So, just to know what you guys think, I figured I would start my discussion here on the blog. Washington Irving's The Adventure of the German Student seemed like your basic old-time horror story, right? The student is having weird dreams, is borderline mental before the night of the actual story even occurs. Then lo and behold, he meets the girl of his dreams, literally. But of course this is a horror tale, and not everything is what it seems. Basically, he has sex with a dead chick. :| Awkwarrrrd.
So let's analyze a little bit. Speculate. Theorize. Personally, I'm not sure if any of it actually happened. It could have all been in his head, as is the way of many fantastic tales and horror stories. He might have been in the mental institution the whole time. Not to mention the narrator at the end, who was also in the mad-house. Who says we can even trust him? Perhaps he made the whole thing up. What do you all think?
I looked up some other things about the story, and Irving's message overall... It was apparently written as a criticism of "enthusiast" nature. The German student ignores reason and is a dreamer. He leads an unhealthy, obsessive lifestyle. And what happens to him? He goes mad. Irving is warning his readers not to behave this way, and to listen to reason, keep themselves level-headed and grounded so they do not endure the same fate. The setting and mentions of the French Revolution also play part in his symbolism, but I don't really feel like getting into that. Feel free to comment on it if it interests you. Overall, I just think this was a classic little creepy story to read and enjoy.
2 comments:
It felt very much like the Poe story to me. Both characters are reclusive "enthusiasts" who seem to be falling into deeper and deeper depths of madness. I don't know about the overall narrator's level of trustworthyness, but I feel certain that we shouldn't take the students tale as totally reliable. The man was clearly out of his mind, so how much of what he saw should be considered valid?
Where is the fun if you dismiss the stories outright based on an unreliable source? Most ghost stories are harsay and most horror storries are described as fictional, but people still lose sleep. I agree that the source (the narrator) is questionable at best,but I am suggesting that it is irrelevant.
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