A short story about the horrors of descending into madness and violence.

This depicts a man who has completely lost himself to his illness. He was once happy. He was once sane. He had a loving wife and a warm home full of pets. But, his illness took over; it sent him into fits of blind rage in which he abused that which he professed to love; he neglected his animals and beat his wife. However, for a time, he left his favourite amongst them in peace. He left his beloved black cat alone. Well, until one day where he was sent over the edge and decided to stab the poor creature’s eye out. What a bastard.

“The fury of a demon instantly possessed me. I knew myself no longer. My original soul seemed, at once, to take its flight from my body; and a more than fiendish malevolence, gin-nurtured, thrilled every fibre of my frame.”



Because of this I have absolutely no sympathy for the narrator of this tale; he is a terrible man. His illness is his alcoholism or so he says. So, he causes it himself; he knows the rage that drink brings him yet he persists in its consumption. It seems like a convenient excuse for a deranged man to me. He further defends himself by saying he is perverse and that he simply commits cruelty because he knows that he shouldn’t. This, to me, is just stupidity. I’m not sure when these scapegoat like ideas manifested itself within the narrator because he clearly wasn’t always this way. I suppose you could argue that the alcohol ruined him and destroyed his mind, but, again, that seems like an excuse. So, I can’t fully agree with that idea. He claims to have loved the cat, and his actions suggest that he did so beyond his wife. Yet, he immediately tries to replace the cat after he hangs it. Surely, such an animal would be irreplaceable to him regardless of whether or not he killed it? Surely, no other cat would be the same? Unless the alcohol destroyed his love and turned him to bitterness. It's all rather ironic:

“I was especially fond of animals, and was indulged by my parents with a great variety of pets. With these I spent most of my time, and never was so happy as when feeding and caressing them.This peculiarity of character grew with my growth, I derived from it one of my principal sources of pleasure.”

The new cat doesn’t like him much, and I can’t say that I blame it. The narrator is incredibly repulsive and disgustingly grotesque. He begins to return the cat’s dislike with hatred, which turns to anger, which turns to an unbridled passion to destroy it. What a bastard. Humorously, he even tries to blame the cat when the problem clearly resides within his own head. His mind has been tainted whether by alcoholism, madness or some other dark force I cannot fully say. But, one thing’s for sure, he isn’t normal. He has somehow convinced himself that the cat harbours the soul of a witch. This has been emphasised, to his mind, by its lack of an eye. He thinks it sees straight through him and sees his dark soul; thus, it too must be killed.



This story was incredibly uncomfortable to read even by Poe’s standards. Animal cruelty is a terrible thing, and I must admit that some of the description made me somewhat angry. Don’t get me wrong, I do like this story; it is incredibly twisted, dark and generally speaking quite fucked up. The narrator is an evilly insane man, which Poe captured perfectly. It’s just that I’m a cat lover, so it made me a little sad. But, overall, it is a marvel of writing. To evoke such a malevolent, vile, malicious piece of degenerate filth is a true accomplishment even if it’s horrible to read about. I'm glad the cat got the last laugh.

La filosofía no tiene en cuenta a este espíritu. Sin embargo, estoy tan seguro de que mi alma existe como de que la perversidad es uno de los impulsos primordiales del corazón humano... una de las facultades primarias indivisibles, uno de los sentimientos que dirigen el carácter del hombre

Edgar Allan Poe nos cuenta la historia de un psicópata amante de los animales que sufre un cambio de ánimo brusco con respecto a ellos, caracterizado por la agresividad y la impulsividad, características muy parecidas a lo que encontramos en The Tell-Tale Heart.

Su enajenación progresiva se acrecienta con su alcoholismo y se singulariza en su relación con su gato negro llamado Plutón, a quien primero le quita un ojo y después ahorca, matándolo. La alterada mentalidad del protagonista y sus obsesiones definen el resto del texto.

n  Recomendado a los amantes del terror, los thrillers y de Edgar Allan Poe, ya que es uno de sus más grandes clásicos.n

Para ver más libros de literatura gótica, pueden visitar mi carpeta: https://www.goodreads.com/review/list...

Para ver más libros sobre salud mental, pueden visitar mi carpeta: https://www.goodreads.com/review/list...

call animal protective services and get this man a therapist (who will see him in jail)

Blech! Not my kind of horror at all.

The first-person narrator is a man who starts off well but soon descends into seeming madness, probably fuelled by his alcohol dependency. One of his victims happens to be his pet cat Pluto, but maybe he went too far. What happens next? Is it real or is his mind playing games with him?

This is for those who believe horror has to involve mutilation and gore and animal abuse and ad-hoc killings. The ending provides a minor saving grace but most of the proceedings are horrid.

The main character wasn’t convincing despite the first person. The main source of creating fear is through macabre incidents that don't spring logically from the story.

I suppose I should be more lenient considering this was written in 1845, but I've read far better stuff by Poe, and this one seriously didn't match up. Give me “The Tell-Tale Heart” any day over this one - it has a far better psychological case study than this one.

Horror obviously means different things to different readers. I prefer atmospheric horror. You might prefer gore. If you do, you'd love to know that this story is in the public domain and hence can be read online for free. If you want to give it a try, here's the link I read it from:

https://poestories.com/read/blackcat



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Sometimes, the ordinary conceals the extraordinary. Perhaps in the eyes of à cat, we glimpse our own secrets - the ones we dare not speak.
Poe loved metamorphosis, the grotesque becoming beautiful, the beautiful unraveling into horror. He knew that what remains unspoken is often more terrifying. Pluto, his first cat, embodied love, but also cruelty. Its missing eye mirrored the author's own blindness to his sins. Then, the second cat - the spectral twin - was Guilt incarnate, haunting the narrator like a phantom.
You may ask why Poe chose a cat - à creature seemingly mundane - in his pursuit of the extraordinary.
Don't ask. Just let yourself be carried away by the curiosity. Cats slip through the cracks of reality. Poe understood their liminality, their ability to traverse realms. When Pluto reappearred, it was both resurrection and curse, in a way.
Now, I wonder - it's rédemption possible ? Can guilt be expunged, or does it cling like Pluto's fur ?
However, hear my warning . Beware the choices you make. If ever a cat crosses your path, know this : it carries more than fur and whiskers. It carries Guilt - the weight of a thousand sins.

এককথায় বীভৎস, কাঁপন ধরানো একটা গল্প। গল্পটা এই একুশ শতকে এসেও একধরণের অস্বস্তিবোধ করাতে সক্ষম। একটা অভিশপ্ত কালো বেড়াল কিভাবে একজন মানুষের সাদামাটা জীবনকে নরক বানিয়ে দেয় সেটা নিয়েই এই গল্প। গল্পের বুনোট, বলার ধরনটাও দুর্দান্ত। বিড়ালপ্রেমীদের স্নায়ুতে চাপ ফেলার মত। আর শেষটা... একেবারে ‘পো’ য়েটিক জাস্টিস। পাপ বাপকেও ছাড়ে না।

Wow. Terrible, casi tan rememorable como el Corazón Delator. Creo que tardaré mucho en olvidarlo y lo tendré presente durante largo tiempo...Poe describe tan bien las sensaciones humanas de locura y horror, que pareciera que el lector está allí presenciándolo todo en vivo y en directo.

SPOILER:
Cuando el protagonista mata al primer gato quedé impactada. Y cuando quiere matar al segundo, termina asesinando a su mujer. Y luego la supulta en la pared. Pasan los días y el segundo gato no aparece. Él decide poner en venta la propiedad. Cuando la gente va a ver la casa, no se imaginan el horror con el que se encontraron...

Está libro lo tenía que haber leído en 2007, para mis clases de Inglés en la Uni.

I love karma.  The Black Cat is Poe at his best macabre, creepy self.



Also, don't mess with cats. They're evil.

Holy Cat-Paws! What Madness! Undeniably an appalling HORROR of a short story by the great Poe. (great illustrations to set the tone too, but unable to locate my edition on GR)

كم يوم تحتاج لتفقد عقلك بالكامل؟
جنون العبقرية في اربعةو عشرين صفحة فقط
نموذجية للمعقدين من الإدمان و الخمر..و القطط..معا
دائما ما يتسلل الجنون تدريجيا لاغلب أبطال ادجار الان بو؛و
تتجلى مهارته في استعراضه مظاهر و اسباب سلوكياتهم الغربية


بطلنا كان شابا رقيقا مرهف الحس محب لكل الحيوانات الاليفة..و سرعان ما تمكن منه ادمان الخمر لتتبدل شخصيته
ا"افزعته حركاتي فجرحني جرحا طفيفا..فتملكني غضب الابالسة فتناولت سكينا و قبضت على القط و اقتلعت عن عمد إحدى عينيه"ا
تلك كانت أولى جرائمه..القصة يجب ات يتم تدريسها في مصحات الإدمان ..التيمة الأساسية تعدت الرعب بمراحل.. مع ملاحظة ان ادجار الان بو كان مدمنا للخمر والافيون ..
هناك فيلم أخذ تيمته الأساسية من نهاية القصة..بعيدا عن القطط و هو
Stir of echoes
.و انا شخصيا كنت أمتلك عدد لا يصدق من القطط..صاروا واحد الان!!؟ وللحق كان بو بارعا في شرح الحقد المتنامي و المتصاعد تجاه حيوانك الاليف عندما يبالغ في سماجته