Friday, January 12, 2007

Poe's Ligeia. Thoughts on Opium. A Raccoon Ate My Headphones But First He Beat Me On the Head With Them.

First off, sorry, lately most of my posts have been on stuff I've been reading... I'll be doing celebrity posts soon... Beckham coming to the US, oh my! Let's all grovel, or shoot ourselves in the head, whichever you feel is more appropriate...

So, I finally got to read a bit today, and I'm totally digging this Poe story, Ligeia. Why? Yeah, it's a great story, but what I love the most is the idea of will. Will. The will to live, that's what the story is about for me. And love too. Love is cool. Can help bring you back from the dead.

See, Ligeia is this really fine woman that the narrator loves, and she loves him, with total passion. But she gets sick, and although she has a crazy desire and will to live, and this man she loves and wants to be with... well, in spite of these things she can't beat her illness. Ligeia dies.

But the thing is, this lady has such a burning passion to live, to come back, to return from death... Well, in the end, she does come back from the dead! Her spirit was so strong, her will was so determined, she was able to overcome the laws of reality... Something like that I guess.

I also dug how wind was mentioned in the story. This invisible, great force, wind, acting like a channel for Ligeia's spirit, a channel for her to come back to physical reality. Coolness.

There is only one little problem to this whole story. The narrator is always smoking opium, so he's not totally trustworthy. Ok, that is a little more major than I first let on. Damnit, the freakin' loon might just be imagining the whole damned thing! Dude, he doesn't even remember how he met Ligeia, kinda makes me wonder if Ligeia is even a real person or just a figment of his tripped out mind. It's ok though, because it's cool, that's his reality, even if it's not real.

When all is said and done, I really don't know what to think. I've learned nothing. The story is a mystery. The narrator is an opium smoking lunatic. Is opium that great by the way? Cuz, uh, this narrator guy kinda got me curious... wasn't Poe way into the drugs... didn't Poe end up in a gutter... would that make for a good anti-drug commercial?... or would people think taking drugs makes them do cool things like Poe, no not the ending up in a gutter thing, but the writing cool stories part. Yeah, it'd be a mixed message... I'd probably pass on using Poe in any anti-drug advertisements.

Since you mentioned opium... I wonder what kinda visions I'd have if I tried it, I wonder if I'd have cool visions... like seeing a crazy raccoon materialize out of nowhere, who would promptly attack all the objects in my room with a fierce and psychotic vengeance. Haha, that'd be great. But, Rambo's already beaten him to the punch, so it wouldn't be all that novel.

By the way, there's a couple stories in my Poe book that precede the story Ligeia, Berenice and Eleonora, really great, hghly recommend those stories too. To balance it out, the stories I don't recommend: I'm not fond of Poe's investigation/detective stories, I'd say they suck, but that's unduly harsh, they're just not my thing.

12 comments:

M said...

I read a book on opium written by Cocteau that also got me curious, but a) I'm too much of a nerd to know anyone who could sell it to me; and b) I tried joints and I never got any kick out of it. I wouldn't want to blow away more of my precious money for nothing. I even stopped smoking cigarettes some years ago, I wouldn't like to go back now.

Battlerocker said...

I have no idea about the opium either. However, I do like the idea of murderous raccons--and if anyone ever finds your blog by searching for that phrase, I want to hear about it.

Anonymous said...

Actually, Beckham coming to the USA is kinda like a big deal if you read my latest blog. I know, pitable self promotion but I thought I'd help change your mind. :)

Trey said...

Weird--I was just thinking about Ligeia last night before bed, and now, as I drink my coffee, here is this----spooky!
I'm all allergic to opiates--can't take synthetics, either.
Back in the 70's, I knew some folks from Iran that smoked opium. It smells like flowers, and made them very mellow and sleepy eyed. and they had to smoke it differently than tobacco or hemp, since it is a gummy resin that doesn't combust. It is quite addictive---they would go to great legnths to smuggle it into the country, and got really ratty when they didn't have it.

Sebastien Millon said...

Mariana: Hey, I'm proud of you! Way to be healthy!!!! Oh, Cocteau, love that guy, saw this movie of his, Beauty and the Beast, one of my fav's.

Battlerocker: Oh man, I can't even begin to tell you the stuff people search to get here. The latest was "mini zombie rabbit"... hahhaaha...

Rev. Qelqoth: Love the self promotion! Great story too! unfortunately I don't think Beckham will add much to violence to the sport of soccer.

Taarzaan: Cool, how random that you'd be thinking of that story! And I didn't realize opium was so addicting.

Anonymous said...

From the looks of some of the sketch work you've done I thought you were already smoking opium.

Sebastien Millon said...

Yes, that is the problem. I am already crazy without any drugs. Or is that lucky?

Cassandra said...

Dude, you would have visions of ducks with chainsaws. Duh.

MrManuel said...

Couldn't be more excited about Beckham coming to the US. One of my favorite players from my favorite sport!

Sebastien Millon said...

Babs: I know! It's so obvious... How awesome would that be, muhahhaha, ducks and chainsaws!

Mrmanuel: Haha, cool, but isn't he kinda old???

MrManuel said...

Only 31 years old. Old to maybe be one of the top players in the world, but not to be a very productive player here in the US.

Sebastien Millon said...

Ah, he is still relatively young, not that old. I'm so used to making fun of Beckham, I had a roomate in college who was obsessed with him.