Christmas Literature: 5 Must-Have Classics for Your Bookshelf

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A Charlie Brown Christmas, A Christmas Carol, A Garfield Christmas, Archie, Archie Comics, Archie's Christmas Stocking, books, Charles Dickens, Christmas, Christmas books, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Literature

I’m sure everyone has a holiday tradition of some kind. I can still remember the first time I watched MGM’s 1938 masterpiece film “A Christmas Carol” as a small child — it scared the bejesus out of me.

And I’ve wanted to watch it every single year since — and practically have!

D’Arcy Corrigan was a terrifying Spirit of Christmas Future

As Christmas Eve approaches each 24th of December, I look forward to what is, in my opinion, the very best adaptation of Charles Dickens’ Christmas classic.

Reginald Owen, Gene Lockhart, Ann Rutherford, Leo G. Carroll, Barry MacKay — if you’re a true connoisseur of the Golden Age of Hollywood, then this all-star line-up alone should fill you with more Christmas cheer than you know what to do with.

Reginald Owen with Ann Rutherford — the Spirit of Christmas Past

While movies are great, we’re not here to talk about Christmas cinema today. This time we’re here to celebrate the printed word, and my five must-have Christmas books.

Since I intro-ed with the Dickens’ classic in film-form, we might as well begin our book list with it too. For me, it’s the single most quintessential holiday tale — Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol.”

Gallery Feature: “Self-Portrait of the Artist at Twenty-Five”

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Art, artist, christianity, death, Dracula, Edgar Allan Poe, explanation, Literature, Painting, Portrait, self-portrait, symbolism

Wendy Brydge – “Self-Portrait of the Artist at Twenty-Five” – 2014

Every painting begins with an idea.

Rod Serling once said, “The instinct of creativity must be followed by the act, the physical act of putting it down for a sense of permanence. Once you get that prod, that emotional jar, that “I have witnessed something.” Or “I have felt something.” Or “I have seen something.” Or, through observation, “I have been moved by an event.” I think the answer is, “Get it down. Get it down quickly. Write it down.”

That right there is the best advice any artist — be they writer or painter — will ever receive. When you get that magical *spark* in your mind, that little glimmer of inspiration? You grab it, hold tight, and run with it as far as it will take you.

Ideas build on ideas. But inspiration can be fleeting. Maybe you see an image in your head as you’re drifting off to sleep at night. Or perhaps you read something interesting, or hear something unusual, and it makes you want to process and use that information somehow. When that happens, I urge you to do as the talented Mr. Serling said: GET IT DOWN. Any and all of it. Before it’s gone.

For the Love of Poe

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Annabel Lee, death, Edgar Allan Poe, For Annie, Literature, poetry, The Raven

Edgar Allan Poe may be the king of the macabre tale, but this troubled and tortured soul also had a serious romantic side. We’re all familiar with his works of suspense and horror: “The Raven”, “The Tell-Tale Heart”, “The Murders in the Rue Morgue”, and “The Fall of the House of Usher”, to name a few. But I want to introduce you to the softer side of Poe.

Allow me to acquaint you with two of my favourite Poe love poems. The first you may be familiar with, but probably not the second: the haunting “Annabel Lee”, and the somewhat obscure but disturbingly beautiful “For Annie”.

One Year Later . . .

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anniversary, Art, artist, blogging, Literature, Painting, religion

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To blog, or not to blog… the modern day question.

365 days ago, that little play on Hamlet was how my blog, Seeker of Truth, entered the blogosphere.

Blogging is rampant in the world today. It seems everyone and his grandmother’s parakeet has a blog. And there’s literally something for everyone. As my best friend quipped to me the other day, “If you’re into collecting antique soup can labels from the 1800s, there’s probably a blog for you.” And in this digital age where virtually anything you want to know is at your fingertips, having your say is also just a few key strokes away. No experience necessary.

The scariest moment is always just before you start.

~ Stephen King, On Writing

Quoth the Raven . . .

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Edgar Allan Poe, Essay, Literature, Philosophy of Composition, The Raven, Writing

Dénouement:  the final outcome of the main dramatic complication in a literary work; the outcome of a complex sequence of events; the end result

Nothing is more clear than that every plot, worth the name, must be elaborated to its dénouement before any thing be attempted with the pen. It is only with the dénouement constantly in view that we can give a plot its indispensable air of consequence, or causation, by making the incidents, and especially the tone at all points, tend to the development of the intention.

In 1846, a year after “The Raven” was published, Edgar Allan Poe wrote “The Philosophy of Composition”, a prose essay explaining his famous poem. A friend and former employer of Poe’s, George Rex Graham (who had declined to be the first to print “The Raven” — a poem he didn’t like — the previous year), would publish the essay in his April issue of Graham’s American Monthly Magazine of Literature and Art.

There are some critics who contend that Poe’s essay is purely fictitious, meant to be nothing more than a piece of imaginative writing instead of a serious examination of his haunting poem. In my opinion, this idea is absolutely ludicrous. “The Philosophy of Composition” is a remarkable piece of literature revealing Poe’s carefully thought-out process of writing. It is an invaluable tool to writers, both professional and amateur alike. Why this essay isn’t a mandatory study in every high school English class in the world is beyond me.

Once Upon a Midnight Dreary

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Edgar Allan Poe, Literature, Poem, The Raven

Quoth the raven, “Nevermore”.

An iconic line from a famous poem.

Written by a man who was orphaned at the age of three, lost the love of his life to tuberculosis, and then died himself at only 40 years old, it’s instantly recognizable to nearly everyone who reads it. It is the haunting refrain of Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Raven”.

“The Raven” was published on January 29, 1845 in the weekly newspaper the New York Evening Mirror. It was reprinted a month later in both an issue of American Review and The Liberator, as well as countless other publications around the United States in the months following. It is arguably the most famous of Poe’s writings and made him a nationwide household name in a very short period of time.

Today marks the 168^th anniversary of the publication of “The Raven”. This is not only my favourite poem, but also, in my opinion, one of the greatest works of literature ever written, surpassed only by the Bible and Dante’s Divina Commedia. In a mere 108 lines broken down into 18 stanzas, Poe captures the very essence of a man’s soul. He weaves an unforgettable tale of captivating beauty, undying love and heart-wrenching despair.

Much like the narrator in the poem, I too have been haunted by the raven since the moment I first heard that glorious opening line… “Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary…” He bewitched me, and now I can recite “The Raven” from memory, in its entirety. From the first stanza to the last, and from last to first. An impressive, yet completely worthless skill.