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A Story Within A Story

E. A. Poe & H. G. Wells

At first glance, it may seem that Wellss story and Poes story are somehow
kindred because of the presence of scientific terms and gothic qualities like
hypnosis,Mesmerism, magnetic somnolency , and also the presence of
madness, insanity, decay, internal chaos and also death and supernatural means.
But the stories are related in another way, too. Both of them are stories within
stories which are dealing with the occult.
Humanity, also, at times turns its face from the light of day; and it is this night
side of human nature which has engendered the body of ideas and beliefs we call
the occult. ( 1936 and 1999, by The Edgar Allan Poe Society of Baltimore, Inc.)
Firstly, the story of Edgar Allan Poe A Tale Of The Ragged Mountains is
ambiguous. The action takes place in Charlottesville, Virginia and the story starts
with the description of an interesting invalid acquaintance of the author, named
Augustus Bedloe. He was not an ordinary presence and the narrator was still
intrigued by him because he always was a mystery even though he knew him for
a long time.
Mr. Augustus Bedloe had an arrangement with Doctor Templeton, an old
physician. The doctor dedicates his time and medical knowledge to the young
invalid man and he is devoted to Mesmerism, the foundation for their
relationship. The results are not satisfactory but eventually the hypnosis, works.
Augustus was addicted to morphine which he took every day.
In the short story we can find a reference about The Arabian Tales, when one
morning he truly has an adventure because he goes to the Ragged Mountains.
There he discovers extraordinary surroundings which amaze him with their
beauty. The Ragged Mountains have a reputation for being mystical so, he steps
into a story but I think that he was influenced by the morphine and his senses
were enhanced and he imagined that the world around him was so much more
alive there than it has ever been before. When he wants to see more, to explore, a
hyena follows him and then he sees a palm tree and enters in a crowded city
where he gets caught up in a fight and eventually he dies.
At the end of his adventure he has a story narrated so vividly, with passion and
full of details which coresponds with the story of Dr. Templetons friend, Oldeb.
Everybody from A Tale of the Ragged Mountains has a story to tell: the narrator,
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Mr. Augustus Bedloe, the doctor and even the doctors dead friend who lives
through Augustus.
Secondly, in The Wild Asses of the Devil the action takes place on the
south coast of England, where an author lived. He was very good at writing
stories and he was famous. The author was a deputy-lieutenent and a friend of
the Prime Minister and he was very popular but he was discontented with his life.
Then he encounters a black man, and black, the colour of the Wild Asses,
symbolises the evil and the decay, the darkness and even the death just like the
colour red, the colour of the pepper, symbolises blood, danger and fire.
The black man gives the story a supernatural tone and the author is doomed to
exhausting adventures before his end.
Therefore, in this short story we have a man who writes stories and a stranger, a
supernatural creature, who also tells his story about his diabolical life, about the
damned, the witches and how he will be punished if he does not bring the herd of
Wild Asses back.
In addition, the author begins another story but this one he lives to ones cost
because when he starts the mission with a devil he does not know that he will not
return to his home, to his wife and little daughter. Little knowing that whosoever
takes unto himself a devil and goes out upon a quest, goes out upon a quest from
which there is no returning Nevermore. (Poe, Edgar. A Tale of The Ragged
Mountains, 1850)
In conclusion, both Edgar Allan Poe and Herbert George Wells had
embraced the visionary mysticism, the superstition of witchcraft and the devil
worship, and chosen to talk about another version of the map of the world,
focalising upon the storytelling because they have second narrators who realize
that their stories are more real than the real lives are.