green eggs and communism- the hidden life of Dr.Suess

 You may hear the common American idol, Dr.Suess, and Imagine a familiar early childhood world, that of the peculiarly- illustrated cats, fish, and bears riding unicycles and bouncing in their father’s distended stomach. If not, then you have to recognize at least a cat standing on two legs wearing a striped top hat and red bowtie, maybe the small orange keeper of trees that innocently defends nature against cruel corporate capitalism, specifically multi-use scarves. You know Dr.Suess. Born Theodore Suess Geisel, on March 4th, 1904. He was always a creator of the bizarre. In his personal life, Dr.Suess met his first wife Helen Palmer while she was studying at Oxford University. Helen was also an author, but as you may Imagine during these times it was easy for the wive’s work to be overshadowed by their Husbands. She wrote a few books including “Do You Know What I’m Going to Do Next Saturday?” and “A Fish Out of Water under her maiden name. Although she was 6 years older than him, they got married in 1927. I just thought it might be interesting to include, Dr.Suess was not all friendly as his writing persona may seem to his young audience. Theodore and Helen had a tumultuous relationship, not all untouched by infidelity.

Geisel published his first work in 1928 in small local magazines and newspaper columns. He was among the artists at the time not taken all that seriously until one day he was enough to Publish his first Children’s book in 1937 “And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street” which featured the first appearance of that one Blue elephant that I later recognized in “Horton hears a Who!”. After a 27th publisher rejected his first manuscript, Dr. Seuss walked dejectedly along the sidewalks of New York, planning to burn the book in his apartment incinerator. On Madison Avenue, however, he bumped into Dartmouth friend Mike McClintock, who that very morning had started a job as an editor in the Vanguard Press children’s section. Within hours, the men signed a contract, and in 1937 Vanguard Press published “And to Think that I Saw It on Mulberry Street,” which launched the extraordinary literary career of Dr. Seuss. “If I had been going down the other side of Madison Avenue, I’d be in the dry-cleaning business today,” and the rest is history. Dr. Suess became a published Children’s book author by chance or maybe Fate. 

But what is less known about the Beloved Children’s author is his political ideologies and their influence on his art. According to an Article by The Defense Organization on American History “Drew posters for the Treasury Department and the War Production Board. But by 1943, Geisel wanted to do more, so he joined the U.S. Army. He was put in command of the animation department of the 1st Motion Picture Unit, which was created out of the Army Signal Corps- 

And again, in an Article from the BBC they wrote that  Dr. Seuss’s wartime output was “very impressive evidence of cartooning as an art of persuasion”, Spiegelman explains how they “rail against isolationism, racism, and anti-semitism with a conviction and fervor lacking in most other American editorial pages of the period… virtually the only editorial cartoons outside the communist and black press that decried the military’s Jim Crow policies and Charles Lindbergh’s anti-semitism”. Dr. Seuss, he argues, “made these drawings with the fire of honest indignation and anger that fuels all real political art”

By the time World War II ended in late September of 1945, a now 41-year-old Dr.Suess moved on from his political cartoons. The next year in 1946, he was honorably discharged from the Army. He began writing children's books full-time with his wife in La Jolla, California. He published many of his most beloved works, including The Cat in the Hat (1957), and How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (1957), Horton Hears a Who! (1955), Green Eggs and Ham (1960) By now, still in his personal life, his wife at the time Helen had gotten sick from Guillain Barre Syndrome, which caused her a lot of pain. This new change, separated the two a lot, and now with Theodore’s growing success, he neglected her often. It’s confirmed in the late 50’s and early 60’s Theodore began an affair with the woman who would eventually become his second wife. Audrey Dimond. Sadly, 

In short, I don’t see a problem with utilizing your talents to spread a political message. Sure, it sounds like a given as a fairly left-minded liberal who agrees with most of Dr.Suess’s beliefs for his time. I still don’t have an issue with it, if it were coming from conservative right-winged artists. It’s done all the time if you think about it. Realizing that a simple, childhood author could have such adult views seems jarring. But alas, every artist no matter what age their audience is, has political beliefs. Whether you agree with them or not, is what defines your reaction to learning of them. Dr.Suess (in my opinion) never pushed his agenda in his children’s books. Perhaps, the closest case was The Lorax (published in 1971) which expressed anti-capitalist ideology and encouraged the audience to mobilize their empathy in protecting the environment and natural resources. But allow me to ask you a question. If you have strong morals you’d like the future generations of children to believe wouldn’t you spread the message in the most digestible method to them?

On the contrary, you could argue that it’s inappropriate for Dr Suess to knowingly publish political cartoons while simultaneously publishing Children’s books with the identical nursery rhyme- still poems, and illustration style. Most Dr.Suess books are designed specifically for preschoolers to 4th-grade reading levels. And again, all the time we have issues with what is taught in schools. 

P.S., this may seem completely irrelevant to the conversation. But there is a theory on Reddit about Dr.Suess and the actual material of his children’s books. Coming from r/FanTheories, user GinjaNinja1027 posted

 “All of the Dr. Seuss books are connected, and they all take place in the mind of a boy. This boy lives a boring life; on a boring street with boring parents. These books take place inside the wacky world he imagines while living this boring life. The first book published by Dr. Seuss (To Think That I Saw It On Mulberry St.) has the boy seeing all of these characters and animals passing him on the street he lives on when in reality, all he saw was a horse-drawn carriage. 

This “imagining wacky characters” theme comes up a lot in Dr. Seuss’ subsequent books. “If I Ran the Zoo” tells of him being at the zoo with animals he’d seen before, and imagining all the goofy, non-existent animals that would live in his zoo. “If I Ran The Circus” follows the same theme. In “The Cat in the Hat” the boy and his sister are bored at home with nothing to do, and so he imagines a magical cat that comes and has fun with them. In that book, we find out that the boy has a goldfish, and the book that comes directly after (One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish), imagines all the different types of fish he wants and other funny things everywhere. As the boy grows up, he discovers the ins and outs of life and tailors his imagination to fit the things he learns. He learns how to read (Fox in Sox). He learns about Racism (the Sneeches), environmentalism (the Lorax), and war (the Butter Battle Book). This is him trying to understand these themes through his imagination. The last book published by Dr. Seuss, “Oh The Places You’ll Go!” is about a boy maturing as a person. In the book, he eventually reaches “The Waiting Place, " an allegory for adulthood. He realizes he has matured past his imaginary world and tells himself to let it go. The saga ends with him abandoning this imaginary world in favor of all the fun things he will experience in his real adult life.” I just figured this was a cute way to finish off today's episode.

feminine idols throughout literary history- WOMEN's history month

 The Month of March is Women's History Month, originating as a national celebration in 1981 when Congress passed Pub. L. 97-28 which authorized and requested the President to proclaim the week beginning March 7, 1982, as “Women’s History Week.” Throughout the next five years, Congress passed joint resolutions designating a week in March as “Women’s History Week.” In 1987 after being petitioned by the National Women’s History Project, Congress passed Pub. L. 100-9 which designated the month of March 1987 as “Women’s History Month.” Between 1988 and 1994, Congress passed additional resolutions requesting and authorizing the President to proclaim March of each year as Women’s History Month. In today's episode, we will examine Jane Austen's presence in feminine literature and 2 other writers who paved the way for modern female authors and artists. 

Jane Austen is a very celebrated 19th-century female author, who chose once-provocative and taboo subjects to dissect and poke fun at, such as marriage, traditional western Gender roles, and the high class, she helped represent the feminist perspective, which was incredibly rare for her time. In the pantheon of literary giants, Jane Austen occupies a singular place as a champion of the feminine perspective. Austen paved the way for subsequent generations of female authors to assert their voices in the literary landscape through her nuanced portrayals of women and incisive critique of patriarchal norms. Her enduring legacy serves as a testament to the power of storytelling to illuminate the human condition and advocate for social change.

Jane Austen is a unique author because her novels are told in the third person by an omniscient narrator who has access to the thoughts and feelings of the characters. She makes use of minimal description, but instead focuses on the speech and action of her characters – if you open one of her novels at random and look at the page, you’ll see how much dialogue there is, making them feel like you too are in the room with the characters and you grow to understand them personally. 

Many believe Austen was one of the first authors to use what we now call “Free Indirect Speech” a literary technique in which the narrator’s voice shares with us the words, thoughts or feelings of the characters, without telling us that this is what they are doing. This means that the character’s thoughts or words slip into the third-person narrative, subtly shifting the perspective from that of the narrator to that of the character. It’s almost as though the narrator is the character for a moment, but they’re not – they’re still the narrator. 

Despite their limitations, Austen's heroines, particularly Elizabeth Bennet, demonstrate resilience, intelligence, and independence of thought. Elizabeth refuses to conform to societal norms by marrying for financial security alone and instead seeks a partner who respects her intellect and values. This portrayal of female agency was groundbreaking and continues to resonate with modern readers.

• Feminist Perspective Authors from each generation

1. Gregorian Era (1714- 1837)/ Regency Era (1811-1820) 

This literary era takes place mostly in the UK when the British still had significant power over the United States. The period of publication was sandwiched between the Victorian era, with its strict classicism, The Georgian poets were, by the strictest definition, those whose works appeared in a series of five anthologies named Georgian Poetry but in the context of today’s episode it did include some of the same elements such as Heteronormative Romance, Marriage and Family Buildings, hedonism (or the pursuit of self-pleasure and indulgence, the reference of sins or immoralities and sentimentality

• Jane Austen, Mary Shelly,  Anastasia Eristavi-Khoshtaria, Kato Mikeladze

2. American Romanticism- Victorian Era (1833- 1869)

After achieving independence from Britain in 1776, Americans lacked a true literary and cultural tradition of their own, so they designed Romanticism to feature elements of Emotion, Idealized Nature, Individuality, Spirituality, the awe of nature. In the Gregorian era, Marriage and Romance was a very popular theme but in the later decades of Romanticism, it idealized the world around us and our environment more than the people. 

• Charlotte Bronte, Elizabeth Gaskell, Elizabeth Barret Bronte, Annie Bessant, Mary Elizabeth Braddon, Gertrude Blood

3. Edwardian Period- Modernism (1900-1914)

With the death of Queen Victoria, a new period of literary accomplishment began. The period is marked by a celebration of British nationalism and imperialism and a condemnation of it, but in the US, this was deemed as Moderninsm, which was most known for it’s Experimentalism, Formalism, Loss and grief, Absurdity and Similar to the Romanticism, Multiple Perspectives which was very daring at the time. 

• Evangeline Holland, Beatrix Potter, Virginia Woolf, Katherine Mansfield, Gertrude Stein, Marianne Moore, Djuna Barnes

4. Lost Generation (1917-1930) Harlem Renaissance (1919- 1937)

The Theme was introduced by Author Gertrude Stein and other authors who came of age during World War 1, this was a time of very heavy political propaganda and anxiety and paranoia among citizens that the enemy would attack at random.  are themes connected to war and its consequences, the radical change of writing style, and the cynical perspective on life. Their 'break from the past' happened not only in the topic they explored but in the form they used and then bordered on the Tragedy of the Great Depression.

• Zelda Fitzgerald, Slyvia Beach, Jean Rhys

1. Contemporary/ Southern Gothic (1935-1969)

The word refers to both poetry and prose, where prose includes works of fiction such as novels and novellas, essays, and dramatic works. Typical characteristics of the contemporary period include reality-based stories with strong characters and a believable story. Settings usually keep to the current or modern era, so futuristic and science fiction novels are rarely included in this category for example these might include novels that sound like diary entries and more life-like narratives. Southern Gothic is described more as a theme than a movement, a sub-genre of fiction that is dignified by its storytelling of deeply flawed, disturbing, or eccentric characters who may be involved in taboo situations, and witchy elements

Flannery O'Connor, Nina Fedorova, Mary Ellen Chase, Willa Cather

6.  Beats/ Confessional Poetry, Black Arts movement (1962-1977)

The four key characteristics of the Beats generation are intimate and controversial subject matters, the use of the first-person point of view, autobiographical experiences, and the careful use of craftsmanship. The Civil Rights Movement played a large role in this era, influencing African Americans to bring their perspective into the literary movement, which is still very popular today in Celebrating Black Women. Confessional poetry however is known for describing intense psychological or spiritual experiences. 

Adrienne Rich, Sylvia Plath, Carolyn Cassadey, Hettie Jones,

Bonnie Bremer, Patti Smith, Elise Cowen

5. Postmodernism (1979- 1993)

The notable literary devices of postmodern literature are paradox, unreliable narrators, unrealistic narratives, parody and dark humor. Most postmodern literature also rejects the idea of a single theme or meaning, choosing instead to have many meanings or forgo theme entirely, this was coming from the Disco Era, post-Vietnam war and the early stages of the Techonological revolution of the mid 1980’s in Industrial America. This rejection of theme and meaning is often because many of its authors and artists fail to see a singular meaning in the broken, disastrous world around them. Instead, it often enjoys poking fun at those who try to find meaning themselves

June Jordan, Kathy Acker, Isabell Allende, Margaret Atwood,

Giannina Braschi, Mary Caponegro and Amanda Vail

6. Metamodernism (1996-now)

The prefix meta is a term of Greek origin and means “after, between, beyond” That is Metamodernism is a movement that emerged and covered the period after Postmodernism. This is the societal revolution most familiar to us, where taboo subjects are more comfortably discussed and digested and the new generations challenge fundamental societal norms we’ve been used to for many generations. Metamodernism is serious and sincere, it oscillates from one polarity to another, between diametrically opposed ideas, like enthusiasm and irony, naivety and knowingness, totality and fragmentation, bright and plain, and so on, whereas Postmodernism is playful, insincere, unsteady and ironic.

podcast ep} femenine rage through film and media

 Cira Flannery Garza

February 2024

Feminine Rage Through Film and Media

According to the novel “Rage Becomes Her- The Power of Women’s Anger” By Non-Fiction author Soraya Chemaly “Anger is the demand of accountability, It is evaluation, judgment, and refutation. It is reflective, visionary, and participatory. It's a speech act, a social statement, an intention, and a purpose. It's a risk and a threat. A confirmation and a wish. It is both powerlessness and power, palliative and a provocation. In anger, you will find both ferocity and comfort, vulnerability and hurt. Anger is the expression of hope” This statement by Chemaly applies to much more than Feminine rage in Literature, it applies to Women becoming exhausted and emptied of their patience after centuries of oppression. Whether you identify as male or female, Ask yourself- What frustrates you? And why exactly is it so frustrating? Feminine rage is an aspect of gender expression rendered unappetizing to the feminine image, maybe because societal standards prefer women to be Gentle, Kind, patient, and submissive so anything contradicting those personality characteristics is presented as undesirable and therefore, discouraged. 

In today’s episode listen as we cover the Contemporary Media surge that defines and explores feminine rage, the many reasons why feminine rage is empowering and meaningful and How do female expectations create Feminine rage and other emotional expressions through literature and film? 

The 2017 Psychological Horror film “Mother!” directed by Darren Aronofsky, starring Jennifer Lawrence and Javier Bardem, is about a married couple living in an old house in a desolate forest highlighting the countless crossing of boundaries and invasions of privacy on Lawrence’s character Mother, permitted by her husband referred to as “Him” portrayed in terrorizing and infuriating fashion. Oftentimes, Feminine rage is dignified as a theme, when it comes to protecting other girls, or Children, because Maternal Love is paired with Feminine rage when a Woman is forced to Over the decades, more ethical dilemmas have arisen and feminists have advocated for laws that allow them the equality they want. As Philosopher Alexander Spirken said, “In a certain sense, art, like philosophy, reflects reality in its relation to man, and depicts man, his spiritual world, and the relations between individuals in their interaction with the world.” 

In other words, art somehow reflects reality, reflects real experiences and real people are real revelations that took place somehow in history. As a writer myself, I always am told to write what I know, and compared to all there is to offer, I don’t know a lot, but the few things I do know are relatable, intriguing, and motivating to the ears that wait to hear about them. In the case of feminine rage, female authors may describe experiences that enraged them, exactly how they enraged them, and how other women can relate and bond over those shared experiences. 

As stated in the novel “Burning Women” By Lucy H Pierce “The Dalai Lama says that the world will be saved by Western women. Not any women, perhaps not all women, but Burning Women. Women who have stepped out of silence and into the fullness of their power. Angry women who love the world and her creatures too much to let it be destroyed so thoughtlessly for a moment longer.

Burning Woman is the heart and soul of revolution – inner and outer. She burns for change, she dances in the fire of the old, all the while visioning and weaving the new.” 

Conceptually, Feminine Rage 

Novels

• The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath- Originally published in 1963, The Bell Jar chronicles the psychological deterioration of Esther Greenwood, set in Boston, Massachusetts. Esther has a love interest at the beginning of the novel named Buddy Willard. Buddy signifies everything that Esther is not and because of his near arrogant demeanor and thoughtless attitude towards approaching women, it infuriates her, and she abruptly loses interest in him. 

• Eileen by Ottessa Moshfegh-  Published in 2015, Eileen tells the story of Eileen Dunlop. Trapped between caring for her alcoholic father and her job as a secretary at the boys’ prison, she tempers her dreary days with dreams of escaping to the big city. In the meantime, her nights and weekends are filled with shoplifting and cleaning up her increasingly deranged father’s messes. 

• The Power by Naomi Alderman- Published in the UK in 2016, a manuscript of an imagined history of the tumultuous era during which women across the world developed and shared the power to emit electricity from their hands, making them the superior gender. In 2017, “The Power” won the Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction and was put on the Top 10 Best Books list of 2017 in the NY Times.

• The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood, Published in 1985 is a dystopian futuristic novel set in a near-future New England in a patriarchal, totalitarian state known as the Republic of Gilead, which has overthrown the United States government and forces Women into a hierarchy based on their fertility.

The 2017 movie "Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri," directed by Martin McDonagh, follows the perspective of  Mildred Hayes, a grieving mother played by Frances McDormand, who takes bold action to protest the local police department's failure to solve her daughter's murder case when she believes they are withholding resources useful to the investigation. 

There are a few elements of feminine rage that accompany it, as neighboring themes, 

• Determination and the Refusal to Admit Shame- Mildred is driven by grief and anger over her daughter's brutal murder, and she refuses to passively accept the lack of progress in the investigation. Instead, she channels her rage into action, renting three billboards outside of town to call attention to the unsolved case. This demonstrates her refusal to be silenced or sidelined by the authorities, asserting her agency and demanding justice on her own terms. 

• Confrontation and Challenging Authority- Mildred's campaign puts her in direct conflict with the local police chief, Willoughby, played by Woody Harrelson, and his officers. She fearlessly confronts them and sheds a light of doubt on their competence and integrity, refusing to back down even in the face of intimidation and hostility. Her defiance against the male-dominated establishment highlights the power dynamics at play and how women are often marginalized and dismissed.

• Transformation and Redemption- While her initial actions are driven by anger and a desire for vengeance, the main character ultimately finds a sense of closure and healing through unexpected connections and acts of compassion. This evolution underscores the cathartic potential of feminine rage, It may ruffle feathers, whether or not the death was meant to be, but the resolution allows Mildred’s anger and insurmountable persistence, and leaves her with peace, despite the tragedy. It sends a message to the audience that, anger can be a force for good.

Marxist Feminism and Socialist Feminism are critical theories that analyze the intersections of capitalism, patriarchy, and gender oppression. While Marxist Feminism emphasizes the exploitation of women's labor within capitalist systems, Socialist Feminism expands its focus to address broader social and economic challenges.

peach acid- nostalgia's role in contemporary media

 Nostalgia’s Role in Contemporary Media

We all have fond memories and our senses may be strong enough to associate distinct smells, tastes, sounds, and sights that bring us straight back to those times and places, stimulating a sense of comfort and longing. The Hippocampus is an organ attached to the Temporal lobe of the Human brain, where memories are stored, certain conditions like Alzheimer's and Concussions can significantly impact the Hippocampus, causing memory loss. It’s usually between the ages of 2 to 4 that children start making memories and remembering previous events, It’s very uncommon for children below the age of 2 to remember specific details but some Developmental psychologists have hypothesized even newborns can store basic sensory information in the deepest parts of their hippocampus even while in their mother’s womb. However, retrieving that information to active consciousness is still not entirely understood considering the brain is not considered to be finished developing until the age of 25 in females and 27-30 in males.  Nostalgia, originating from Greek roots meaning “Homecoming Sorrow” is defined as a a sentimental longing or wistful affection for the past, typically for a period or place with happy personal associations. Some say, you know your childhood is over when the responsibilities of the working adult lifestyle step in, and you dream of the untouchable past that was so much easier before you realized they were. A large part of maturing is the ability to accept the past for exactly how it is, communicating how you interpreted the past through a more Innocent lens and sharing it with people who witnessed it with you. In 2014, a study was done by Smith College students that looked at medical, psychological, and psychiatric descriptions of nostalgia as a pathological condition and concluded that nostalgia is described in terms of developmental delays, excessive attachment to one’s mother, habitual idealization but, importantly, aberrated mourning and melancholia. When Freud claimed in his 1917 theory of “Mourning and Melancholia” that, “Hysterics suffered mainly from reminiscences,” he used a paradox to describe the recollection of past events can result in psychic maladies, and that recalling previous traumas proves cathartic, and many Modern Psychotherapists follow this belief today.  Catharsis employs a sense of relief of tense emotions, thus prompting Nostalgia. Our Generation, (Gen Z) born 1997 to roughly 2012, now experiences Nostalgia just like the generations before us. Nostalgia of course depends on the environment where those memories originally toke place, In our case, The Western part of the world, moderately upper middle-class societies, in the American K-12 education system, with working-class parents and guardians. With this in common, we share a relative pride for our 21st-century technology from the decades we first remember it applies to our lives, the American architecture, food and the melting pot of a culture in Urban areas of the U.S, all while the War in Afghanistan was going on between the 9/11 attack and the US invading Iraq in 2003 before the Great Recession of 2008 making Obama the first African-American president. These were big controversial talking points during our Early Childhood.  With that same Psychological lens, Nostalgia can be broken down into two different forms. Reflective Vs. Restorative. Restorative Nostalgia involves happy memories and positive associations with the past, these Restorative Nostalgia flashbacks usually make us motivated to seek new experiences to create more of these memories.. On the Other hand, Reflective Nostalgia is a gloomy and depressing perspective on recalling old memories, sometimes making it seem that the present moment doesn’t compare with our memories, preventing us from moving forward and making new positive experiences., this can be caused by traumatic experiences, Childhood neglect or abuse. Reflective Nostalgia though can be used in treatment for CPTSD and PTSD cases, when it comes to contemplating and rationalizing unhappy past events. In other words, Nostalgia plays a role in Entertainment as well.  shows such as Friends, Gilmore Girls, and Full House make a resurgence, and as new media develops set in older time periods, like Stranger Things, The Derry Girls, Young Sheldon and many more all capitalizing on the retro aesthetic, bringing us as close as we can to relieving the past.  With literature, Nostalgia is capitalized on taking a prior proposition and twisting it into a plot-significant one, whether that is emphasizing the foil of a Character or embedding a quality caused by past events.. In Eric Sanberg’s essay “The Double Nostalgia of Literature” he proposes a thesis about Homer’s The Odyssey: A Modern Sequel offers a particularly clear example of how nostalgia can operate as a theme in a literary text, as the desire to go home is contrasted with the impossibility of doing so. But Kazantzakis’ poem is also an indication of another way that literature can be seen as an inherently nostalgic form of expression. The very fact that he has looked to the Odyssey for his main character and point of narrative departure indicates how literature, and perhaps cultural production more generally, tends to rely on its predecessors for material, using an interpretation of the past to make sense of the present.  Moreover, Nostalgia is a marketing method and Publicity opportunity in Modern Media. The marketer uses symbols from the past to associate the modern product with the audience's fond memories. Symbols, in this context, refer to images, signs, icons, or other representations that are recognizable and carry particular meanings or associations based on shared experiences. For example, several U.S. department stores sell reissued retro children's toys from the 1980s -- such as Lite Brite, Hot Wheels, My Little Pony, and Care Bears -- that evoke positive memories in the buyer's mind and find a new audience with the current generation of children. Companies can use nostalgia marketing to sell products that promise to return the customer or audience to an early, simple, and happier life. Companies often evoke nostalgia through reboots, remakes, and throwbacks. Nostalgia marketing also works because it feels uniquely personal while still working for thousands of people at a time. This makes it a social emotion, where people can bond over rosy memories of the past together, catalyzed by a nostalgic advertisement.

edgar allan poe mysteries- peach acid episode 3!

Everyone has heard of Edgar Allan Poe or his gothic presence in early 19th-century literature and poetry. Still, his life and death stirred a lot of speculation and curiosity about what inspired his work, what his work meant, and exactly what or who killed him. Known for his keen intellect and evocative, often macabre imagination, Edgar Allan Poe is often credited as one of the most groundbreaking authors of early-nineteenth-century America. Although Poe is remembered by most readers as the author of such stories as "The Tell-Tale Heart" and "The Fall of the House of Usher," critics recognize him for the versatility and range of his talents.

Edgar Allan Poe first came to the attention of the literary world as a magazine editor and critic. He wrote an estimated thousand essays, reviews, articles, columns, and critical notices that appeared in magazines, newspapers, and annuals. Poe was among the first to propose setting standards by which to judge literary works, what aspects should be criticized, and what should be praised and created while creating his own vision of what constituted good literature by studying dying writers that ranged from Plato and Aristotle to Milton and Coleridge, along with more philosophy endeavors like this in his 30’s. 

His influential theory of “unity of effect” states that the author of a short story should construct a tale to fit one overall purpose or effect but just as importantly, Poe is recognized for inventing the modern detective story, creating a new formula for the mystery genre (you know the ones); indeed, many of his principal techniques, particularly his use of deductive reasoning to elucidate the complexities of criminal behavior in his writing, form the foundation of the crime genre. 

On that same note, Poe's in-depth explorations of the interior lives of his characters helped pave the way for psychological realism, inspiring several later fiction writers, among them Fyodor Dostoevsky. Poe's critical writings, notably those on the relationship between philosophical principles and artistic style, also influenced the aesthetic theories of Charles Baudelaire, Stephanie Mallarme, and other members of the French symbolist movement of the mid-19th century to the first decade of the 20th century.

Born January 19th, 1809 in Boston, MA. He was the only child of his parents, Elizabeth Arnold Poe, a very talented actress, and David Poe, his father abandoned Edgar and his mother, who became terminally ill with Tuberculosis, dying in 1811, only a month before his third birthday, in December. John and Frances Allan raised him as a foster child in Richmond, Virginia. John Allan, a prosperous tobacco exporter, sent Poe to the best boarding schools and, later, to the University of Virginia, where Poe excelled academically. After less than one year of school, however, Poe was kicked out for gambling and John Allan refused to pay off his son’s debts.

Did you know? In this period, Popular english author Charles Dickens (author of A Christmas Carol, The Signal Man, Hunted Down, The Battle of Life: A Love Story, and Oliver Twist) met Edgar Allan Poe? During his 1842 tour of the United States, He met with Dickens at the United States Hotel located on Chestnut Street, where the two men discussed literature, especially the need for an international copyright law to protect the works and rights of all authors.

Poe's work was very successful and recognized in Philadelphia. The Walnut Street Theatre produced a short play based on Poe's popular mystery story, "The Gold Bug," and Poe spoke to large crowds several times talking about American poetry. He found a picturesque escape from the city by walking along the scenic Wissahickon Creek, which he wrote about in a short article entitled "Morning on the Wissahickon."

Edgar Allan Poe’s death is the most mysterious and disputed theory about his life along with his career. Notoriously most people believe he died from alcoholism, In 1831 he was accepted into the West Point Military Academy where he celebrated with bouts of over drinking, his friends even had a running inside joke that Poe could get belligerent drunk off of just one glass of wine. It wouldn't be a surprise that he died from these surrounding alcohol dependency.

One of the more prevalent theories states that Poe fell victim to forced voter fraud or “Cooping” as they used to call it. In the 19th century, corrupt politicians paid gangs to kidnap unsuspecting victims, disguise them, and force them to vote for a specific candidate multiple times in different outfits, because Identity was easily faked back then and elections could too be easily corrupted. If the victim refused to comply they would be beaten or forced to chug large amounts of liquor. He was found on election day by his friend, Dr. Joseph Snodgrass, on the street near Ryan’s Fourth Ward Polls, which was both an Irish pub and a place of voting. 

 His friend found him in a severely drunken state, wearing cheap clothes that didn’t fit and were not his usual style. He was rushed to the hospital slipping in and out of consciousness. He died a few days later, reportedly saying his last words “Lord help my poor soul”,  If this is true, then that would confirm the theory that he died from alcohol poisoning on October 7th, 1849. Poe’s Mother in-Law “Maria Clemm” that Poe referred to as “Muddy” noted that his death was reported as “congestion of the brain” synonymous with alcohal poisoing, but could this be suicide? 

The first woman Poe “fell in love with” was  Sarah Elmira Royster Shelton, rumored to have been his fiancée at the time of his death. Poe had known Shelton since childhood when they were neighbors and first took a romantic interest in each other. They fell out of contact when Poe left for University of Virginia and Shelton married another man. They did not speak again until 1848 after the death of Poe’s wife Virginia. By that time, Shelton was a widow and Poe took the opportunity to ask her to marry him. She declined, but he continued to pursue her for several months. Poe wrote to his aunt, Muddy, to tell her that the two would be married in October 1849 but he died just ten days before the supposed wedding date arrived, some conspire that he knew she diddnt love him and found the only solution to be suicide by overconsumption of alchohal since he knew he was so sensitive to it. He was known to drink after the death of his first wife.

However, Aside from alcoholism, historians and biographers have suggested alternative causes of death ranging from lesions on the brain, epilepsy and tuberculosis to cholera, syphilis and even rabies. Many members of Poe’s family have reported seeing him throw himself to the floor with fits of sporadic movement.  Back then they assumed it was due to his lack of spiritual identity and god was punishing his body and mind but of course now, this is a textbook- epileptic seizure with muscles spasms. The Rabies theory infers that one of his many cats got infected with the Rabies bacterial virus and bit him, causing him to days later. At the end of the day, Edgar Allan Poe’s demise does not define his career and legacy in 19th-century American Literature, the theories about his death don’t account for all the wonderful literary theories and analysis about his work, especially his horror and mystery

peach acid- shakespeare's lost years first podcast outline

 New Semester Introduction-

 Hi Peach Acid Listeners! My name is Cira and I´ḿ this year's Media Team, leader. I am the scriptwriter, researcher, and podcast coordinator as well as aiding the layout team in promoting and publishing the AHHS Literary Magazine, The Jabberwocky. This year I plan to publish episodes frequently and interview many talented students and staff alike. 

Hi, I'm Tori Valadez, I'm a Junior on the Art team in LitMag and am very excited to help create the Artwork for this year's JubJubs and Jabberwocky!

• Do you consider yourself an artist? 

To an extent yes, but I don't think I qualify to be labeled as an artist, mainly because my creative thoughts only relate to creating written pieces. Although I can make suitable art for the Jab, I think I'm more of a writer than an artist.

• What made you choose to work with Lit Mag? 

I love the idea of contributing to a written magazine, and especially since I looked up to the people in lit mag and my creative writing class I'd get to produce and create alongside them, and I thought that was pretty cool.

• We have an upcoming publication coming up, can you tell us a little bit about the theme? Have you submitted it? 

The theme is sort of a third person, stalking, admiring, observing the type of style where you are writing about something or someone being watched (or something along the lines of that, creatively). Personally, I've actually had a hard time thinking of something unique to submit, I already submitted one piece, a classic carrier-type narration

• What Shakespeare pieces have you read? What did you think of them? Macbeth and Romeo and Juliet, are obviously both esteemed classics in literature but this also makes them the blueprint for so many other movies plays, and pieces, so when you read them straight up, they're a tad bit predictable 

• What does Shakespeare mean to you?

Shakespeare to me is essentially the founder or first creative writer who got to get his pieces to the public and on stage, gaining so much appreciation and allowing him to continue writing his stories.

1. To start, the mid to late 1500s in Europe were remarkable times for the height of the Renaissance movement, While England became the most powerful nation in Europe, new ideas and religious concepts emerged and the growth of a middle class held power without noble birth, radical changes erupted in  European society. William Shakespeare, The Bard of Avon, as you may have been taught in any English or Literature Course, spoke and wrote in Early Modern English or Elizabethan English which paved the way for the modernized grammar and spelling of New English. Shakespeare also expanded on the idea of Characterization, plot development, and genre, he also was arguably the first playwright to connect the dots between love and tragedy and paved a new possibility for literary tropes wordplay, and symbolical concepts in one universal language that still dominates today. 

2. William Shakespeare was a world-renowned English playwright, known for the creation of Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, The Tempest, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Timon of Athens, Macbeth, and many more extensive works of fiction that paved the way for the Renaissance drama literature movement of the 16th century in Europe, But it’s not as well known that Shakespeare had many obscure years of his career, where he wrote many plays that have been missing to this day. Shakespeare left school at the age of 14 like most students, married 4 years later, and had a daughter in 1583 and twins later on in 1585, which happened to be the same year the Plague began to break out in London, For one thing, as a shareholder in two playhouses and a company, he was as anxious as any West End producer in 2020 about theater closures, the effect on the bottom line, and whether there was even any point in him generating new scripts if no one could stage them, with nothing else to do, Shakespeare turned to writing poetry with an air of early Romanticism ideas. 

3. In 1593 Shakespeare published a poem, Venus and Adonis, dedicated to Henry Wriothesley, Third Earl of Southampton, a young courtier and favorite of Queen Elizabeth, writing Shakespeare attempted to illustrate the unfortunately close relationship between love and sacrifice, a subject he touched on in Romeo and Juliet. But the Plague had a dramatic and painful influence on the young Shakespeare’s life, the writer had seen many people die often from this eruptive disease. However, the lockdown only lasted about 6 months so Shakespeare returned to playwriting and aided many more productions. By 1597, Shakespeare moved him and his family to a new place in Stratford- upon Avon and continued to strengthen his production business, this is when Shakespeare’s notoriety bloomed into much more relevance than ever before in his career, he’s known and respected by most around town, even approached by many fans. 

4. By 1599, Shakespeare used old timber from his old theater to build “The Globe” an even bigger, improved theater which had been built by Richard Burbage's father, James Burbage, in Shoreditch in 1576. The Burbages originally had a 21-year lease of the site on which the theater was built but owned the building outright to pursue a wider range of theatrical entrepreneurs. In 1600, Shakespeare is now 36, he wrote ¨Hamlet” and for the first time in his career his poetry his featured in Bell- Vedere the first literary common compilation book to include playwrights. Around February of the next year, the First recorded performance of 'King Richard II', a revival performed at the Globe and commissioned by supporters of the Earl Of Essex and a year later Shakespeareś's father dies from the plague at only 55.

• Shakespeare’s Lost Years and Lost Plays

1. It’s theorized there is a gap in the timeline scholars have constructed – a seven-year period during which we know nothing at all about where he was and what he was doing, although there is much, unsupported, conjecture about it, those years have been labeled ‘the lost years”  beginning in This period spans from 1585 to 1592. According to an interview with David McInnis, co-founder of the Lost Plays Database from the Folger Shakespeare Library. “there are at least two plays Shakespeare wrote that has definitely been lost: Love’s Labour’s Won and another play he wrote with John Fletcher called Cardenio. But when Shakespeare’s First Folio was put together posthumously, it was not a perfect document. The plays included are of uneven quality. Some of them are very roughed, worked over manuscripts and some of them are much more polished final products. They took whatever they could get, and they printed it. In the course of doing so, they managed to publish for the first time about 18 of Shakespeare’s plays that hadn’t appeared in print during Shakespeare’s lifetime. Plays like Antony and Cleopatra and Macbeth and Twelfth Night.”

• Shakespeare’s Mysterious Death

The mystery surrounding William Shakespeare's death primarily revolves around the exact cause of his demise and the circumstances leading up to it. While the traditional account attributes his death to a fever contracted after a night of heavy drinking with fellow playwright Ben Jonson, there are several aspects that have led to ongoing debate:

1. Lack of Detailed Records: One of the key factors contributing to the mystery is the limited amount of detailed historical documentation regarding Shakespeare's final days and illness. We have some basic facts about his death date (April 23, 1616), but there are very sparse death medical records, autopsy reports, eyewitness accounts, or letters describing his condition.

2. Conflicting Accounts: The accounts of Shakespeare's death come from secondary sources and vary in detail and reliability. For instance, the Reverend John Ward, a 17th-century cleric, wrote in his diary that Shakespeare died of a "fever." However, the lack of specificity leaves room for interpretation.

3. The Drinking Bout Theory: The traditional narrative suggests that Shakespeare died of a fever contracted after a night of heavy drinking with Ben Jonson and other colleagues at the Mermaid Tavern in London. Some have questioned this account, as it relies on anecdotal evidence and might have been embellished over time.

4. Poisoning Theories: At various points in history, theories have emerged suggesting that Shakespeare was poisoned. These theories often speculate about political motives or personal vendettas. However, they lack concrete evidence and are largely considered speculative. 

5. Alternative Medical Explanations: Some modern medical experts have attempted to diagnose Shakespeare's cause of death based on historical records and the limited descriptions of his symptoms. The proposed alternative explanations include various diseases, infections, or even a stroke. Still, these are speculative and inconclusive due to the lack of concrete evidence. According to the Shakespeare’s Chancre (Did the Bard have Syphillyis?) Shakespeare's obsessive interest in syphilis, his clinically exact knowledge of its manifestations, the final poems of the sonnets, and contemporary gossip all suggest that he was infected with “the infinite malady.” The psychological impact of venereal disease may explain the misogyny and revulsion from sex so prominent in the writings of Shakespeare's tragic period. This article examines the possibility that Shakespeare received successful treatment for syphilis and advances the following new hypothesis: Shakespeare's late-life decrease in artistic production, tremor, social withdrawal, and alopecia were due to mercury poisoning from syphilis treatment. He may also have had anasarca due to mercury-related membranous nephropathy. This medical misadventure may have prematurely ended the career of the greatest writer in the English language, this is a bold claim to make, but if we take a look at the cited evidence Shakespeare often refers to the immense variety of syphilitic skin lesions. In Comedy of Errors (act 3, scene 2), a woman of dubious beauty and virtue has “her nose all o'er embellished with rubies, carbuncles, sapphires,” alluding to the syphilid of late benign syphilis, a “deep indurated nodule that varies from pinhead to pea size and is brownish red in color,” which is found primarily on the face, upper back, and extremities [17, p. 501]. Lesions of nodular syphilis may scale and produce plaques, mimicking psoriasis or pityriasis rosea [18, 19]. This whitish, psoriaform appearance may explain Shakespeare's use of the term “hoar leprosy” for syphilis in act 4, scene 3 of Timon of Athens. Shakespeare also frequently puns on “French crowns,” which refers to gold coins but also suggests syphilitic alopecia from the French disease, but we would never know for sure how he might have gotten infected with any of these diseases. 

Of course, Shakespeare's awareness of syphilis does not mean that he was personally infected. Shakespeare would be familiar with syphilis from the London arts scene of the 1590s, as an observer of the New York arts scene of the 1980s would be familiar with AIDS. Shakespeare's fellow writers Robert Greene, Thomas Nashe, and George Peele all died young, apparently from syphilis acquired in the London brothels 

6.  Nonsense Theories- Was Shakespeare even that good or even the true author of his plays at all? Until the 1800s, the debate was not about whether Shakespeare was a fraud, but rather whether he was really all that great. Ben Jonson and John Fletcher were generally thought to be superior in the centuries after his death. But critical evaluations shifted, as they are wont to do, and by the 19th century Shakespeare was becoming enshrined as the greatest English-language author of all time. There was also once a theory that Shakespeare was actually a woman all along, 

In summary, the mystery surrounding Shakespeare's death stems from the absence of detailed, contemporary records, and the reliance on secondary sources that offer conflicting accounts. While the traditional explanation of death due to a fever after a night of drinking persists, it is challenging to definitively confirm or debunk alternative theories. As a result, Shakespeare's cause of death remains an intriguing historical enigma that continues to spark curiosity and debate among scholars and enthusiasts.

Sources

• K, Amelia. "Shakespeare's Lost Years." Shakespeare.Org.Uk, 24 Aug. 2020, www.shakespeare.org.uk/explore-shakespeare/shakespedia/william-shakespeare/shakespeares-lost-years/#:~:text=A%20popular%20story%20revolves%20around,in%20order%20to%20escape%20punishment. Accessed 14 Sept. 2023.

• McGreggor, Kurtis L. "Shakespeare's Conspiracy Theories Uncovered: InsideHook." Insidehook.Com, 9 Jul. 2019, www.insidehook.com/article/books/inside-the-weird-world-of-shakespeare-conspiracy-theories. Accessed 14 Sept. 2023.