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POE HUMOUR

Brian Aldrich

PoeForward primarily concerns itself with sharing the life and works of Edgar Allan Poe through various different forms of media and performance. As well, PoeForward is interested in two concepts: what happened before Poe and what happened after Poe. For we believe that Edgar Allan Poe is the foundation of all American Literature. Editor and critic Poe sculpted the raw materials of early American writing and endowed them with the virtues of classical literature.

Before Poe, American Literature was thin. The earliest writings on this continent were political or religious in nature. Yet the works of Puritan Minister, Judge, Author and Witch-hater Cotton Mather provide perfect examples of the horror to be found in a theocracy. However, these writings only provide humor, albeit black humor, to us in the 21st century.

Benjamin Franklin was among the first to bring humor into the 18th century living room. His humor was an original mix of European sophistication, Rational common sense, and American plain talk. All in all, Benjamin Franklin was funny. Benny was a funny guy.

Before and actually during Poe, James Fenimore Cooper and Washington Irving were the literati superstars of the young democracy and while they are best remembered for adventure and horror stories, respectively, they both dabbled in humor.  In the best traditions of Jonathan Swift, Cooper wrote a novelette "The Autobiography of a Pocket Handkerchief" which satirized French and New York society and Irving penned the Knickerbocker satire "Rip Van Winkle". 

After Poe, we see the field of American Humor opening up to Herman Melville, Mark Twain, H.L. Mencken, Sinclair Lewis, Dorothy Parker, and James Thurber.  These literary traditions continue to influence, even influencing the work of contemporary stand up comics, from Lenny Bruce to Dennis Miller. 

Compare Poe's social observations in his "Marginalia" to the aphorisms of Twain; Poe's snobbish disdain for democracy in "Some Words with a Mummy" to the crusty elitism of Mencken; Poe's representations of bourgeois neurosis in "The System of Dr. Tarr & Professor Fether" to the middle class burlesque of Lewis; Poe's  grotesque humor in "Berenice" (which is not being presented tonight) to the morbidity of Dorothy Parker; Poe's cartoon-like characters in "Never Bet the Devil Your Head" to the visual simplicity of Thurber, and finally, Poe's indictment of American naiveté in "The Balloon Hoax" to the sheer bluntness of Lenny Bruce.

Now, what, besides cynicism and disdain, does Edgar Allan Poe have in common with Dennis Miller?  Well, the obvious answer is -an elitist, snobbish opinion of their own intellect.  Both of them liberally salt and pepper their work with "obscure references" and "in jokes".  Some critics would say they do this to show us how smart they are or to let us know they are in on the joke or that they are surreptitiously reaching out to other insiders -- those with a similar superior intellect. But perhaps this device is an intentional use of craft meant to provide another level of reality to a story so as to stretch the consciousness of the reader, demanding they realize there is always more to consider, that the text, whether written or verbal, can be infinitely deconstructed?

My favorite example of Poe Humor is "The Business Man", a confessional tale from the point of view of an early 19th century entrepreneur who shares his secrets of success with the reading public -- much in the same manner as the autobiographies of Andrew Carnegie and Bill Gates.  However, as this "business man" tells us about his various business plans, we soon realize we are listening to the schemes and scams of a confidence man -- a Machiavellian sociopath who routinely plots to separate the naïve from their money.  (Like I said -- in the same manner as Andrew Carnegie and Bill Gates.)

The "Confidence Man" was a standard character in 19th century comic literature.  After Poe, Herman Melville's "The Confidence Man" told of the adventures of such a villain aboard a Mississippi steamboat.  In spite of the high tragedy of "Moby Dick", Melville was a funny guy. 

Not far down the river in Hannibal, Missouri, Mark Twain's Tom Sawyer would convince his playmates that painting the picket fence was a chore well worth doing and Huck Finn would be conned by scoundrels posing as the "King" and the "Duke". 

Contemporary incarnations of this character can be found in television's "Maverick" and "The Rockford Files" (or anything else starring James Garner) as well as "To Catch A Thief" and even "Mission Impossible" and "The A-Team".  And of course, let us not neglect to mention those charming rascals Newman and Redford in the film "The Sting" and the Chicago-based conmen of David Mamet.

It is interesting to note that while the 19th century confidence man was portrayed as a selfish and evil, a crafty and charming snake in the grass -- the 20th century confidence man is usually presented as the friend of the innocent and the defender of the wronged.  (Which is kind of like the "Robin Hood effect".)  Then, we have the 21st century model where the cleverest trickster among us is guaranteed celebrity status.  Perhaps, they even get elected President. 

A sub-genre of 19th century American humor is the HOAX. In the hoax, the creator -- a writer, an editor, or a publisher -- assumes the role of the confidence man and places the believing reader into the role of rube. However, this was not purely an exercise in elitist ridicule where the hoax creator has the last laugh and the reading public is made to be the fool. In the 19th century, literate Americans could take a joke -- they could laugh along with the gag and at themselves -- they could chuckle at their own gullibility. Afterwards, they might invite you to a duel.

The Industrial revolution allowed the confidence man and the hoaxer to merge to create the "snake oil salesman". In the late 19th century, all manner of cure-alls, spiritual remedies, and other shortcuts to happiness were mass produced and sold to willing consumers. Today, with the rise of the global media, we have hucksters, confidence men, hoaxers and other blind guides selling us an endless supply of false hopes all wrapped up in the guise of the efficient, the new age answer, and (the most insidious of them all) the "trendy".

Occasionally, these hoaxer conmen get caught or exposed. Professor Harold Hill in "The Music Man", Starbuck in "The Rainmaker", and the fake man of god in "Elmer Gantry" (also played by Burt Lancaster) received their due. In real life, Clifford Irving and Michael Milken get off with a slap on the wrist and George Dubbulya gets elected. While Bill Clinton may be seen as the last confidence man of the 20th century, perhaps George W is the first hoaxer of the 21st?

But in the early 19th century, the relatively harmless hoax was done in an effort to sell a few more newspapers or enhance the creator's reputation. The subsequent hoaxers want to sell the masses their machines, their medicines, their religions, their fake autobiographies, and all the must-have "latest fashions".

Now, while Orson Welles might or might not have planned the 1938 "War of the Worlds" radio broadcast as a hoax, the effect of that program was to destroy the last remnant of 20th century naivete, just in time for World War II (as if WW I and the Great Depression weren't enough).

Edgar Allan Poe had a similar predicament befall him. His story "The Facts in the Case of Mr. Valdemar", published in December 1845, told the tale of a rich man kept alive after his physical death by hypnotism ("mesmerism" as it was called then). Some of the confused public didn't know if this was truth or fiction. Obviously, it was fiction and this tale increased Poe's celebrity as the radio program did for Orson Welles.

I can't help but draw a straight line from Poe's "Valdemar", through Orson Welles "War of the Worlds", to the "Blair Witch Project". We can all remember how often contemporary rubes called in to radio programs convinced that "Blair Witch" was the real thing.

Finally, besides aphorisms and hoaxes, Poe excelled in the premier form of humor: the satire, blending the truth with hyperbole, the possible with the incredible, and the grotesque with the burlesque.

Poe combined the best of the satirists: the Greek Aristophanes, the Romans Horace and Juvenal, and the Irishman Swift, to create a vitriolic satire of his own.

As you will witness tonight, Poe, the snob, the elitist, as well as the incorruptible seeker of truth and beauty, savagely ridicules the mediocre tastes of the democratic masses and the arrogant behaviors of the rich and powerful.

Both groups, Poe despises,
and yet, yearns to educate.
Poe is a funny guy.

POSTSCRIPT:

Other than some comic elements in "The Raven", I believe this is Poe's only intentionally comic poem:

LINES ON ALE 1848

Fill with mingled cream and amber,
I will drain that glass again.
Such hilarious visions clamber
Through the chamber of my brain --
Quaintest thoughts -- queerest fancies
Come to life and fade away;
What care I how time advances?
I am drinking ale today.

© 2001 Brian Aldrich 4/1/01

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