Here are two more works showing in detail why Poe is not known today as a humorist. The two stories are almost inversions of the same formulaic joke.
In, THE THOUSAND-AND-SECOND TALE OF SCHEHEREZADE, Poe informs us that following the triumph of the long-winded storyteller, after she finishes her thousand-and-first story, she tells one story that goes too far. Scheherezade tells her sultan a rambling story of Sinbad encountering a host of marvels, all of which were based on real phenomena known to Poe's more scientific age, like coral islands and a hot air balloon. The sultan is so insulted by this affront to his credulity that he has Scheherezade executed.
In SOME WORDS WITH A MUMMY, a group of Poe-era scholars revive an Egyptian mummy with the curious name of Allamistakeo. The mummy informs the group that he was never subjected to the usual mummification rituals, because he actually fell into a trance brought on by that old Poe standby, catalepsy. Allamistakeo then plays a game of one-upmanship with the scholars, telling them that everything in their modern era was preceded by Egyptian genius. Only at the climax does one of the modern people manage to come up with something the mummy's words can't trump. Clever, maybe, but not funny.
No comments:
Post a Comment