Profs and Pints Online presents: “Poe’s Mastery of Horror,” with Hal Poe, professor of faith and culture at Union University, former president of the Edgar Allan Poe Museum of Richmond, and author of Edgar Allan Poe: An Illustrated Companion to his Tell-Tale Stories and Evermore: Edgar Allan Poe and the Mystery of the Universe.

Unlike most of his contemporary writers, Edgar Allan Poe remains, more than 170 years after his death, popular and widely read for fun. His horror stories still give a chill, a shudder, and a shock.

Come join Edgar Allan Poe’s cousin and devoted scholar of his writings for an in-depth look at why Poe’s horror stories work so well and so skillfully draw in readers, setting a gold standard for horror through our own day.

We’ll examine how Poe’s drive to push boundaries resulted in his use of horror to develop Mary Shelley’s new science fiction, so much so that he is regarded as the father of science fiction by the French. We’ll also look at how Poe’s dissatisfaction with the norms of horror resulted in his invention of a new kind of story: detective fiction.

In addition, you’ll learn how Poe crafted the ultimate horror story, and in so doing proposed a rudimentary form of Relativity Theory, Big Bang cosmology, Chaos Theory, strong and weak nuclear force, and much more. You’ll also find out how Poe’s approach to storytelling provided the basis for feature length films by pioneering film director D. W. Griffith.

You’ll end up with a new appreciation of why Poe’s love of the macabre became as infectious as the red death, and Poe’s work continues to creepily resonate like a beating heart beneath floorboards. You’ll meet the Edgar Allan Poe you never knew, and you’ll get a good scare along the way.

Profs & Pints Online: Poe's Mastery of Horror