If You Don’t Feel like Reading the Text…

This band, Buddy Morrow and His Orchestra, does everything for you in their album dedicated to Poe, Poe for Moderns!!!!!!!!!!! We couldn’t find the one for the “Fall of the House of Usher,” but “The Raven” is also a smashing hit. If you are interested in how they have  read each particular short story of Poe, their album can be downloaded at http://www.discogs.com/Buddy-Morrow-And-His-Orchestra-Poe-For-Moderns/master/411209.

 

 

 

The Raven Trailer

Hey guys! Group 6 here, posting about the upcoming movie The Raven (an by upcoming I mean TOMORROW!). The film focuses around Edgar Allen Poe, who finds a man has been committing the murders he writes about. Poe attempts to discover the man behind his own murders in a fictionalized retelling of his later life. The film looks interesting as both a film itself and a testament to the legacy of Poe. First of, the trailer displays that the writer/director had at least a strong grasp on the work of Poe and the time he was writing in. For example, in the beginning of the trailer (posted below), they show poe flipping through a book. This book was the magazine that Poe commonly posted in, called The Burton Gentlemen’s Magazine (also posted below). This shows an accuracy to detail which should make the film interesting to watch in a historical context. What’s also of note is, of course, the sheer amount of literature the film appears to reference. The Tell-Tale Heart, The Cask of Amontillado, and The Pit and the Pendulum are just a few of the stories the film references, though there will doubtlessly be more. On a final note, the film itself just looks good! It seems like a fine mix of mystery, suspense and action while still supplying some level of historical/literary accuracy. We hope you all make it out to see it!

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1486192/

American Cookery by Amelia Simmons

Hey guys! I wanted to share a quick and interesting piece of American literature: American Cookery by Amelia Simmons, the first American cookbook. Published in 1796, the book is 48 pages long and features a mix of recipes and advice on how to prepare certain foods, everything from picking the right pear to dressing a turtle! The book is interesting as both a historical cookbook and a piece of literature. The significance of this book in the life of post-Revolutionary War America was immense because there were literally no cookbooks that addressed the geographical and cultural needs of America. Probably the most significant ingredient Simmons uses (and she employs it extensively) is corn, which was not only absent in England (and therefore English cookbooks) but was a unique part of American cuisine. Recipes acquired from the Native Americans were never recorded until Simmons documented them. And one more truly significant technique she employs is the use of a chemical leavener called pearlash (an early form of baking powder) as opposed to yeast in cakes and pastries. This leavener was found exclusively from the ashes of certain trees in America and Simmons was the first to record its use. As a piece of literature it further supports the idea that this is a uniquely American work. Simmons writes in an American vernacular, calling certain dishes and ingredients as Americans called them: Johnny Cakes, squash and cookies being examples. The conversational tone she uses in her prose differed strongly form that of the proper English cookbook, which focused on a higher, often unattainable for the poor, level of cooking.

When I look over what Amelia Simmons accomplished in her book I’d like to read a little bit into the impact of it. Just as we’ve been discussing the relationships between of the characters in Wieland as being that of societal American self-discovery, I’d like to say that this cookbook works in the same way. For once there is a definitive record of how to prepare food from the world around you, for once you don’t have to rely on the British to dictate how you cook, for once there is a document for recipes which until then had been oral tradition, etc etc. Keeping in mind that the Revolution was still recent memory, American Cookery serves as another way to define America as a new country, society, and culture. Even in the full title of the book (see the picture below for the first page which features it) we find this segment:  adapted to the country and all grades of life. To me this seems like a uniquely American ideology, a proclamation for liberty and support of this country. Cheers to Amelia Simmons! Below I’ve posted the full text and the first page of the facsimile.

 

FULL TEXT:
http://www.fullbooks.com/American-Cookery.html

All info from Mary Tolford’s introduction:

Simmons, Amelia. The First American Cookbook: A Facsimile of “American Cookery,” 1796. Ed. Mary Tolford. Wilson. New York: Dover Publications, 1984. Print.

Intro

Hi! My name is Sam Freeman and I’m a senior English and Film Studies double major. I’m living and Brooklyn and working as a cook at a gastropub near Grand Central Station. I believe I want to continue cooking after college and someday open my own restaurant, however in case things don’t follow through as planned I will be very glad to have attended college. My favorite book is Franny and Zooey by JD Salinger, favorite movie The Bicycle Thief by Vittorio de Sica, and favorite food black and white cookies (it’s NOT about the frosting, it’s ALL about the cake…). I’m looking forward to this class and getting to know you all better!