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Berenice
"Either the memory of past bliss is the anguish of today, or the agonies which are have their origin in the ecstasies which might have been..."
Berenice is a horror short story by Edgar Allan Poe, first published in 1835. The tale is centered on the death of a young girl, named Berenice, and the mysterious visions of her cousin, Egaeus.
Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849) was a master of tales of the mysterious and macabre. From the eerie incantations found in 'The Raven' (1845) to the persistent fright of 'The Tell-Tale Heart' (1843), his stories and poems are unforgettable explorations of the darker side of life that still offer lessons and insight into human behavior today, making them an integral component of any modern reader's collection.
Berenice is a horror short story by Edgar Allan Poe, first published in 1835. The tale is centered on the death of a young girl, named Berenice, and the mysterious visions of her cousin, Egaeus.
Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849) was a master of tales of the mysterious and macabre. From the eerie incantations found in 'The Raven' (1845) to the persistent fright of 'The Tell-Tale Heart' (1843), his stories and poems are unforgettable explorations of the darker side of life that still offer lessons and insight into human behavior today, making them an integral component of any modern reader's collection.
24 pages, Paperback
First published March 1, 1835
About the author
Edgar Allan Poe
10.7k books29.7k followersThe name Poe brings to mind images of murderers and madmen, premature burials, and mysterious women who return from the dead. His works have been in print since 1827 and include such literary classics as The Tell-Tale Heart, The Raven, and The Fall of the House of Usher. This versatile writer’s oeuvre includes short stories, poetry, a novel, a textbook, a book of scientific theory, and hundreds of essays and book reviews. He is widely acknowledged as the inventor of the modern detective story and an innovator in the science fiction genre, but he made his living as America’s first great literary critic and theoretician. Poe’s reputation today rests primarily on his tales of terror as well as on his haunting lyric poetry.
Just as the bizarre characters in Poe’s stories have captured the public imagination so too has Poe himself. He is seen as a morbid, mysterious figure lurking in the shadows of moonlit cemeteries or crumbling castles. This is the Poe of legend. But much of what we know about Poe is wrong, the product of a biography written by one of his enemies in an attempt to defame the author’s name.
The real Poe was born to traveling actors in Boston on January 19, 1809. Edgar was the second of three children. His other brother William Henry Leonard Poe would also become a poet before his early death, and Poe’s sister Rosalie Poe would grow up to teach penmanship at a Richmond girls’ school. Within three years of Poe’s birth both of his parents had died, and he was taken in by the wealthy tobacco merchant John Allan and his wife Frances Valentine Allan in Richmond, Virginia while Poe’s siblings went to live with other families. Mr. Allan would rear Poe to be a businessman and a Virginia gentleman, but Poe had dreams of being a writer in emulation of his childhood hero the British poet Lord Byron. Early poetic verses found written in a young Poe’s handwriting on the backs of Allan’s ledger sheets reveal how little interest Poe had in the tobacco business.
For more information, please see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edgar_al...
Just as the bizarre characters in Poe’s stories have captured the public imagination so too has Poe himself. He is seen as a morbid, mysterious figure lurking in the shadows of moonlit cemeteries or crumbling castles. This is the Poe of legend. But much of what we know about Poe is wrong, the product of a biography written by one of his enemies in an attempt to defame the author’s name.
The real Poe was born to traveling actors in Boston on January 19, 1809. Edgar was the second of three children. His other brother William Henry Leonard Poe would also become a poet before his early death, and Poe’s sister Rosalie Poe would grow up to teach penmanship at a Richmond girls’ school. Within three years of Poe’s birth both of his parents had died, and he was taken in by the wealthy tobacco merchant John Allan and his wife Frances Valentine Allan in Richmond, Virginia while Poe’s siblings went to live with other families. Mr. Allan would rear Poe to be a businessman and a Virginia gentleman, but Poe had dreams of being a writer in emulation of his childhood hero the British poet Lord Byron. Early poetic verses found written in a young Poe’s handwriting on the backs of Allan’s ledger sheets reveal how little interest Poe had in the tobacco business.
For more information, please see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edgar_al...
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March 19, 2015
Berenice es considerado el cuento más violento de Poe (¡y vaya si lo es!)
Publicado en 1835, estuvo cerca de ser censurado por la naturaleza de la historia y del final (sin hacer spoiler, aunque creo que todo el mundo lo leyó).
Berenice es la antítesis de la relación de Edgar Allan Poe con su amada Virginia Clemm, o Sissy, como la llamaba él cariñosamente, dado que Berenice es la prima del narrador y Virginia era, además de esposa de Poe, su prima.
Las personalidades invertidas le confieren el tono lúgubre al relato, que va ganando horror con el correr de las líneas.
"Berenice" deja atrás las narraciones divagantes o místicas del primer Poe para comenzar a enumerar una serie de cuentos emblemáticos en la obra del autor, enlazándolos con Morella, Eleonora y Ligeia.
La 'nerviosa intensidad del interés' en las cosas nimias o pequeñas del narrador que él hace llamar "atención" van generando el clima tenso que se desarrolla en el final.
Naturalmente, es este un relato de características góticas y con altas dosis del romanticismo más enfermizo que caractertizaba a muchos cuentos de Poe.
El vívido horror que Poe le imprime al final del cuento debe haber espantado a más de un lector de su época.
Sólo Edgar Allan Poe sabía imprimirle el golpe de efecto final a sus cuentos, y es por esta característica que creó y definió las bases del cuento moderno.
Publicado en 1835, estuvo cerca de ser censurado por la naturaleza de la historia y del final (sin hacer spoiler, aunque creo que todo el mundo lo leyó).
Berenice es la antítesis de la relación de Edgar Allan Poe con su amada Virginia Clemm, o Sissy, como la llamaba él cariñosamente, dado que Berenice es la prima del narrador y Virginia era, además de esposa de Poe, su prima.
Las personalidades invertidas le confieren el tono lúgubre al relato, que va ganando horror con el correr de las líneas.
"Berenice" deja atrás las narraciones divagantes o místicas del primer Poe para comenzar a enumerar una serie de cuentos emblemáticos en la obra del autor, enlazándolos con Morella, Eleonora y Ligeia.
La 'nerviosa intensidad del interés' en las cosas nimias o pequeñas del narrador que él hace llamar "atención" van generando el clima tenso que se desarrolla en el final.
Naturalmente, es este un relato de características góticas y con altas dosis del romanticismo más enfermizo que caractertizaba a muchos cuentos de Poe.
El vívido horror que Poe le imprime al final del cuento debe haber espantado a más de un lector de su época.
Sólo Edgar Allan Poe sabía imprimirle el golpe de efecto final a sus cuentos, y es por esta característica que creó y definió las bases del cuento moderno.
June 5, 2014
Since there are a few dozen reviews already posted here, in the spirit of freshness I will compare Poe’s tale with a few other tales, each of these other tales picking up on a Berenice theme.
OBSESSION
In The Gaze by Jean Richepin, the narrator peers through the window of a cell at a madman, arms spread, head uplifted, transfixed by a point on a wall near the ceiling. The doctor-alienist relates to the narrator how this inmate is obsessed with the gaze of eyes from an artist’s portrait. “For there was something in that gaze, believe me, that could trouble not only the already-enfeebled brain of a man afflicted with general paralysis, but even a sound and solid mind.” Indeed, as it turns out, the doctor-alienist is, in his own way, obsessed with the eyes of the portrait. Obsession in this tale is clear-cut and unambiguous, the level-headed narrator encountering two different men obsessed by painterly eyes.
TEETH
Toward the end of At the Death-Bed by Guy de Maupassant, a tale told by an old man reflecting back on an experience he has years ago when he and a friend sat in a room next to the chamber where lay the corpse of German pessimistic philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer. The old man relates how they both heard a sound and saw something white pass across the death bed and disappear under an armchair. Terrified, they moved to the chamber with the bed. We read, “Meanwhile my friend, who had taken the other candle, bent down. Then he touched my arm without a word. I followed his gaze and there, on the ground, under the armchair next to the bed, all white on the dark carpet, open as if ready to bite – Schopenhauer’s false teeth.” And the next sentence provides the explanation: “The rot setting in had loosened his jaws, and they has sprung from his mouth.” A horrifying experience for the old man, to be sure. But as powerful as his experience was, it had a completely rational explanation.
SPLIT IDENTITY
The Double Soul by Jean Richepin is a straightforward tale about a sixteen year-old boy who witnesses his father’s death, a witnessing that causes him, psychologically, to live as two separate persons alternately. A doctor-alienist observing the young man in his sanitarium notes, “Undoubtedly, the duplication of personality manifested itself regularly, at two-year intervals: when the two years of one personality came to an end, the other was ready to come into play; between the two of them, one curious phenomenon was indispensable, a kind of mental trigger by which the first self-yielded its place to the second.” Richepin’s tale is fascinating but the fascination emerges from a telling where the disclosing of psychological facts is direct and unmistakable.
Let’s now move to Poe’s tale, which is, in many respects, at the opposite end of the aesthetic spectrum from all three of the above. Rather than a straight-forward story told by a level-headed narrator, Poe’s tale-teller conveys how he has been sickly and morose and mentally unbalanced since childhood, which, of course, alerts us to question his reliability. And to add to the eeriness and the Gothic, the tale is told in the gloomy, gray book-lined chamber of the family mansion where the narrator was born and where his mother died. There is something suffocating and ghastly and unreal permeating the atmosphere. We read, “The realities of the world affected me as visions, and as visions only, while the wild ideas of the land of dreams became, in turn, - not the material of my every-day existence but in very deed that existence utterly and solely in itself.” In other words, for the narrator, his dream-world is his concrete reality.
Dark and creepy is ratcheted up several notches as the narrator goes on to sketch how he and his cousin Berenice grew up together – he himself cloistered indoors in ill-health, Berenice rambling outdoors in energetic radiant health. Radiant health, that is, until Berenice is stricken by a debilitating illness the narrator describes as a kind of extreme epilepsy. Meanwhile, the narrator's own disease grows, a sickness and intensity of nerves he terms monomania, where he obsesses on objects or words for hours, for days and sometimes even weeks. We read how his obsession affects his perception of his cousin: “True to its own character, my disorder reveled in the less important but more startling changes wrought in the physical frame of Berenice – in the singular and most appalling distortions of her personal identity.”
How does the narrator distort Berenice’s personal identity? Dark and creepy is ratcheted up yet again as the narrator further mixes his obsession with dream-visions of Bernice. We read, “The eyes were lifeless, and lusterless, and seemingly pupil-less, and I shrank involuntarily from their glassy stare to the contemplation of the thin and shrunken lips. They parted; and in a smile of peculiar meaning, the teeth of the changed Berenice disclosed themselves slowly to my view.” Ah, to have your lover’s teeth take on a life of their own in your obsessive, monomaniacal, twisted, morbid mind!
I wouldn’t want to continue with quotes or relaying the details of Poe’s tale so as to possibly spoil the ending for readers. It is enough to point out that Poe didn’t stop here. There is ample evidence at the end of the tale that the narrator suffers from another disorder so extreme even he cannot face it squarely – that disorder being split identity or what in medical parlance is known as dissociative identity disorder (previously known as multiple personality disorder).
Is it any wonder at the time of the tale’s publication in 1835 Poe’s critics and readers said the author went too far, that this Gothic tale was so ghastly and gruesome as to offend good taste? And I didn’t even touch on the possibility of Berenice being buried alive! Nearly two hundred years later this tale of horror can still raise the hairs on the back of a reader’s neck.
*The quotes from the two Jean Richepin stories are from Crazy Corner translated by Brian Stableford and published by Black Coat Press. The quotes from Guy de Maupassant’s tale come from French Decadent Tales, translated by Stephen Romer and published by Oxford University Press.
August 12, 2022
El protagonista de esta historia pasa por diversos trances que lo hacen perder la noción del tiempo. Cuando vuelve en sí, se da cuenta de que su insana obsesión cruza todo límite moral.
En Berenice conocemos a Egaeus, un peculiar individuo que vive constantemente en su propio mundo, pero esto no es producto del azar. Él padece de manera evidente un déficit de atención y quizá también algún trastorno obsesivo-compulsivo, sumándose a todo esto su patética procrastinación, propia de su condición general.
Por otro lado, nuevamente vemos al autor inspirándose en el matrimonio con su prima a la hora de escribir. Con este antecedente, los lectores más perspicaces que todavía no hayan leído este relato, pero que conozcan un poco sobre la obra de Poe, podrán vislumbrar sin problemas el rumbo que tomará la historia.
No obstante, estamos ante una lectura que se siente vacía e indiferente por sí sola. Prácticamente todo gira en torno al protagonista narrando su día a día, detalles sobre su salud mental y algunos datos personales, presentados de forma aburrida y sin que aporten nada sustancioso o relevante para la trama o el lector. Recién en las últimas dos páginas es cuando este título por fin despierta para brillar y ponerse interesante.
Así como en El entierro prematuro, aquí se vuelve a tocar el tema de la catalepsia. Se nota que dicho tópico caló hondo en el autor y en su generación. Asimismo, esta obra está considerada por muchos como la más macabra y oscura de todos los trabajos de Poe. Quizá en su época —que era otra— haya causado esa impresión, pero esos criterios ya están más que obsoletos para nuestros tiempos.
Me parece curioso y una exageración abismal que sostengan eso en pleno 2022, cuando existen otros cuentos muchísimo más escabrosos del autor, como El gato negro o Los asesinatos de la rue Morgue, y tampoco es que estos ejemplos sean tan sangrientos o impíos como para escandalizarse.
En verdad, lo único memorable de esta obra radica en su potente final, el cual, a pesar de mantener ese sello tan característico del autor —para bien o para mal—, se siente adecuado y bien elaborado. Lo que ocurre con esto último es que logra decir mucho con muy poco, dejando poco o nada a la libre interpretación. Esto resulta un acierto, a diferencia del resto del relato, donde no se nos brinda nada que sea atrapante o relevante. En pocas líneas se retrata la locura desatada por la obsesión del protagonista —que no revelaré—, porque es el verdadero clímax y lo único destacable de la obra.
Como he recalcado, lo que se puede rescatar de Berenice es su gran final, ya que, por lo bien logrado y preciso que resulta, se convierte en el pilar que sostiene todo el relato, haciendo que valga la pena su lectura únicamente por ese cierre. Todo lo previo pareciera ser banalidad y relleno.
También se agradece su corta extensión, ya que lo mejor del relato llega cuando se termina, pero no porque sea un mal texto como tal, sino por lo magistral de su conclusión. Eso es lo que permite que Berenice siga siendo recordada hasta el día de hoy.
En mi opinión, Los anteojos resulta una mejor lectura, aunque allí ocurría algo similar en su recta final, que aumentaba su valor. Sin embargo, aquí se cuenta con una temática superior y una terminación sobresaliente. De hecho, casi toda la reseña se ha basado redundantemente en el final del cuento, ya que es lo único que hay para destacar.
Concluyendo, podría otorgarle 2.5 estrellas a esta obra que solamente se salva por su grandioso desenlace y justamente gracias a eso cambiaré de opinión en favor de un mejor puntaje. Definitivamente se queda con ★★★☆☆, debido a mi generosidad y criterio para analizar su situación específica. Estas últimas reseñas están resultando más complicadas de evaluar y calificar al compararlas con los demás trabajos de Poe, pues los tengo como referencia.
Una vez que lleguen al desenlace de esta historia, les aconsejo mantener una buena sonrisa... o directamente ocultarla.
Para otras reseñas sobre la obra de Edgar Allan Poe:
• El gato negro, cuya reseña está bugueada en el feed de Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
• El cuervo, hasta ahora, el único poema que he reseñado de este autor: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
• Narraciones extraordinarias, recopilatorio donde reúno todo lo que he leído de Poe, además de incluir un top 28 y argumentar mi opinión en profundidad sobre él como autor: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
En Berenice conocemos a Egaeus, un peculiar individuo que vive constantemente en su propio mundo, pero esto no es producto del azar. Él padece de manera evidente un déficit de atención y quizá también algún trastorno obsesivo-compulsivo, sumándose a todo esto su patética procrastinación, propia de su condición general.
Por otro lado, nuevamente vemos al autor inspirándose en el matrimonio con su prima a la hora de escribir. Con este antecedente, los lectores más perspicaces que todavía no hayan leído este relato, pero que conozcan un poco sobre la obra de Poe, podrán vislumbrar sin problemas el rumbo que tomará la historia.
No obstante, estamos ante una lectura que se siente vacía e indiferente por sí sola. Prácticamente todo gira en torno al protagonista narrando su día a día, detalles sobre su salud mental y algunos datos personales, presentados de forma aburrida y sin que aporten nada sustancioso o relevante para la trama o el lector. Recién en las últimas dos páginas es cuando este título por fin despierta para brillar y ponerse interesante.
Así como en El entierro prematuro, aquí se vuelve a tocar el tema de la catalepsia. Se nota que dicho tópico caló hondo en el autor y en su generación. Asimismo, esta obra está considerada por muchos como la más macabra y oscura de todos los trabajos de Poe. Quizá en su época —que era otra— haya causado esa impresión, pero esos criterios ya están más que obsoletos para nuestros tiempos.
Me parece curioso y una exageración abismal que sostengan eso en pleno 2022, cuando existen otros cuentos muchísimo más escabrosos del autor, como El gato negro o Los asesinatos de la rue Morgue, y tampoco es que estos ejemplos sean tan sangrientos o impíos como para escandalizarse.
En verdad, lo único memorable de esta obra radica en su potente final, el cual, a pesar de mantener ese sello tan característico del autor —para bien o para mal—, se siente adecuado y bien elaborado. Lo que ocurre con esto último es que logra decir mucho con muy poco, dejando poco o nada a la libre interpretación. Esto resulta un acierto, a diferencia del resto del relato, donde no se nos brinda nada que sea atrapante o relevante. En pocas líneas se retrata la locura desatada por la obsesión del protagonista —que no revelaré—, porque es el verdadero clímax y lo único destacable de la obra.
Como he recalcado, lo que se puede rescatar de Berenice es su gran final, ya que, por lo bien logrado y preciso que resulta, se convierte en el pilar que sostiene todo el relato, haciendo que valga la pena su lectura únicamente por ese cierre. Todo lo previo pareciera ser banalidad y relleno.
También se agradece su corta extensión, ya que lo mejor del relato llega cuando se termina, pero no porque sea un mal texto como tal, sino por lo magistral de su conclusión. Eso es lo que permite que Berenice siga siendo recordada hasta el día de hoy.
En mi opinión, Los anteojos resulta una mejor lectura, aunque allí ocurría algo similar en su recta final, que aumentaba su valor. Sin embargo, aquí se cuenta con una temática superior y una terminación sobresaliente. De hecho, casi toda la reseña se ha basado redundantemente en el final del cuento, ya que es lo único que hay para destacar.
Concluyendo, podría otorgarle 2.5 estrellas a esta obra que solamente se salva por su grandioso desenlace y justamente gracias a eso cambiaré de opinión en favor de un mejor puntaje. Definitivamente se queda con ★★★☆☆, debido a mi generosidad y criterio para analizar su situación específica. Estas últimas reseñas están resultando más complicadas de evaluar y calificar al compararlas con los demás trabajos de Poe, pues los tengo como referencia.
Una vez que lleguen al desenlace de esta historia, les aconsejo mantener una buena sonrisa... o directamente ocultarla.
Para otras reseñas sobre la obra de Edgar Allan Poe:
• El gato negro, cuya reseña está bugueada en el feed de Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
• El cuervo, hasta ahora, el único poema que he reseñado de este autor: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
• Narraciones extraordinarias, recopilatorio donde reúno todo lo que he leído de Poe, además de incluir un top 28 y argumentar mi opinión en profundidad sobre él como autor: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
July 23, 2019
What a scary read. Egaeus, the narrator, talks about his relationship to his cousin Berenice. He lives the life of a scholar, prefers the night and is quite sickly. Berenice is the counterpart until she fall ill an decays day by day. There are plans of marriage. Egaeus is obsessed by her teeth. When the day of her interment is over a shadowy shrouded figure is reported. What about the teeth? A very morbid story, full of decay, visions of grey and unsound living in the dark. Frightening and recommended!
March 21, 2026
I picked up Berenice (1835) because it’s often described as one of Edgar Allan Poe’s most grotesque and disturbing works. Naturally, I was curious.
So I read it… and then sat there like: Wait. That’s it? 😐
“…what was that the scary part?” 😶
Apparently, I was supposed to be horrified. Instead, I was mildly confused and briefly wondered if I should schedule a psychological evaluation because I felt absolutely nothing. Not fear. Not disgust. Just… nothing. I actually had to Google what was supposed to be so disturbing about the story — because it really wasn’t that obvious to me, especially compared to some of Poe’s other works. Honestly, the cultural legacy people claim this story has left behind genuinely shocked me. 🙈🙈
After some aggressive Googling (and light internet stalking), I discovered that the version I read was missing SEVERAL key scenes — including the whole “guy visits his fiancée’s corpse and she MOVES” part. You know. Minor detail. Totally optional. 🪦✨
AND, the teeth stuff. 😳
So yes — turns out I didn’t read the full, uncensored version. Which explains why the story’s legendary reputation in horror literature felt about as threatening as Timon and Pumbaa. 🤣🦁👑 🫣
That said, I did find the story’s duality between body and mind quite interesting — if that’s even the right way to describe it. I was also fascinated by Poe’s portrayal of monomania, a psychological term for an excessive and irrational obsession. I’ve always been deeply interested in the human psyche and its various states and disorders, so it was fun to interpret Poe’s depiction of Egaeus’ mental state myself
— even if I personally think he could have explored it in much greater depth. 💕
Apparently, many modern readers compare Egaeus’ personality traits to OCD. Yeah… remind me never to tell a hardcore Poe fan that I’m diagnosed with OCD. 😭🤣
I PROMISE, I’m nice😭. I won’t murder anyone — unless you steal my phone or burn my books. 😈 🤡
✨Because apparently, I’m a danger to society now.✨
Rumour has it I’m the worst nightmare to Poe’s most hardcore fans out there, so you’d better hide before I attack you with my purse and hairbrush.💋
Just give me 20 minutes to get out of bed first… 🦿and please walk in slow motion😂. I’m a little too disabled to run. And can I please bring my arm crutch? 🩼😂
I actually went to the library hoping to read The Tell-Tale Heart, but since that wasn’t available, I grabbed this one randomly off the shelf. In hindsight, I may have accidentally picked up what felt like the censored, family-friendly, “Poe for toddlers” edition. 👶🏻👩🏼🍼
I couldn’t even find the exact edition on Goodreads — wrong language, wrong page count, wrong everything. I just picked the one with the same cover and hoped for the best. 📚🤷
This particular edition is getting a pretty low rating from me. But honestly, it feels like I accidentally picked up a version aimed at toddlers.
So, to be clear: I’m not rating Poe’s original story here — I’m rating whatever strange, defanged, possibly Temu-sourced version my library had in circulation. Because at this point, I’m half-convinced the library bought it from Temu.
If you’ve read the actual uncensored version, I’m genuinely curious: was it as disturbing as people claim, or did 19th-century readers just have a lower tolerance for dental horror? 😬🦷
I’m convinced I would have enjoyed the story much more if it hadn’t been so heavily altered. Several key scenes are missing – scenes that feel essential to understanding Poe’s artistry.
With that said, take my rating with a grain of salt 🥰
So I read it… and then sat there like: Wait. That’s it? 😐
“…what was that the scary part?” 😶
Apparently, I was supposed to be horrified. Instead, I was mildly confused and briefly wondered if I should schedule a psychological evaluation because I felt absolutely nothing. Not fear. Not disgust. Just… nothing. I actually had to Google what was supposed to be so disturbing about the story — because it really wasn’t that obvious to me, especially compared to some of Poe’s other works. Honestly, the cultural legacy people claim this story has left behind genuinely shocked me. 🙈🙈
After some aggressive Googling (and light internet stalking), I discovered that the version I read was missing SEVERAL key scenes — including the whole “guy visits his fiancée’s corpse and she MOVES” part. You know. Minor detail. Totally optional. 🪦✨
AND, the teeth stuff. 😳
So yes — turns out I didn’t read the full, uncensored version. Which explains why the story’s legendary reputation in horror literature felt about as threatening as Timon and Pumbaa. 🤣🦁👑 🫣
That said, I did find the story’s duality between body and mind quite interesting — if that’s even the right way to describe it. I was also fascinated by Poe’s portrayal of monomania, a psychological term for an excessive and irrational obsession. I’ve always been deeply interested in the human psyche and its various states and disorders, so it was fun to interpret Poe’s depiction of Egaeus’ mental state myself
— even if I personally think he could have explored it in much greater depth. 💕
Apparently, many modern readers compare Egaeus’ personality traits to OCD. Yeah… remind me never to tell a hardcore Poe fan that I’m diagnosed with OCD. 😭🤣
I PROMISE, I’m nice😭. I won’t murder anyone — unless you steal my phone or burn my books. 😈 🤡
✨Because apparently, I’m a danger to society now.✨
Rumour has it I’m the worst nightmare to Poe’s most hardcore fans out there, so you’d better hide before I attack you with my purse and hairbrush.💋
Just give me 20 minutes to get out of bed first… 🦿and please walk in slow motion😂. I’m a little too disabled to run. And can I please bring my arm crutch? 🩼😂
I actually went to the library hoping to read The Tell-Tale Heart, but since that wasn’t available, I grabbed this one randomly off the shelf. In hindsight, I may have accidentally picked up what felt like the censored, family-friendly, “Poe for toddlers” edition. 👶🏻👩🏼🍼
I couldn’t even find the exact edition on Goodreads — wrong language, wrong page count, wrong everything. I just picked the one with the same cover and hoped for the best. 📚🤷
This particular edition is getting a pretty low rating from me. But honestly, it feels like I accidentally picked up a version aimed at toddlers.
So, to be clear: I’m not rating Poe’s original story here — I’m rating whatever strange, defanged, possibly Temu-sourced version my library had in circulation. Because at this point, I’m half-convinced the library bought it from Temu.
If you’ve read the actual uncensored version, I’m genuinely curious: was it as disturbing as people claim, or did 19th-century readers just have a lower tolerance for dental horror? 😬🦷
I’m convinced I would have enjoyed the story much more if it hadn’t been so heavily altered. Several key scenes are missing – scenes that feel essential to understanding Poe’s artistry.
With that said, take my rating with a grain of salt 🥰
February 16, 2019
Berenice is classic horror at its best! I love a slow build and burn. I love a quick and horrific reveal. I love when an author lets me sit with the horror of the moment and doesn’t ruin it by hitting me over the head. Poe’s Berenice does all this!
Egaeus is prone to moments of monomania - singular focus and frenzy over objects. He sits in his library interacting with very few people. He suffers so greatly that he loses all sense of time, which creates a great deal of uncertainty and trepidation for the reader. Berenice is his cousin, who he has never really been in love with before she fell ill. Berenice is beautiful but like a specter to Egaeus. When she falls victim to an illness with bouts of epilepsy and trances, he finds himself drawn to her, not because he loves her but because he is overly focused on her physical transformation. She is clearly suffering and wasting away, except for a beautiful set of teeth. It is only when she suffers that he proposes marriage. Of course, the contrast of the healthy teeth and unhealthy body cause Egaeus to enter one of his mad moments. After Berenice succumbs to her illness, she is buried. Later, a commotion in the household brings Egaeus out of a stupor to find that Berenice is not dead in her grave. She has been desecrated. A muddy spade is near him, his clothes are muddy and bloody, a line about visiting the grave of a loved one is underlined in his book, and a box of dental tools and teeth is beside him.
I love how creepy this story is! It works on so many Victorian fears: of madness, of being buried alive, of hurting the ones we love the most. Egaeus is disturbed, to be sure. He commits such a terrible act of violation. Can you imagine poor Berenice after this? She’s still ill and now she has no teeth. Or dear Lord! And what punishment can Egaeus face? He was mad when he did it. Does he go to the mad house? Another fear!
I love that Poe’s readers were so shocked by the violence that they complained to the publisher. The violence is only a hint - never shown at all- and it creates such a stomach-churning moment that a reader could be very upset long after reading the story. Great writing!! Little tidbit of info: there are four paragraphs that were removed by the publisher because it was considered too much (Egaeus sees Berenice in her final state before burial but realizes that she isn’t dead, noticing her finger moves and she smiles. Creepy and premeditated! I think I do like the edited version a bit better. Poe would use the deleted idea in The Fall of the House of Usher to more acclaim.) If a reader takes time to translate the quotes and titles of books, quite a bit of foreshadowing would appear. I love the Gothic feel of the story: a creepy mansion, a beautiful woman, an insane man, an unreliable narrator, and horrific violence. The characters are symbolic: Egaeus was born in the library and represents the intellect while Berenice is symbolic of our physical natures. She is also an oppressed woman, the victim who does not speak ever in the story. Poe introduces some of his favorite Gothic ideas that he repeats in later works (The Fall of the House of Usher, The Premature Burial, The Tell-Tale Heart, Morella, Ligeia, The Oval Portrait, etc).
I love this story so much! It never fails to creep me out. Berenice is a classic horror story that every horror fan must read!
Egaeus is prone to moments of monomania - singular focus and frenzy over objects. He sits in his library interacting with very few people. He suffers so greatly that he loses all sense of time, which creates a great deal of uncertainty and trepidation for the reader. Berenice is his cousin, who he has never really been in love with before she fell ill. Berenice is beautiful but like a specter to Egaeus. When she falls victim to an illness with bouts of epilepsy and trances, he finds himself drawn to her, not because he loves her but because he is overly focused on her physical transformation. She is clearly suffering and wasting away, except for a beautiful set of teeth. It is only when she suffers that he proposes marriage. Of course, the contrast of the healthy teeth and unhealthy body cause Egaeus to enter one of his mad moments. After Berenice succumbs to her illness, she is buried. Later, a commotion in the household brings Egaeus out of a stupor to find that Berenice is not dead in her grave. She has been desecrated. A muddy spade is near him, his clothes are muddy and bloody, a line about visiting the grave of a loved one is underlined in his book, and a box of dental tools and teeth is beside him.
I love how creepy this story is! It works on so many Victorian fears: of madness, of being buried alive, of hurting the ones we love the most. Egaeus is disturbed, to be sure. He commits such a terrible act of violation. Can you imagine poor Berenice after this? She’s still ill and now she has no teeth. Or dear Lord! And what punishment can Egaeus face? He was mad when he did it. Does he go to the mad house? Another fear!
I love that Poe’s readers were so shocked by the violence that they complained to the publisher. The violence is only a hint - never shown at all- and it creates such a stomach-churning moment that a reader could be very upset long after reading the story. Great writing!! Little tidbit of info: there are four paragraphs that were removed by the publisher because it was considered too much (Egaeus sees Berenice in her final state before burial but realizes that she isn’t dead, noticing her finger moves and she smiles. Creepy and premeditated! I think I do like the edited version a bit better. Poe would use the deleted idea in The Fall of the House of Usher to more acclaim.) If a reader takes time to translate the quotes and titles of books, quite a bit of foreshadowing would appear. I love the Gothic feel of the story: a creepy mansion, a beautiful woman, an insane man, an unreliable narrator, and horrific violence. The characters are symbolic: Egaeus was born in the library and represents the intellect while Berenice is symbolic of our physical natures. She is also an oppressed woman, the victim who does not speak ever in the story. Poe introduces some of his favorite Gothic ideas that he repeats in later works (The Fall of the House of Usher, The Premature Burial, The Tell-Tale Heart, Morella, Ligeia, The Oval Portrait, etc).
I love this story so much! It never fails to creep me out. Berenice is a classic horror story that every horror fan must read!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 26, 2021
لسنا صادقين تماما الا في احلامنا
منتهي العدمية؛قصة مرعبة حقا غارقة في الامراض العجيبة و الافكار المقززة و الكره/الحب المريض و تعتبر رادع جيد جدا عن زواج الاقارب
ادجار يتالق في ملعبه الابدي:قصص الدفن حياً
لا انصح بها مطلقا لأطباء الأسنان
القصة كاملة مترجمة في الجزء المخفي
و هي احدي قصص مجموعة القط الاسود
منتهي العدمية؛قصة مرعبة حقا غارقة في الامراض العجيبة و الافكار المقززة و الكره/الحب المريض و تعتبر رادع جيد جدا عن زواج الاقارب
ادجار يتالق في ملعبه الابدي:قصص الدفن حياً
لا انصح بها مطلقا لأطباء الأسنان
القصة كاملة مترجمة في الجزء المخفي
و هي احدي قصص مجموعة القط الاسود
November 13, 2019
3,5 stars. The narrator of this short story is obsessed with his cousin's teeth, Berenice, who he is in love with. A very disturbing and creepy story. An audiobook in Portuguese.
October 26, 2021
The ending was decent and more along the lines of the Poe I love, but the journey there felt quite convoluted! I honestly did not understand what all was going on until the end.
October 23, 2026
Egaeus is suffering from intense trance like periods of monomania, obsessively focusing on one object or idea.
His cousin, Berenice, is suffering from a mysterious wasting disease. Egaeus arranges to marry the woman despite not being in love with her. I’m slowly working my way through Poe stories that I have never read or forgotten over the years. I found this one to be a little scary and quite thought-provoking. Good ole Poe!
His cousin, Berenice, is suffering from a mysterious wasting disease. Egaeus arranges to marry the woman despite not being in love with her. I’m slowly working my way through Poe stories that I have never read or forgotten over the years. I found this one to be a little scary and quite thought-provoking. Good ole Poe!
June 25, 2015
(Cómo se nota que esta reseña la escribí hace 7 años, lol).
***
Poe nunca falla con sus relatos cortos... De hecho, no falla con nada porque me encanta todo lo que este hombre escribió en su momento.
Terror en cada línea y desenlaces inesperados es lo que te espera cuando lees a Edgar Allan Poe.
***
Poe nunca falla con sus relatos cortos... De hecho, no falla con nada porque me encanta todo lo que este hombre escribió en su momento.
Terror en cada línea y desenlaces inesperados es lo que te espera cuando lees a Edgar Allan Poe.
October 2, 2022
Я абсолютно не выношу ни фильмов ужасов, ни книг этого жанра. Поэтому выбор пал на аудиокнигу.
В библиотечной зале умерла мать Эгея, там родился он. Забывшись в грезах, он не заметил, как настала зрелость. Фантазии наполнили его жизнь, он ушел с головой в книги.
Заболев особой формой эпилепсии, которая часто заканчивалась летаргией, в его кузине Беренике произошли разрушительные перемены. Наш герой сам страдал душевной болезнью – мономанией, болезненной навязчивостью одним предметом, которая взяла над ним непостижимую власть. Проводив дни и ночи в созерцании, монотонно повторяя какие-то заурядные слова, пока не забудет о собственном физическом состоянии, в Беренике он видел не женщину, а грёзу. Горюя о том, что она тяжело больна, он заговорил о женитьбе. Вся она была истощена, глаза ее были, казалось бы, без жизни, ни одна черта не напоминала прежнюю Беренику. Его болезнь приковывала его внимание к ее зубам, в них он видел идеи, они стали смыслом всей его душевной жизни, он рассматривал их в различных ракурсах, присматривал форму и строение. (Бедная Береника, представьте, если кто-то, пусть даже жених, разглядывает Ваши зубы). Он видел в них способность понимать и чувствовать, что все ее зубы исполнены смысла. Он грезил, что вернуть ему рассудок может только то, чтобы зубы Береники достались ему, они обрели власть над ним. Его видения прервал крик, распахнув дверь, он увидел служанку, возгласившей о смерти Береники от очередного внезапного припадка. Ее похоронили, а он все сидел, поглощенный своими видениями. Его заполонил ужас, ему начал слышаться пронзительный женский крик, многоголосое эхо вторило ему. Шкатулка врача, раскрытая книга – кровь застыла в жилах.
Слуга с одичалыми глазами сообщил об оскверненной могиле и все еще живой Беренике. Очнувшись, Эгей увидел, что его одежда была выпачкана в земле и крови, а кожа испещрена следами от ногтей. Прислоненный к стене, в библиотеке стоял заступ.
Шкатулка упав, разлетелась вдребезги – и нее выпали зубоврачебные инструменты и 32 зуба.
Автор не поднимает никаких идей, его цель – показать болезненное состояние помраченного ума и напугать читателя, и ему это удалось. Хочу отметить, что это произведение не лишено определенных литературных достоинств, но мне не нравится жанр хоррор как таковой, это жанр, культивирующий страх, насилие, боль, страдания ради них самих. Думаю, что я больше не буду читать Эдгара По, в ближайшее время, по крайней мере.
В библиотечной зале умерла мать Эгея, там родился он. Забывшись в грезах, он не заметил, как настала зрелость. Фантазии наполнили его жизнь, он ушел с головой в книги.
Заболев особой формой эпилепсии, которая часто заканчивалась летаргией, в его кузине Беренике произошли разрушительные перемены. Наш герой сам страдал душевной болезнью – мономанией, болезненной навязчивостью одним предметом, которая взяла над ним непостижимую власть. Проводив дни и ночи в созерцании, монотонно повторяя какие-то заурядные слова, пока не забудет о собственном физическом состоянии, в Беренике он видел не женщину, а грёзу. Горюя о том, что она тяжело больна, он заговорил о женитьбе. Вся она была истощена, глаза ее были, казалось бы, без жизни, ни одна черта не напоминала прежнюю Беренику. Его болезнь приковывала его внимание к ее зубам, в них он видел идеи, они стали смыслом всей его душевной жизни, он рассматривал их в различных ракурсах, присматривал форму и строение. (Бедная Береника, представьте, если кто-то, пусть даже жених, разглядывает Ваши зубы). Он видел в них способность понимать и чувствовать, что все ее зубы исполнены смысла. Он грезил, что вернуть ему рассудок может только то, чтобы зубы Береники достались ему, они обрели власть над ним. Его видения прервал крик, распахнув дверь, он увидел служанку, возгласившей о смерти Береники от очередного внезапного припадка. Ее похоронили, а он все сидел, поглощенный своими видениями. Его заполонил ужас, ему начал слышаться пронзительный женский крик, многоголосое эхо вторило ему. Шкатулка врача, раскрытая книга – кровь застыла в жилах.
Слуга с одичалыми глазами сообщил об оскверненной могиле и все еще живой Беренике. Очнувшись, Эгей увидел, что его одежда была выпачкана в земле и крови, а кожа испещрена следами от ногтей. Прислоненный к стене, в библиотеке стоял заступ.
Шкатулка упав, разлетелась вдребезги – и нее выпали зубоврачебные инструменты и 32 зуба.
Автор не поднимает никаких идей, его цель – показать болезненное состояние помраченного ума и напугать читателя, и ему это удалось. Хочу отметить, что это произведение не лишено определенных литературных достоинств, но мне не нравится жанр хоррор как таковой, это жанр, культивирующий страх, насилие, боль, страдания ради них самих. Думаю, что я больше не буду читать Эдгара По, в ближайшее время, по крайней мере.
November 8, 2022
I don't mind saying that as a sometimes jaded reader of horror, I found this story extremely disturbing. Published in the Southern Literary Messenger in 1835, Berenice was criticized as a too-gory narrative despite the lack of overly graphic content. Why Poe decided to publish this type of story in a magazine for genteel society, I will never know, but he did. It probably has to do with the framing device and tone. Also the narrator's obsession with Berenice's healthy teeth may have been a symbol of affluence. She is the epitome of health and outdoor activity, whereas the narrator who has arranged to marry Berenice, his cousin, is an academic that prefers to sequester himself in a library. There is the possibility of mental illness, a body buried alive, and the removal of healthy teeth from a still-breathing body (which oddly all are repeated elements in other future stories written by Poe. There is some gross-out here in the way they are so perfectly preserved, but I think the last few sentences resonate so that when you finish the final sentence, it continues to reverberate in your head. There are some that criticized Poe for writing Gothic stories as if they were sophisticated literature instead of pulpish garbage. Here he goes a little more trashy with his tale, and he is criticized still. I hate to say that I loved this story, because it demonstrates a sick side to Poe's horror bend, but I do. Sick story? Yeah, I know. I loved it.
March 12, 2023
Wow!!! A lady, quite a beautiful one, as the main character in a story by E. A. Poe! Something must have been in the air...
But don't be too happy, as luck will be not on her side and what remains from her are only thirty-two little ivory-like things. It's your guess what they are and my real "pleasure" to rate this one two stars, probably (if you ask me, but, of course, you do not) one too many...
PS: Berenice was published on March 1835, in the Southern Literary Messenger (Richmond, Virginia).
But don't be too happy, as luck will be not on her side and what remains from her are only thirty-two little ivory-like things. It's your guess what they are and my real "pleasure" to rate this one two stars, probably (if you ask me, but, of course, you do not) one too many...
PS: Berenice was published on March 1835, in the Southern Literary Messenger (Richmond, Virginia).
November 15, 2022
🔴 Un joven melancólico que vive enclaustrado, una joven risueña que disfruta de la vida y una oscura obsesión.
🗨️"¿Cómo es que de la belleza ha derivado un tipo de fealdad; de la alianza y la paz, un símil del dolor?"
📗 Cuando Egaeus, un chico melancólico y solitario que vive encerrado en el estudio, descubre que su querida y alegre prima, Berenice, está enferma, comienza a sentir un especial interés por la salud de esta, por entender su enfermedad y los motivos de su deterioro. Un interés que deriva en una obsesión compulsiva que se centra en los blancos dientes de la joven y que termina abruptamente.
🔝 Puntos fuertes:
- Envolvente ambientación.
- La creciente tensión del relato.
- El sobrecogedor final.
🗨️"¿Cómo es que de la belleza ha derivado un tipo de fealdad; de la alianza y la paz, un símil del dolor?"
📗 Cuando Egaeus, un chico melancólico y solitario que vive encerrado en el estudio, descubre que su querida y alegre prima, Berenice, está enferma, comienza a sentir un especial interés por la salud de esta, por entender su enfermedad y los motivos de su deterioro. Un interés que deriva en una obsesión compulsiva que se centra en los blancos dientes de la joven y que termina abruptamente.
🔝 Puntos fuertes:
- Envolvente ambientación.
- La creciente tensión del relato.
- El sobrecogedor final.
August 1, 2017
Este fue uno de los cuentos que más me estremecieron por la facilidad de identificarme con el narrador. Yo soy el tipo de persona que una vez que se obsesiona con algo, no puede sacarlo de su cabeza, ejemplo de ello es que sigo buscando un libro de proyectos DIY que anunciaban en la televisión hace como 15 años :S, entonces cuando el narrador comienza a exponer sus manías no puedo más que adentrarme a la historia y estremecerme por lo que estas cosas provocan que hagamos.
Difícilmente diría que es lo mejor de Poe, pero es uno de los cuentos con los que más cercanía sentí, por lo que se lleva una estrella de más. A esto debo sumar que el cuento es bueno, pero narrado por Alberto Laiseca es mejor.
Difícilmente diría que es lo mejor de Poe, pero es uno de los cuentos con los que más cercanía sentí, por lo que se lleva una estrella de más. A esto debo sumar que el cuento es bueno, pero narrado por Alberto Laiseca es mejor.
December 10, 2023
Say Cheese!
A young couple, Egaeus and Berenice, are soon to be married. Egaeus loves Berenice, and especially her beautiful smile; but the lovely lady is in very frail health, with an advancing degenerative incurable disorder, and sporadically suffering indefinite lapses of catalepsy.
This was one of my first stories from Poe, and my personal favorite of them all. This little shortie has one of the most horrific endings I’ve ever read, and a chilling last image that for the life of me I don’t think I’ll ever be able to forget.
I don’t think this story is that good tbh, but I’ve had several problems with my teeth all my life so this is sort of my personal nightmare, so don’t mind my overvaluation too much.
Anyway. It’s short, it’s quick, it’s to lick your teeth. Have a try, if you like.
It’s public domain. You can find it HERE.
-----------------------------------------------
PERSONAL NOTE :
[1835] [24p] [Horror] [4.5] [Recommendable]
-----------------------------------------------
★★★☆☆ The Essential Tales and Poems of Edgar Allan Poe
★★☆☆☆ The Complete Stories and Poems
★★★☆☆ The Tell-Tale Heart and Other Writings
★★★☆☆ The Fall of the House of Usher and Other Tales
★☆☆☆☆ The Raven and Other Poems
-----------------------------------------------
¡Sonrían!
Una joven pareja, Egaeus y Berenice, están prontos a casarse. Egeo ama a Berenice, y especialmente su hermosa sonrisa; pero la encantadora dama se encuentra en un estado de salud muy frágil, con un trastorno degenerativo incurable que avanza, y sufriendo esporádicamente lapsos indefinidos de catalepsia.
Esta fue una de mis primeras historias de Poe, y mi favorita personal de todas. Este pequeño relato tiene uno de los finales más horribles que he leído jamás, y una escalofriante imagen final que por mi vida no creo nunca pueda llegar a olvidar.
Para ser honestos no creo que esta historia sea tan buena, pero tuve problemas con mis dientes toda mi vida, así que esta es como mi especie de pesadilla personal, así que no le prestés demasiada atención a mi sobrevaloración.
Pero como sea. Es rápido, es corto, es para chuparse los dientes. Inténtalo, si quieres.
Es dominio público, lo pueden encontrar ACA.
-----------------------------------------------
NOTA PERSONAL :
[1835] [24p] [Horror] [4.5] [Recomendable]
-----------------------------------------------
A young couple, Egaeus and Berenice, are soon to be married. Egaeus loves Berenice, and especially her beautiful smile; but the lovely lady is in very frail health, with an advancing degenerative incurable disorder, and sporadically suffering indefinite lapses of catalepsy.
This was one of my first stories from Poe, and my personal favorite of them all. This little shortie has one of the most horrific endings I’ve ever read, and a chilling last image that for the life of me I don’t think I’ll ever be able to forget.
I don’t think this story is that good tbh, but I’ve had several problems with my teeth all my life so this is sort of my personal nightmare, so don’t mind my overvaluation too much.
Anyway. It’s short, it’s quick, it’s to lick your teeth. Have a try, if you like.
It’s public domain. You can find it HERE.
-----------------------------------------------
PERSONAL NOTE :
[1835] [24p] [Horror] [4.5] [Recommendable]
-----------------------------------------------
★★★☆☆ The Essential Tales and Poems of Edgar Allan Poe
★★☆☆☆ The Complete Stories and Poems
★★★☆☆ The Tell-Tale Heart and Other Writings
★★★☆☆ The Fall of the House of Usher and Other Tales
★☆☆☆☆ The Raven and Other Poems
-----------------------------------------------
¡Sonrían!
Una joven pareja, Egaeus y Berenice, están prontos a casarse. Egeo ama a Berenice, y especialmente su hermosa sonrisa; pero la encantadora dama se encuentra en un estado de salud muy frágil, con un trastorno degenerativo incurable que avanza, y sufriendo esporádicamente lapsos indefinidos de catalepsia.
Esta fue una de mis primeras historias de Poe, y mi favorita personal de todas. Este pequeño relato tiene uno de los finales más horribles que he leído jamás, y una escalofriante imagen final que por mi vida no creo nunca pueda llegar a olvidar.
Para ser honestos no creo que esta historia sea tan buena, pero tuve problemas con mis dientes toda mi vida, así que esta es como mi especie de pesadilla personal, así que no le prestés demasiada atención a mi sobrevaloración.
Pero como sea. Es rápido, es corto, es para chuparse los dientes. Inténtalo, si quieres.
Es dominio público, lo pueden encontrar ACA.
-----------------------------------------------
NOTA PERSONAL :
[1835] [24p] [Horror] [4.5] [Recomendable]
-----------------------------------------------
October 5, 2022
Being Poe, these characters were doomed from the start. You know nothing good is going to come of this but you read on and anticipate what he has up his sleeve this time. A gloomy man, and a gloomy mansion and a beautiful woman are the ingredients in this recipe of gothic literature. The man has an obsession with the woman’s perfect teeth. Poe’s build up and resolution will shock and surprise, but maybe not if you’re familiar with his style.
January 16, 2017
She Keeps Her Hair on But …
Berenice, which was published in 1835 in the Southern Literary Messenger, whose refined readers, by the way, were quite disgusted with its unusual brutality, has always been my favourite story by Edgar Allan Poe because it is cleverly written, having a twist within the twist of the tale even, and it shows Poe’s ability to create a dark and looming atmosphere.
Berenice, which was published in 1835 in the Southern Literary Messenger, whose refined readers, by the way, were quite disgusted with its unusual brutality, has always been my favourite story by Edgar Allan Poe because it is cleverly written, having a twist within the twist of the tale even, and it shows Poe’s ability to create a dark and looming atmosphere.
December 11, 2024
Berenice is a short story about obsession, unrequited love and madness.
It’s gothically reminiscent of the Picture of Dorian Gray, or should that be the other way round, borrowing from the former?
The writing style is absolutely amazing, irrespective of the genre, horror, it pops and fizzes along in an undercurrent of fear and despair.
“How is it that from Beauty I have derived a type of unloveliness? — from the covenant of Peace a simile of sorrow.“
Note the aesthetic capitalization of “Beauty” and “Peace”?
About a man who yearns for his beautiful cousin “into the wild dominions of monastic thought and erudition”, when he should be concentrating on his “studies of the cloister…”.
There’s plenty of time in a monastery to become erudite? As well as getting thoroughly creeped out.
“I loitered away my boyhood in books, and dissipated my youth in reverie”, as did many of us?
This is a tale of yearning and unrequited passion, of lustful desire to never be fulfilled, perhaps too busy reading books instead of chasing tail?
Berenice, the “sylph amid the shrubberies of Arnheim”, is a tantalizing beauty.
Our storyteller dabbles with opium as he tries to dim his passion and suffering, followed by obsessive monomania for Berenice, no matter what or who she is.
“To muse for long unwearied hours with my attention riveted to some frivolous device upon the margin.”, over “the characteristic qualities of the disorder itself”, the disorder, the obsession for his female cousin.
Berenice starts to metamorphosize in his mind with “startling changes wrought in the physical frame of Berenice, and in the singular and most appalling distortion of her personal identity…”, going from exceptional beauty to “now I shuddered in her presence, and grew pale at her approach”.
Read the story in full to better understand the transformation.
Berenice has overtones of The Yellow Wall-Paper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman in how it deals with mental illness governing physical action.
The most visible aspect of Berenice is her teeth! Maybe reflective of a smile, a wink, a promise of something more on the nuptial bed? Just the teeth?
This is a story of unrequited love between two cousins, one a shy male obsessed with a beautiful young woman, Berenice, who becomes ill (or does she) before the first kiss. The omnipresent teeth.
I had a recurring dream for many years, over whom I cannot say, at falling in love and chasing her through crumbling cities, to eventually catch up with her and sit alone ready to kiss, only to experience the hissing teeth of a cat, never the lips of my unknown beloved.
This alternative story is weird, abstract and haunting. It captures so much in a very short journey of words.
It could be a longer, drawn out into a novel, but does just fine with the vivid imagery portrayed!
It’s gothically reminiscent of the Picture of Dorian Gray, or should that be the other way round, borrowing from the former?
The writing style is absolutely amazing, irrespective of the genre, horror, it pops and fizzes along in an undercurrent of fear and despair.
“How is it that from Beauty I have derived a type of unloveliness? — from the covenant of Peace a simile of sorrow.“
Note the aesthetic capitalization of “Beauty” and “Peace”?
About a man who yearns for his beautiful cousin “into the wild dominions of monastic thought and erudition”, when he should be concentrating on his “studies of the cloister…”.
There’s plenty of time in a monastery to become erudite? As well as getting thoroughly creeped out.
“I loitered away my boyhood in books, and dissipated my youth in reverie”, as did many of us?
This is a tale of yearning and unrequited passion, of lustful desire to never be fulfilled, perhaps too busy reading books instead of chasing tail?
Berenice, the “sylph amid the shrubberies of Arnheim”, is a tantalizing beauty.
Our storyteller dabbles with opium as he tries to dim his passion and suffering, followed by obsessive monomania for Berenice, no matter what or who she is.
“To muse for long unwearied hours with my attention riveted to some frivolous device upon the margin.”, over “the characteristic qualities of the disorder itself”, the disorder, the obsession for his female cousin.
Berenice starts to metamorphosize in his mind with “startling changes wrought in the physical frame of Berenice, and in the singular and most appalling distortion of her personal identity…”, going from exceptional beauty to “now I shuddered in her presence, and grew pale at her approach”.
Read the story in full to better understand the transformation.
Berenice has overtones of The Yellow Wall-Paper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman in how it deals with mental illness governing physical action.
The most visible aspect of Berenice is her teeth! Maybe reflective of a smile, a wink, a promise of something more on the nuptial bed? Just the teeth?
This is a story of unrequited love between two cousins, one a shy male obsessed with a beautiful young woman, Berenice, who becomes ill (or does she) before the first kiss. The omnipresent teeth.
I had a recurring dream for many years, over whom I cannot say, at falling in love and chasing her through crumbling cities, to eventually catch up with her and sit alone ready to kiss, only to experience the hissing teeth of a cat, never the lips of my unknown beloved.
This alternative story is weird, abstract and haunting. It captures so much in a very short journey of words.
It could be a longer, drawn out into a novel, but does just fine with the vivid imagery portrayed!
January 2, 2025
4 Monomaniacal Stars
The term 'monomania' was first coined by French psychiatrist Jean-Etienne Esquirol, and it was an exclusively 19th century term referring to a person who appeared outwardly well, but harboured one obsessive fixation. Egaeus, an unreliable narrator and one afflicted with this 19th century malady (contemporary psychiatry, per the DSM-V, may find a variation of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder a suitable diagnosis for Egaeus), through what initially appears to be an inane stream of consciousness reveals the true horror of his comportment as affected by this disorder.
Another fine tale by Poe, highly recommend 🧚♀️🙋🏼.
This was the EAP short story read for December 2024 with the dynamic group Horror or Heaven.
The term 'monomania' was first coined by French psychiatrist Jean-Etienne Esquirol, and it was an exclusively 19th century term referring to a person who appeared outwardly well, but harboured one obsessive fixation. Egaeus, an unreliable narrator and one afflicted with this 19th century malady (contemporary psychiatry, per the DSM-V, may find a variation of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder a suitable diagnosis for Egaeus), through what initially appears to be an inane stream of consciousness reveals the true horror of his comportment as affected by this disorder.
Another fine tale by Poe, highly recommend 🧚♀️🙋🏼.
This was the EAP short story read for December 2024 with the dynamic group Horror or Heaven.
July 24, 2019
A magnificent display of symbolism!
December 22, 2015
I feel like I'm going against the grain on this one.
There were plenty of great things about this story. For one, I think it most perfectly embodied and represented the Gothic traditions and Gothic style. Everything about this story screamed Gothic, and, of course, the result was an atmosphere rich in emotion and suspense. It just made it totally unavoidable to be really creeped out.
However, I'll admit, I struggled with figuring out what the hell was going on. I think that could have been intention on the part of the author, though, because the story clearly depicts a man's declining mental health.
I've noticed that Poe is amazing at depicting totally unreliable narrators who will spin a story one way, then the ending reveals something else entirely. Usually it's because the character is not all there or is on the brink of insanity, like in this case. It was more obvious in this one because the narrator continually mentioned his "monomania", etc. I like the other stories better, where the narrator does not acknowledge his craziness and instead either presents as totally "normal" or as overcompensating by repeatedly telling the reader that he's totally sane.
There were plenty of great things about this story. For one, I think it most perfectly embodied and represented the Gothic traditions and Gothic style. Everything about this story screamed Gothic, and, of course, the result was an atmosphere rich in emotion and suspense. It just made it totally unavoidable to be really creeped out.
However, I'll admit, I struggled with figuring out what the hell was going on. I think that could have been intention on the part of the author, though, because the story clearly depicts a man's declining mental health.
I've noticed that Poe is amazing at depicting totally unreliable narrators who will spin a story one way, then the ending reveals something else entirely. Usually it's because the character is not all there or is on the brink of insanity, like in this case. It was more obvious in this one because the narrator continually mentioned his "monomania", etc. I like the other stories better, where the narrator does not acknowledge his craziness and instead either presents as totally "normal" or as overcompensating by repeatedly telling the reader that he's totally sane.
October 7, 2016
Genial Poe, que ainda me faz roer as unhas (e os dedos)!
October 2, 2022
Dark and creepy. Egaues the narrator becomes obsessed with cousin Berenice’s teeth. The ending is quite gruesome.
September 15, 2020
¡Hola, señor hyde!😎
October 18, 2022
“The wretchedness of earth is multiform. Overreaching the wide horizon as the rainbow, its hues are as various as the hues of that arch, --as distinct too, yet as intimately blended.”
Poe takes something we all see every day, a part of our own person, and, as we’ve come to expect from him, shows us its dark side, this time through descent into obsession and madness. Wonderfully dark.
Poe takes something we all see every day, a part of our own person, and, as we’ve come to expect from him, shows us its dark side, this time through descent into obsession and madness. Wonderfully dark.
November 8, 2023
Corto relato, de dominio público; en el cual Edgar Allan Poe nos narra un personaje siniestro y como su estado de locura lo lleva un cometer un acto aterrador. 4.2/5.0
January 29, 2025
Wow, that was intense! I’ve read five of Poe’s short stories so far, and I’m getting more and more into his writing. I love authors that just go all out, and Poe’s ideas are madcap. Berenice is one of my favorite stories so far. The narrator experiences an immense fixation on teeth as he struggles to account for and deal with a horrifying change in his cousin caused by an illness. This provokes a horrifying change in himself as well. Slowly, but surely, there’s a downward spiral of his mental acuity into madness and delusion and fear. Well, I’m not sure, but that’s the experience I have. And Poe’s use of alliteration and repetition and imagery is highly evocative of that experience. He just makes me feel everything so vividly as I read. I read it twice and now I want to read it again. Gosh! The reading in itself becomes an act of obsession!
You should also read it :)
I recommend it, actually.
Yes, hurry, before it’s too late.
Go!
Do it now!
Read it!
Read it!
You should also read it :)
I recommend it, actually.
Yes, hurry, before it’s too late.
Go!
Do it now!
Read it!
Read it!
“The teeth!—the teeth!—they were here, and there, and everywhere, and visibly and palpably before me; long, narrow, and excessively white, with the pale lips writhing about them, as in the very moment of their first terrible development (…) In the multiplied objects of the external world ) had no thoughts but for the teeth. For these I longed with a frenzied desire. All other matters and all different interests became absorbed in their single contemplation. They – they alone were present to the mental eye, and they, in their sole individuality, became the essence of my mental life.”
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