Weird Fiction discussion

This is a very short Gothic horror story (almost all the stories we will be reading here are called this, Gothic horror short story, so unless that changes I think I'll stop referring to them as such) that I have not yet ever read. I do read in Wikipedia that its contemporary audience considered the story too violent, so Poe removed parts of four paragraphs (somewhat under protest).

Both versions of the story are frequently reprinted, none ever referring to the other, thus leaving most readers with the impression there is only one version. I trust most of us can handle the originally published unedited version, but just in case....

This is the original, more complete version that appeared in 1835: https://www.eapoe.org/works/tales/ber...

And this is the edited version Poe rewrote so as to be less offensive to the more genteel reader: https://poestories.com/read/berenice

Let's begin discussing this story January 1. I just wanted to create this topic as a place for its discussion.

I was mistaken. The second version of the story, the edited one with a different version of the first paragraph, other small alterations, and four paragraphs near the end removed, completely omitted, is the version universally reprinted. The better, more complete version, the one from 1835, is almost never seen.

If you have read this story previously, I bet you read the tamer second one. What a shame the "director's cut" is not the standard one even now! The internal changes aren't vital, but those are four very important paragraphs that were chopped!

The Latin phrase is seldom translated for the reader. I do that now.

Mortuus est Dei filius; credibile est quia ineptum est: et sepultus resurrexit; certum est quia impossibile est.

The Son of God died; it is credible because it is absurd: and being buried, he rose again; it is certain because it is impossible.

This all ties into the Credo quia absurdum: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Credo_q...

Poe's protagonist makes no more sense of it than I do. But what intellectual chops Poe has to even raise this!

I've finished my reading of this month's Poe offering and reviewed it here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show.... What a great start to 24 months of Poe stories!

Thanks for the translation of the Latin! Glad I stopped by before rereading. This is perhaps my favorite Poe story if it’s possible to have a favorite.

"Sylph amid the shrubberies of Arnheim!"

The Domain of Arnheim, apparently, is the subject of a whole story dedicated to it: https://www.eapoe.org/works/mabbott/t...
I will read it after I am done with Berenice, as the meanining derived from the context is likely enough to understand.

A separate notice - Arnheim sounds so similar to Arkham! Perhaps, some other placename to which both sound somewhat similar was part of the cultural zeitgeist? Or is it my internal Russian accent that makes the two words similar?

Thank you for including the four missing paragraphs, Dan. The ending makes a lot more sense now.
The setting is suitably gloomy for a gothic tale.