A Madness by Any Other Name: Poe Review

Poe’s stories still chill me after all these years after reading them. They were more so macabre after understanding them better as an adult than a teenager. As a teen, Poe struck me as disturbing for all the right reasons. It isn’t until later one, I understood why.

The Black Cat: I haven’t read this until now. True to Poe’s form, this follows linguistic and plot structures that chill to the bone. I can see how and why Lovecraft got the idea from the Cats of Ulthar. As with any of Poe’s stories, there a refined quality to the language of madness he employs. Even when the narrator acknowledges his evil thoughts, there’s the gentleman-like quality to the narration. The story follows the narrator as he descends into madness. Poe’s use of the supernatural in this tale is worth noting. The supernatural is subtle, yet it is not. The narrator builds his case for his own sanity, but he does it with such flowery prose a reader instantly knows they are dealing with a madman. One aspect of madness that Poe championed is a madness so complete it is near instantaneous. Or is it? The tale starts off pleasant—too damned pleasant. The presence of the cat itself is supernatural, or could be read as such. The cat itself is something the narrator cannot comprehend and thus goes mad. Perhaps even the cat’s name, Pluto, was an unintended allusion to the supernatural? On a surface level, it works as foreshadowing (Pardon the pun). In Poe fashion, the ending is gruesome and satisfying.

Cask of Amontillado: I loved this story when I first read it. Understanding how Poe makes madness almost reasonable is probably the most macabre aspect of this writing. This story is no exemption. This tale has more characterization through interaction than the others. Normally, Poe has little in the way of personal interactions by way of dialogue. This story, uses dialogue in a rather realistic fashion. Fortunado’s drunken banter does resonate. True to Gothic fashion, the underbelly of the narrator’s home holds ancestor’s bones and the corpse of a nemesis. This story is one of Poe’s more famous tales. Revenge is a staple in Gothic literature, but perhaps with Poe, it is more so as madmen will go to great lengths to “right a wrong”.

The Tell-Tale Heart: If there is one thing Poe understands it is madness. Madness manifests many ways in Poe’s fiction that many authors don’t quite grasp. Now, the narrator displays a tell-tale sign of a psychopath: obsession with something or someone. Further, he contradicts himself: he loves the old man, but killed him anyway. To pay attention to the rambling and attempt to reasonably justify his murder, is to also understand how madness functions. There is often a breaking point, whether internal or external. This story has a combination of both. The narrator, either through guilt or by reaching his breaking point, confesses to the deed.

In summary, Poe’s tales offer a glimpse into a madman’s mind. Not many are touched by genius without being caressed by madness. With these stories, the deeper you go, the more you regret it. One you understand how the darkness of the human mind works, you’re never quite the same again. With Poe, the saying, when you look into the abyss, the abyss looks into you, holds true. But consider that the human condition is an abyss all its own.

Humanity as a Sick Joke: Killing Joke Review

The constant battle between Joker and Batman is deeply rooted into the graphic novel genre. Though different adaptations came arisen through the decades, like children’s cartoons and more mature films. This piece goes into Joker’s mind. As terrifying as that may seem, it is and more. Joker may well be a tragic anti-hero of sorts. His philosophy is something to examine.

           

First, the art work. I am certainly no art critic, but the focus seems to be on the emotion, which seems to be standard. I cannot compare this piece to something like Gaiman’s Sandman series; those are worlds apart and built upon different things. Killing Joke, the focus is primarily on action, but there is time for the philosophy.

Speaking of philosophy: Joker’s insight on society, as cynical as it is, it true from his experience. His own backstory is certainly solid enough to provide a foundation for his perspective. Joker’s perspective hearkens to Poe’s and Hawthorne’s dark romanticism where humanity makes life intolerable to itself. Perhaps Joker is right: maybe there is no sense to life if all humanity does is break itself down to rise above. But rise above what?

Why is one form of madness preferable to another? Joker admits he went crazy, but humanity is far more twisted and hypocritical. If governments can get away with killing thousands and gain something from it, why can’t an individual? This seems Joker’s perspective, but only on a surface level.

 Joker hinted at another failing of humanity: its fragility. His strongest point was what triggered World War 2: other countries decided Germany had too many telegraph poles. In context Germany was left if shambled after World War 1 and took a madness to restore it and nearly bring the world down in flames. Perhaps Joker is being vague, but in attempting to decipher his rants, let’s consider that politics is a form of madness itself (which it is!).

Joker is right in this regard: the humanity is unjust to itself. With his reference to Germany, consider that Hitler gave the German people a false hope to realistic it turned into madness that scorched the world. What may be good for the goose is likely not good for the gander.

Sometimes, it takes a monster in the dark to show you the importance of the light.

In summary, Joker is an amalgamation of humanity’s weaknesses. We try to do what we can to survive, but that is all we do and often worse. Eking out a living in a society that sees an individual’s worth by their income is damned near impossible and leads to depression in many cases.

I find it odd when Joke jumped into the polluted river he was baptized. He came out with a cynical but ultimately true perspective. In an odd way, he was reborn knowing the truth and it drove him mad.

“Notice the hideously bloated sense of humanity’s sense of importance” (Joker, Batman, the Killing Joke.) As much as one would hate to agree with a psychopathic madman, he is right. Pride is an ugly thing. And one vice leads to another. Pride comes before the fall.

As far as I liked this piece, I couldn’t grasp the ending. Maybe. The more I think about it, the more it seems like Batman was killed by humanity’s own ego and selfish desires. Joker is right, humanity enjoys its own filth.

Not So Joyous Ride: Joyride Review

I wish I could say I liked this book. There are a few things it did well, but the shadow of the mundane was strong. I nearly gave up after chapter 6. I did enjoy the writing itself. At first. He focused too much on the finer details of the characters and that slowed down the whole novel. One thing that was hard to get through the lack of “brain candy”: I was given the answers instead of having to think about the text.

Wayne was too much of a sketch and an archetype. True, several of his characteristics were terrifying: his apathy, his willingness to give himself to his anger, and his darker fantasies. He also displays sociopath tendencies. He read more like a profile than an actual person.

Rule on almost the same hand, was just as lackluster as Wayne. Both were willing participants of their anger, but Rule fantasized about punching people out. His machismo just made me want to throw may hands up when he was first introduced. I needed more, so much more. Rule is the character who is more interested in his own image than being an actual human being and doing his damned job. He was just “one of the guys”.

The female character in this novel were just as flat. I detested the way Ketchum had this archetypal damsel in distress framework. It was like they were just there to fill space. There isn’t much I can say for or against their characterization. There may not have been any. I wanted to feel for them, but there wasn’t much to attach to.

When first reading this, I got chills. But they were short lived. The change in tone is what took me out of this novel. My expectations were a bit too high, it seems. I am loathing to say this: this novel was one of those things that seems like a generic version of something.

Introduction of new character could have been handled far better. They all bled together after chapter 4 or 5. With so many other insignificant details floating and flying around, it was difficult to distinguish characters. They didn’t hold that spark writers like King or Murakami give their characters. They felt like stage props: there for a small purpose, but not much else. In another sense, they were those extra’s in a film. Filler.

If there is anything to take away from this novel, it should be this: its function was to entertain. It did that. However, with the lack of characterization, that entertainment value decreases, and a reader just goes along for a kiddie ride of sorts, where the track is before them to see. There are few novels that didn’t give a feeling of exasperation after reading them. This is one such novel. Perhaps I am not the target reader.