At the moment, I don't have too much information to post besides my author's name. I will be doing my project on Edgar Allen Poe. Allow me to give you a short history of why I want to study Poe. (This was my proposal for the project.)
I am interested in doing my American Author project on Edgar Allen Poe. I was first considering doing my project on other authors such as Michael Crichton or James Frey when the project was first announced. I had read Next by Michael Crichton over the summer and thought it was a fabulous book and I considered that if I ever had to do a project on his other works (this was before the project was announced) I thought that I wouldn’t actually enjoy having to report or explain his writing because it’s something that I don’t think I could put into words well or properly show how wonderful his writing is. I also an so anxious to finish the rest of A Million Little Pieces by James Frey, but he’s another author I’d rather just read for pleasure than for school. I also was sort of tired of hearing about people’s drug problems and having to present to the class things about drug issues (mainly because of studying the hippie movement for so long).
The first reason why I considered doing my project on him is that my grandmother owns first editions of all his works, some of whose pages are still sealed at the edges. Also, I think that his life in general is very interesting.
I know that he is an author that tons of people will also do their projects on, but I feel that he’s someone whose life details are overlooked and not seen for what they are. I first learned about him when I was in 5th grade and my class and I read “The Tell-Tale Heart”. During the time we were studying “The Tell-Tale Heart” and Edgar Allen Poe I was going through a dark time in my life and the dark-style writing inspired me to write more and express my feelings through literature.
Also, it’s not that I chose Poe because I don’t find that his works are something I’d read for pleasure rather than for a school assignment; it’s just that I’ve already read almost half of his works and I’d like to revisit them, as well as reading the rest of his works.
Another reason why I’d like to study Edgar Allen Poe further and read more of his works is because I have a passion for film and theatre as well as reading and writing, and whenever I read anything by Poe, I have the urge to turn it into a screenplay or script. I think one of the reasons why I like both writing and performance so much is because I love writing dialogue and feel that I have a talent for it. So therefore, because Poe’s stories and poems are so vivid, I can see how I’d be able to write stage directions and dialogue. Of course, for most of his stories and poems, because they are so short, they would have to be short films rather than full length motion pictures.
I was actually surprised that Edgar Allen Poe is American, because I’d actually forgotten that he was. To me, the way he writes almost seems very European and British. Yet, I guess I have to take into consideration that he as writing during the 1800s. Also, Poe was Scots-Irish (not too much of a surprise considering he was born in Boston) and was the second child of two actors Elizabeth Arnold Hopkins Poe and David Poe, Jr.
Hopefully, I will be as passionate about Poe as I was earlier in my life. I don’t doubt it, but I think I will look over some of his works before I finalize my decision. I’ll keep you posted!
