Date of Award
5-2008
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Arts (MA)
Legacy Department
English
Committee Chair/Advisor
Field, Jonathan
Committee Member
Ashton , Susanna
Committee Member
Paul , Catherine
Committee Member
Ramirez , Barbara
Abstract
This master's thesis analyzes four of Poe's short stories--'The Pit and the Pendulum,' 'The Tell-Tale Heart,' 'Metzengerstein,' and 'The Purloined Letter'-in comparison with their respective radio adaptations. Using the texts and Poe's essay 'The Philosophy of Composition' as guides for comparison, it is apparent that the respective changes made in each radio play veer greatly from Poe's original stories. Although the radio adaptations leave behind some traces of Poe's signature technique, they mostly remove that which was deemed too scary, too dark, or too overly philosophical for radio audiences. Therefore, the stories become at once comforting and disarming, at once familiar and foreign. The listener is thereby presented with a paradoxical view of Poe, as the radio plays curiously turn the original author into a figure who is simultaneously 'Poe and not Poe.'
Recommended Citation
Davis, Ashley, "'Poe and Not Poe': A Study of the Radio Adaptations of Edgar Allan Poe's Short Stories" (2008). All Theses. 349.
https://tigerprints.clemson.edu/all_theses/349