism. However, he really toyed with his readers this time because when he published this story, he never indicated that it was a work of fiction, leading people to believe it was a factual account. Imagine their reaction! The story features M. Valdemar, who has a medical condition that will kill him very soon. The narrator, who is a mesmerist, proposes to M. Valdemar that he can put him in a hypnotic state just before his last breath, and V...

Title : The Thousand-and-Second Tale of Scheherazade Author : Edgar Allan Poe Publication Year : 1845 Pages : 19 Rating : ⭐⭐⭐ Genre : Satire, Humor, Parody Source : EBook In “The Thousand-and-Second Tale of Scheherazade,” Edgar Allan Poe imagines a scenario where "One Thousand and One Nights" was not the final night that Scheherazade told her stories and lived happily ever after! This concept is quite unsettling, especially considering that Poe is known for his dead heroines. Please leave our beloved character from the ancient tales of the Middle East alone. It’s clear that his take on this story is not meant to bring good. If you're curious about the original "One Thousand and One Nights," I suggest reading Poe’s summary. It’s hilarious and fun—definitely skip Wikipedia since it can be quite dull! We can agree that Poe's work is a parody and satire. After the summary, he playfully prompts his readers to imagine if it were not just 1001 nights but 10...