Intercultural Studies II

A collection of moments

[m-l-rio]

“I found D– at home, yawning, lounging, and dawdling, as usual, and pretending to be in the last extremity of ennui. He is, perhaps, the most really energetic human being now alive–but that is only when nobody sees him.”

— Edgar Allan Poe, “The Purloined Letter”

[m-l-rio]

“All fools are poets; this the Prefect feels; and he is merely guilty of a non distributio medii in thence inferring that all poets are fools.”

— Edgar Allan Poe, “The Purloined Letter”

[pau-interculturalstudies]

The Murders of Rue Morgue

a) Brief historical context of the short story ´The Murders ...¨: Where does it take place? When? What was happening in the world? And in South America?

“The Murders in the Rue Morgue”, written by Edgar Allan Poe, takes place in Paris, France, in the mid-nineteenth century. The nineteenth century was a time of lots of social changes and major conflicts, such as the Napoleonic Wars, the decline of the Ottoman Empire, the Industrial Revolutions, among others. Here in South America, the 19th century was a period of Independence Wars. After the Napoleonic Wars, the Spanish king was captured, therefore people living in the South American colonies started their Revolutions and their journey towards Independence. It was also a big era for science and technological development. For example, Charles Darwin’s journey on the HMS Beatles, which led to the publication of his famous research “On the Origin of Species”; Dmitri Mendeleev created the Periodic Table and Gregor Mendel formulated his theory of inheritance. In the medical field, many important discoveries were made in the 19th century. Morphine was first isolated, anesthesia was first used and Louis Pasteur created the first successful vaccine. As for literature and culture, both of the novels we read and analysed were published: Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen and Frankenstein by Mary Shelley.

b) Describe Dupin: What is he like? Justify your thoughts with passages from the story.

Auguste Dupin was a young gentleman who came from a wealthy family but had been reduced to poverty. He is depicted as a rather reserved, lonely man who enjoys being alone and does not let anyone know about his whereabouts. “Our seclusion was perfect. We admitted no visitors. Indeed the locality of our retirement had been carefully kept a secret from my own former associates; and it had been many years since Dupin had ceased to know or be known in Paris. We existed within ourselves alone.” (p. 10) It is mentioned he loves nighttime, and is in fact “enamored” of the night. He is analytical and detailed with everything he does and he takes pleasure in the analysis of situations. “At such times I could not help remarking and admiring (although from his rich ideality I had been prepared to expect it) a peculiar analytic ability in Dupin. He seemed, too, to take an eager delight in its exercise - if not exactly in its display - and did not hesitate to confess the pleasure thus derived.” (p. 11) 

c) Read this quote thoroughly: What happened before that? What happened next?

"We are possibly not giving this matter a fair trial," he said. "The paper is spread out upon a plane surface; but the human throat is cylindrical. Here is a billet of wood, the circumference of which is about that of the throat. Wrap the drawing around it, and try the experiment again"

I did so: but the difficulty was even more obvious than before. "This," I said, "is the mark of no human hand"

Before this quote, they are analysing the body they have found and the damage it has in order to determine the cause of death and who (or what) was the murderer. They have established that they found hair that did not seem to be human. Dupin made a sketch which tried to demonstrate that there had been no slipping of the hand that strangled the victim, that the grip was firm. Dupin asked the narrator to place a hand and try to match all fingers with those of the sketch and it was in vain. After this attempt and concluding that the hand could not belong to a human being, Dupin gives the narrator a passage to read, in which there is an anatomical description of an Ourang-Outang (orangutan), so they conclude that it was the animal that committed the crime since it matched the description of the digits. “The description of the digits,” said I, as I made an end of reading, “is in exact accordance with this drawing. I see that no animal but an Ourang-Outang, of the species here mentioned, could have impressed the indentations as you have traced them. This tuft of tawny hair, too, is identical in character with that of the beast of Cuvier. But I cannot possibly comprehend the particulars of this frightful mystery.” (p. 54)

[pau-interculturalstudies]

Kids learn about the Monroe Doctrine including its major points, why it was established by President James Monroe, its effects and historical uses, and interesting facts. Educational article for students, schools, and teachers.

[pau-interculturalstudies]

Highlights From the 1800's Time Period in History, Significant events, news, key technology advances during the decade and Military and Political Leaders

[pau-interculturalstudies]

[horrorandhalloween]

by Rotten Fantom

[overvhelmed]

[almostreading]

Wandering the snowy woods with some Poe

[deadstrangeblog]

The Mysterious Death of Edgar Allan Poe

Edgar Allan Poe is arguably one of the most influential Gothic writers of the last century. He has become a symbol of horror and mystery not only in his work, but also in his death. On October 3rd, 1849, he was found delirious and wandering the streets of Baltimore, Maryland. A witness from the time reported that Mr. Poe was “In great distress and in need of immediate medical assistance” although nobody was quite sure what was wrong with him. He was rushed to hospital where medics worked around the clock to find a solution to the author’s state. After a short stay in hospital, Edgar Allan Poe died at 5 a.m. on the 7th of October.

Many theories surround his mysterious death, although none can be proven. Suicide, murder, the flu, syphilis, even rabies are all likely explanations as to how Poe died. Many newspapers reported that he had died from an “inflammation of the brain” after rumours from hospital staff emerged. One particularly dark theory dating from 1872 suggests that cooping was the cause of Poe’s death, a form of electoral fraud in which citizens were forced to vote for a particular candidate, sometimes leading to violence and even murder. To this day, his death remains unsolved.

[pau-interculturalstudies]

LETTERS IN THE SEA

1) Write approx 400 words discussing his motivation to write, his interests, his main objectives and his fears. Make clear time and place where these letters are written. 

2) Why do you think the author decided to use a letter- format to begin? 

3) Find out: which main scientific discoveries were made in the 1800s? 

[pau-interculturalstudies]

[paperbackbones]

“The world to me was a secret, which I desired to discover; to her it was a vacancy, which she sought to people with imaginations of her own.”

— Frankenstein, Mary Shelley

[connerys]

Herr Frankenstein was interested only in human life. First, to destroy it; then, recreate it. There you have his mad dream.

Frankenstein (1931) dir. James Whale

[manforsale]

If I was a young scholar with a god complex in Ingolstadt, Germany trying to spark life into human remains, the creature I thus create wouldn’t murder my friends and family and send me on a wild goose chase across the Arctic resulting in my demise

[dailyhorrorfilms]

Frankenstein, 1931 | James Whale.

[pau-interculturalstudies]

Essay Topic: Was the creature a monster or was Victor the monster?

ONE DAY I will write this.

[cryptoparanormalextraterrestrial]

i made this and it made me laugh so here I guess