The Pit and the Pendulum

So, for my next adventure, I took quite a jump down my list to Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Pit and the Pendulum”.  I have always been a huge fan of Poe’s work and was surprised that I had never read this story before. It is absolutely amazing! 

Like most of Poe’s stories, this one starts in the middle of the action.  Stories and books that start in medias res are probably some of my favorites to read because I find myself immediately hooked on the plot and I’m eager to discover how the reader got into the situation. And honestly, this is one of my favorite aspects of Poe’s stories because it immediately transports the reader into a setting usually filled with action and suspense. 

This particular story depicts the inner monologue of a man locked in a prison and the horrors he experiences.  It is a story I highly recommend; although I feel I need to put a warning label on this one.  Warning: You will never look at pendulums the same way again!  Case in point, there was a huge pendulum in the engineering building on my campus.  I had to walk by this pendulum every day and, since reading this story, I can never think of it the same way.

However, as amazing as this reading was, the one problem I had with the story was the ending.  It was very abrupt and did not really have explanation.  But perhaps that is better, in a way.  Much like the way it starts, by simply ending the story in the middle of the action, it enables the reader to create in their mind what happens next. I have always been a believer that writing has no meaning without a reader to bestow it. No matter what the author intended, the story is relatively useless without a reader to add their own interpretation to the writing. And, overall, I think Poe is one of the best examples of an author who openly invites the reader to create an experience of the story that is unique to them.  The way Poe writes not only this story but a lot of his other works allows readers to play with the writing and expand their own imagination into the unknown.

Now, before I leave you to your own adventuring, I want to comment a bit on the method I used to read this story.  On my I-pod Touch, I have an app that contains most of Edgar Allan Poe’s writings and I read the story through this.  But something was lost…I hated the fact that I was reading it on a little screen rather than actually being able to hold a tangible book in my hand.  There is something special about being able to flip the pages, hear the sound of the paper, enjoy the smell of a book.  I know that e-readers are the newest trend right now and I will probably be berated for even holding this opinion about these evil devices, but this is one girl that will never be converted.
Until next time, my fellow literary companions, have fun adventuring!