rafaelquintino

Read this for school. This is a must read, for sure. It does not matter if you do believe or if you do not believe in this ideal, you must read it for a wider knowledge on the topic and forget the only example the World ever had of this, the URSS.

Ligeia is Poe's short-story that I recall the most. When I first started reading it - and because I am not fond of many literary works concerning the afterlife and reincarnation, and phantasmal experiences - my hopes were inadequately low but after starting to dig deeply into it, I realised the paranormality in this short-story works as a wide metaphor for the author's feelings and wishes. You see, usually when a topic like this comes around in a book, it seems as if the book is meant to aim at a different, more juvenile, "audience". Yet, there are works astounding enough to trespass this frontier. This is one of them. This is a short-story that illustrates the feeling of missing someone - Lady Ligeia, in this case - in a much darker prespective, yet still, and even if the reader has never felt something of the like, it establishes a solid relationship in between the author and you, achieved through the profoundess of the words used and the actions evoked, as if you feel what the author's feelings at the moment. The death and consequent reincarnation of Lady Ligeia is easily associated with the narrator's wish of having her back, the one he loves unconditionally.

This, along with At The Mountains of Madness, are my Lovecraft favourites. During my "dark period" I bought several of his books and it never ceased to impress me how he came up with his own "chantic" to summon Cthulhu. I'm sure it is a lot easier to do it these days now that we have Lord of the Rings and all these made-up languages but, back in H. P Lovecraft's days, I am sure no one would ever think of something of the like. I am not into the fantastic world anymore, but this remains one of my favourites. I'm still trying to figure out why...