Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Edgar Allan Poe's life was a mess. But his work was in his command

washingtonpost.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

21–30 of 70 posts

Re: Edgar Allan Poe's life was a mess. But his work was in his command

#21

Post by Trasmatta »

doctorhandshake wrote: post #14
Mistletoe wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wonder what he would choose if he knew? A comfortable long life and happiness or to be remembered forever?

I don’t remember where I read it but I heard David Lynch recounting a conversation with his doctor in which he asked if being prescribed antidepressants could interfere with his creativity. The doctor said he couldn’t rule it out, so Lynch decided he’d rather deal with the symptoms of depression.

On the other hand, Lynch also went on record saying that an artist doesn't need to suffer to produce great art. And that depression is the enemy of creativity.

https://youtu.be/UljZmbgK_sI

Re: Edgar Allan Poe's life was a mess. But his work was in his command

#22

Post by winwang »

ashoeafoot wrote: post #16
card_zero wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you lived twice as long, you could do two things of note. Twice as better.

The candle that burns twice as bright only burns half as long.

Unless you make the candle out of better materials.

Re: Edgar Allan Poe's life was a mess. But his work was in his command

#23

Post by robin_reala »

glimshe wrote: post #18
robin_reala wrote: post #4

I produced CC0 ebook compilations of Poe’s short fiction and poetry for Standard Ebooks if anyone is interested in diving deeper into his writing: https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/edgar-allan-poe (I’d also recommend Leonid Andreyev’s short fiction; he’s often referred to as Russia’s Poe: https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/leonid-andreyev/short-fict... )

Very cool. Are the cover images made with AI or classic paintings?

Classic paintings: everything used on Standard Ebooks productions is old enough to be in the US public domain. The artists are in the colophons if you want to find out more.

Re: Edgar Allan Poe's life was a mess. But his work was in his command

#24

Post by card_zero »

katzgrau wrote: post #15
card_zero wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you lived twice as long, you could do two things of note. Twice as better.

Eh, I’ll go ahead and trust that life is about as long as it needs to be. Any “things of note” apart from genuinely helping someone else out on their journey when you had a shot is totally irrelevant from the broader perspective.

The part where "you have a shot" is crucially important. Otherwise, if all people do is help others to help others, you have a circular system where nothing is done.

Re: Edgar Allan Poe's life was a mess. But his work was in his command

#26

Post by haswell »

Trasmatta wrote: post #21
doctorhandshake wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don’t remember where I read it but I heard David Lynch recounting a conversation with his doctor in which he asked if being prescribed antidepressants could interfere with his creativity. The doctor said he couldn’t rule it out, so Lynch decided he’d rather deal with the symptoms of depression.

On the other hand, Lynch also went on record saying that an artist doesn't need to suffer to produce great art. And that depression is the enemy of creativity. https://youtu.be/UljZmbgK_sI

Those aren’t necessarily in conflict with each other, though.

As an often-depressed creative person, I find that depression is absolutely the enemy of creativity, but my creativity is often fueled by the same things that cause my depression.

Meeting my creative goals is often about managing the depression. But without the depression, my creative output would likely be very different.

Re: Edgar Allan Poe's life was a mess. But his work was in his command

#27

Post by shortrounddev2 »

ndsipa_pomu wrote: post #7

Although Edgar Allan Poe is well known, I think his influence is under appreciated. He pretty much invented the detective story genre with "The Murders in the Rue Morgue" and his "Eureka: A Prose Poem" was early sci-fi that more or less invented the idea of the Big Bang.

He was also the primary influence on HP Lovecraft

Re: Edgar Allan Poe's life was a mess. But his work was in his command

#28

Post by spike021 »

robin_reala wrote: post #4

I produced CC0 ebook compilations of Poe’s short fiction and poetry for Standard Ebooks if anyone is interested in diving deeper into his writing: https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/edgar-allan-poe (I’d also recommend Leonid Andreyev’s short fiction; he’s often referred to as Russia’s Poe: https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/leonid-andreyev/short-fict... )

thanks for your work! i was just thinking the other day it had been a while (since university days) since i read his work and i happen to be taking a long-haul flight this week, so need something to read.

Re: Edgar Allan Poe's life was a mess. But his work was in his command

#29

Post by janetmissed »

robin_reala wrote: post #4

I produced CC0 ebook compilations of Poe’s short fiction and poetry for Standard Ebooks if anyone is interested in diving deeper into his writing: https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/edgar-allan-poe (I’d also recommend Leonid Andreyev’s short fiction; he’s often referred to as Russia’s Poe: https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/leonid-andreyev/short-fict... )

tysm for contributing to standard ebooks, one of my favorite things on the whole internet

Re: Edgar Allan Poe's life was a mess. But his work was in his command

#30

Post by Mistletoe »

doctorhandshake wrote: post #14
Mistletoe wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wonder what he would choose if he knew? A comfortable long life and happiness or to be remembered forever?

I don’t remember where I read it but I heard David Lynch recounting a conversation with his doctor in which he asked if being prescribed antidepressants could interfere with his creativity. The doctor said he couldn’t rule it out, so Lynch decided he’d rather deal with the symptoms of depression.

I just rewatched David Lynch: The Art Life last night on Max. It's so freaking good. If anyone reading this hasn't seen it, I really recommend it.
Post reply on HN