Halloween Story staples: The Raven, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Frankenstein.
WARNING:
THE BANDERSNATCH BLOG MAY CONTAIN INFORMATION AND OPINIONS THAT THE PUBLIC MIGHT FIND OFFENSIVE. PLEASE NOTE THAT ALL INFORMATION WILL BE CHECKED AND OPINIONS DO NOT REFLECT THE OPINIONS OF THE MAIN BLOGGER HERSELF.
Hey there Earthlings, Alternatives and Trollers. Put down that mouse and lend an ear. Welcome to The Bandersnatch blog where we talk weird, wacky and wondrous. I'm The Bandersnatch and I have no idea what I'm doing.
As you should know Tuesdays is book blog day were we usually talk about one particular book and pretty much run with it. However Today's blog is on three Halloween staples The Raven, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Frankenstein
THE RAVEN
Published on January 29th 1845 on the pages of the New York Evening Mirror, The Raven is a narrative poem written by American Author Edgar Allen Poe which whilst did not bring him financial success but brought him popularity. Noted for its presentation of musicality and stylised language as well as Supernatural atmosphere. It tells of a mysterious visit between a talking Raven and a distraught lover, identified as a student lamenting his lost love Lenore and his slow decent into madness. Sitting on its perch of a bust of Pallas, The Raven seams to further distress the protagonist with the constant repetition of the word “Nevermore”. The Poem makes use of numerous references in the frames of folk, mythological, religious and even classical.
Author Edgar Allen Poe was born on January 19th 1809. He became Americas first well known Writer, he would also become a poet, editor and Literary critic. He was well known for his short stories and poetry usually tied to mystery and the macabre. Poe was also tied to Romanticism in the US and of American Literature as well as one of the earliest practitioners of the short story concept. Poe is also considered the inventor of the detective fiction genre and a significant contributor to the Science fiction genre. Due to earning a living off a writing career alone, Poe lived a financially difficult life. Poe would later die on October 7th 1849 at the age of 40 under strange and considered mysterious circumstances.
The Raven would eventually be made into films in 1935, 1963 and 2012. The 2012 version was an American crime thriller directed by James McTeigue, it was set in1849and followed a fictionalised account of the last few days before Author Poe's death, where in Poe follows a serial killer whose murders mirror his works. The writers mentioned that whilst the story was mostly fictional, the accounts surrounding Edgar Allen Poe's admittedly mysterious death played a good part. Poe has been said to have repeated the name “Reynolds” on the night before his death though no one knows who he was talking about. The 2012 movie was released in the UK on March 9th then in the US on April 27th receiving mixed reviews with the visual effects and score being praised but the performances and plot twists criticized.
I first read The Raven as a teenager, I was an avid reader then as I am now and I had found the world of Goth which has embraced The Raven as part of its supporting literature cornerstones. I have loved the poem since then and I give it an 9/10.
THE LEGEND OF SLEEPY HOLLOW
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow is set in a glen called Sleepy Hollow and the Dutch settlement inside of it called Tarrytown during the year 1790, the residents of the town are terrorised by the ghoul of a headless horseman, supposedly a hessian soldier who in life lost his head to a cannonball and rides forth at night to find his head, resulting in some residents to pass away with fright or without their heads. The story was written by American Author Washington Irving whilst living in Birmingham England and published in 1819 under the title of The sketchbook of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent and was tied to the gothic themes soon afterwards.
Born in Manhattan New York, on April 3rd 1783 Washington Irving became a well known short story writer and essayist Rip van Winkle (1819) and the Legend of sleepy Hollow (1820) being his most well known work, a biographer of George Washington Oliver Goldsmith and Muhammad and even becoming a diplomat to Spain in the 1840s. Irving would live a long and interesting life before He would pass away on November 28th 1859 after having a heart attack.
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow has many movie adaptions one of the most well known and loved is the 1999 adaption by director Tim Burton with actors Christina Richi and johnny Depp starring amongst the cast. The Movie was loosely based on the original tale of the same name with several details changed in the process. Being released on November 19th 1999 the movie received positive critic reviews grossing $207 million worldwide.
I love the legend of sleepy hollow both the original story and the 1999 movie adaption, their part of my Halloween prep every year and as such I give the story a 7/10 and the movie an 8/10.
FRANKENSTIEN
Frankenstein also known as The Modern Prometheus follows a young scientist called Victor Frankenstein as he goes about creating a sapient creature via an unorthodox experiment and is both horrified by what he's done and suffers the consequences for it.
Frankenstein was written in 1815 when Mary Shelly was travelling with her future husband Percy Shelly and friends including Lord Byron when a competition was suggested to see who could write the best horror story to which the eighteen year old Mary Shelly won. Frankenstein would be published as a novel on January 1st 1918 by an “Anonymous writer” however her name would be upon the cover with the second edition which was published in Paris in 1821.
Mary Shelly was born Mary Goodwin on the 30th of August 1797 to father Political Philosopher William Goodwin and mother Feminist activist Mary Wollstonecraft. She would become Mary Shelly when she married Percy Bysshe Shelly on December 30th 1816. two years before the publication of her most famous book, she would later pass away on February 1st 1851.
I love Frankenstein as it shows how scary human creativity can be regardless of where its being done. And I also believe the book is and should be considered the grandfather of science fiction stories and was considered scary when it was written, the fact that it was written by a woman just adds to how cool the story is. Frankenstein and the monster he creates is cemented as both monster and horror icons for centuries. I give the story a 9/10.
COVID-19 NOTICE:
Remember to follow your governments guidelines during this time.
If you follow any creative artists, content creators or the like and cannot buy any of their Merch but consume their content keep an eye out for their Patreon and Ko-FI, donate a small amount if you wish, that
will help the creative community thrive.
STAY SAFE, STAY INFORMED, STAY ALIVE.
If you wish to contact for whatever reason and/or work with The Bandersnatch blog the Business Email is:
WEBSITE BIBLIOGRAPHY:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Raven
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edgar_Allan_Poe
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Raven_(2012_film)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Legend_of_Sleepy_Hollow
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleepy_Hollow_(film)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frankenstein
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Shelley
https://twitter.com/TBandersnatch
https://www.tiktok.com/@thebandersnatchuk
https://ko-fi.com/thebandersnatchmama
Cashapp: £TheBand3rsnatch
And there you have it a decent book for those who love to read So we'll be leaving this here for today please leave a comment, share with others if you want or not, Don't forget We HAVE KO-FI! please consider becoming a KO-FI Donator today, the link is in the bibliography above. Friday is random blog day and remember keep it sensible in the comments all abuse will be tracked and reported to the appropriate people.
THIS IS THE BANDERSNATCH, I'M THE BANDERSNATCH AND REMEMBER STAY WEIRD, STAY WACKY, STAY WONDEROUS AND I'LL SEE YOU SOON...
Comments
Post a Comment