Skip to main content

Poe's Short Stories: Dr. Jay Mehta's task




The mysterious, secretive and dark settings characterize the stories of the writer who is considered to be the inventor of detective fiction, i.e Edgar Allan Poe. Mostly known for his short stories and poetry, Poe's own life was quite mysterious and controversial itself. However, that's not what this post is all about. This post explores how, writers of those times, especially writers of detective fiction like Poe, could create some of the spine-chilling narratives with nothing but words. Language though often considered a distinct field of study from literature, has a symbiotic relationship with the same.
So here is my answer which ....
asked here ...


1) Alliteration is indeed one of those devices which help the writer in creating a kind of dark setting required for this genre. However, I would rather like to point out the very first line of the story માનસંઘ, i.e 'એક તો એ અંધારી રાત હતી'. The idea of that અંધારી રાત (dark night) sets the mood of the story. The very mention of a dark night arouses a sense of eeriness in the mind of the reader. For a reader who loves to read detective fiction or ghost stories and such supernatural narratives, the dark night itself becomes a cue that something strange or mysterious  is about to happen.

2) In માનસંઘ, the use of adjectives such as નીરસ and નિર્જન for the atmosphere create a kind of scary setting for the story. The mention of the narrator stepping into a puddle (ખાબોચિયું ) on a night where there's pin drop silence creates some sensory images for the reader. Other than that, the discussions between the narrator and the three other characters including માનસંઘ, about the mysterious downfall of anyone who works on Narayan's farm also sets the reader for the pre-established design of the writer.

3) At various instances in માનસંઘ, the natural elements such as the wind, the night, the rain, etc are personified in order to create the dark setting in which the strange events take place. Take for instance the narrative where માનસંઘ narrates his encounter with the ghostly creature on the cliff near Naran's farm. He says,"રાત ના અંધારા ઉતર્યા હતા", which literally translates into the 'darkness of the night was stepping down' . Sounds weird but that's what it means if we take that literally. The fundamental idea of the writer though, was to describe the intense darkness surrounding the area at that time of the night. In which Jayant Khatri succeeds.

4) When I started reading માનસંઘ , it was around 12:00 in the night so of course by the time I reached the narration of the scary experiences, I was scared too. This is something which every reader could relate to. When you're lost in a story and then suddenly a scary narrative comes up and then again if you're alone in a room, chances are you'll get scared to death. This happens with scary movies also. Unfortunately I wasn't able to listen to the second story, so don't know how that would've felt.

Secondly, when I finished reading માનસંઘ , there was this sense of grief mixed with uncertainty. Simultaneously, there was also a sense of despair as it ended with 'એ સવાર ઉઘડવાને બહુ બહુ વાર હતી'.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

The Archetypes of Literature.... Northrop Frye

Northrop Frye, in full Herman Northrop Frye, Canadian educator and critic who wrote much on "Canadian Literature" and culture and became best known as one of the most important literary theorists of the 20th century. 1.What is Archetypal Criticism? What does the Archetypal critic do? In literary Criticism the term " archetype" denotes recurrent narratives designs, patterns of actions, character- type, themes & images which are identifiable in a wide variety of works of literature, as well as in myths, dreams and even social rituals. Such recurrent items are held to be the result of elemental & universal forms or patterns in the human psyche, whose effective embodiment in a literary work evokes a profound response from the attentive reader, because he or she shares the psychic archetypes expressed by the author. 2.What is Frye trying to prove by giving an analogy of "Physics to Nature" & "Criticism to Literature"? Northrop...

Poem : The Old Woman by Joseph Campbell

Hello Readers, Here I'm sharing one poem named "The Old Woman" written by Joseph Campbell. ● About Author :- Joseph Campbell was an American mythologist writer and lecturer, best known for his work in comparative mythology & comparative religion. His work is vast , covering many aspects of the human experience. ● Poem : The Old Woman :- "The Old Woman" by Joseph Campbell is a poem projecting life of woman who is at the hand of her life with fulfilling all her roles of her life. Devided into 3 stanzas. This poem is a gem of simplicity. Note the three lovely comparisons. It is easy to see beauty in young woman , but it needs understanding & imangination to see the beauty of old age. Here the poet skillfully represents her beauty by comparing with nature elements. A very important figures of speech that is simile perfectly works here.    In the very 1st stanza ,  the poet talks about her beauty which is as pure as a candle at a holy-plac...

Symbols and Codes in the Novel "The Da Vinci Code".

Name: Vidhya Pandya Semester: MA – 4 Roll No: 30 Paper No:-13 The New Literature Enrolment No: 2069108420190031 Email id: vidhupandya10497@gmail.com Year: 2018 -20 Submitted to: Department of English , Maharaja Krishnakumarsinhji Bhavnagar University. Assignment Topic : Symbols and Codes in the novel “ Da Vinci Code”. Words : 1698 ◆ Introduction :- "Nothing kills better than Religion."                                   - Dan Brown. The novel “ Da Vinci Code” which is written by the American Author DanBrown and he also best known for his thriller novels and mysteriousnovels. The novel “ Da Vinci Code” is a 2003 mystery thriller novelby Dan Brown. This is Brown's Second Novel include character RobertLangdon.  The story unfolds around the major characters – Symbologist Robert Langdon and Cryptologist Sophie Neveu. The title links the symbolic significance of artistic works, ...