Escape Artists

PodCastle => Episode Comments => Topic started by: Heradel on November 01, 2008, 04:13:52 AM

Title: PodCastle Miniature 19: Cask of Amontillado
Post by: Heradel on November 01, 2008, 04:13:52 AM
PodCastle Miniature 19: Cask of Amontillado (http://podcastle.org/2008/10/31/cask-of-amontillado/)

By Edgar Allen Poe
Read by Cheyenne Wright (http://www.arcanetimes.com/)

I said to him –”My dear Fortunato, you are luckily met. How remarkably well you are looking to-day. But I have received a pipe of what passes for Amontillado, and I have my doubts.”

“How?” said he. “Amontillado, A pipe? Impossible! And in the middle of the carnival!”

“I have my doubts,” I replied; “and I was silly enough to pay the full Amontillado price without consulting you in the matter. You were not to be found, and I was fearful of losing a bargain.”

“Amontillado!”

“I have my doubts.”

“Amontillado!”

“And I must satisfy them.”

“Amontillado!”

“As you are engaged, I am on my way to Luchresi. If any one has a critical turn it is he. He will tell me –”

“Luchresi cannot tell Amontillado from Sherry.”

“And yet some fools will have it that his taste is a match for your own.

“Come, let us go.”

“Whither?”

“To your vaults.”


Rated R. Happy Halloween.
Title: Re: PodCastle Miniature 19: Cask of Amontillado
Post by: Rachel Swirsky on November 01, 2008, 04:18:21 AM
Just so people know - today’s outro is brought to you courtesy by a friend doing a last minute favor. I have bronchitis, so while my voice might go well with Halloween, it would probably also be unintelligible. Your regularly scheduled voices will return next week.
Title: Re: PodCastle Miniature 19: Cask of Amontillado
Post by: stePH on November 01, 2008, 02:42:33 PM
For the love of god!
Title: Re: PodCastle Miniature 19: Cask of Amontillado
Post by: Heradel on November 01, 2008, 03:08:48 PM
For the love of god!

I don't think Montresor cared about that, much anyway.
Title: Re: PodCastle Miniature 19: Cask of Amontillado
Post by: bolddeceiver on November 02, 2008, 08:35:38 AM
Can't think of a much better Halloween selection.  What more can be said about Cask?

(interestingly, I happen to have a bottle of cheap amontillado open in my fridge... I almost couldn't bring myself to go get some while listening, for fear I'd go on the pretense of getting a drink, and get walled in my kitchen by some maniac I had unknowingly slighted...
Title: Re: PodCastle Miniature 19: Cask of Amontillado
Post by: eytanz on November 04, 2008, 07:29:11 PM
Oh, wonderful. The fact that it's a brilliant story is a given, so I'll just say that the reading was wonderful.
Title: Re: PodCastle Miniature 19: Cask of Amontillado
Post by: stePH on November 04, 2008, 09:29:04 PM
Can't think of a much better Halloween selection.  What more can be said about Cask?

I don't really get it.  I didn't when I first read the story a couple of decades ago, and I still don't.  Mostly I wonder what slight Fortunato has committed against Montressor to warrant such retribution.  Without that, it's just a story about some guy who walls another guy up in a cellar.
Title: Re: PodCastle Miniature 19: Cask of Amontillado
Post by: Heradel on November 04, 2008, 09:34:49 PM
Can't think of a much better Halloween selection.  What more can be said about Cask?

I don't really get it.  I didn't when I first read the story a couple of decades ago, and I still don't.  Mostly I wonder what slight Fortunato has committed against Montressor to warrant such retribution.  Without that, it's just a story about some guy who walls another guy up in a cellar.

Yes. Yes it is.
Title: Re: PodCastle Miniature 19: Cask of Amontillado
Post by: Rachel Swirsky on November 04, 2008, 10:31:11 PM
Well, amusingly, the story actually seems to have been written by Poe as if it were about him and a rival of his. The rival and he had been fighting, and the rival put a parody of Poe in one of his books, and so Poe wrote this piece with what looks like the intent of, "Douchebag. If I could, I'd wall you up in a cellar."
Title: Re: PodCastle Miniature 19: Cask of Amontillado
Post by: Windup on November 05, 2008, 05:56:56 AM

Well, amusingly, the story actually seems to have been written by Poe as if it were about him and a rival of his. The rival and he had been fighting, and the rival put a parody of Poe in one of his books, and so Poe wrote this piece with what looks like the intent of, "Douchebag. If I could, I'd wall you up in a cellar."


Wow, I really do learn something new every day... 
Title: Re: PodCastle Miniature 19: Cask of Amontillado
Post by: wintermute on November 05, 2008, 01:13:10 PM
Shorter version (http://www.thesnakefarm.com/strips/storytime/cask.php)
Title: Re: PodCastle Miniature 19: Cask of Amontillado
Post by: Heradel on November 05, 2008, 01:14:22 PM
Shorter version (http://www.thesnakefarm.com/strips/storytime/cask.php)

The cartoonist forgot to throw the torch in.
Title: Re: PodCastle Miniature 19: Cask of Amontillado
Post by: stePH on November 05, 2008, 02:18:50 PM
Shorter version (http://www.thesnakefarm.com/strips/storytime/cask.php)

The cartoonist forgot to throw the torch in.

And in Poe's story, Fortunato gave no indication of being aware that he's pissed Montressor off.  Of course, without that, the cartoon isn't funny (just like without that, the story is kind of pointless.)
Title: Re: PodCastle Miniature 19: Cask of Amontillado
Post by: MacArthurBug on November 05, 2008, 02:41:08 PM
It may well be that I've over read this story.  I helped one of my kids do a book report on it.  I am weary of this one- that and perhaps I just don't give a flying frick about wine- so this one never moved me that I can remember. That said- well read at least.  I'm glad October is over-  I want my "normal" fantasy podcastle back!
Title: Re: PodCastle Miniature 19: Cask of Amontillado
Post by: Hatton on November 05, 2008, 09:04:02 PM
Shorter version (http://www.thesnakefarm.com/strips/storytime/cask.php)

I skipped this episode - I'm not a horror person and did not feel like willingly submitting myself to it... even if it was the right time of the month.

Title: Re: PodCastle Miniature 19: Cask of Amontillado
Post by: DKT on November 07, 2008, 04:52:29 PM
Wow, that was a great reading.
Title: Re: PodCastle Miniature 19: Cask of Amontillado
Post by: ryos on November 08, 2008, 02:18:45 AM
I didn't much care for this one when I read it in 9th grade. That may have had something to do with the fact that I was in 9th grade.

Still not my favorite thing, but I enjoyed it more the second time around. The fantastic, brilliant reading helped with that.
Title: Re: PodCastle Miniature 19: Cask of Amontillado
Post by: birdless on November 08, 2008, 04:12:53 AM
Wow, I'm a little surprised at the number of negative takes with this Poe story... I've always liked it. I can fully appreciate the fact that I'm probably the weird one here, though. =)
Title: Re: PodCastle Miniature 19: Cask of Amontillado
Post by: corydodt on November 09, 2008, 01:24:44 AM
When I was assigned this in high school, it was one of the few times I didn't outright hate my homework, but I didn't enjoy it either.  This time, the reading made it come alive.  The drunken Fortunato was brilliant.  Loved this the second time over.

I don't think it makes a bit of difference what Fortunato did to Montresor; Poe's got plenty of protagonists who are simply sociopaths with pretensions to justice.  In fact, I think the story works better if you feel sympathy for Fortunato.  It is, after all, a work of horror.
Title: Re: PodCastle Miniature 19: Cask of Amontillado
Post by: stePH on November 09, 2008, 06:00:18 AM
I don't think it makes a bit of difference what Fortunato did to Montresor; Poe's got plenty of protagonists who are simply sociopaths with pretensions to justice. 

That thought had crossed my mind as well.  I guess I'd just like to have known which is the case in this story -- is Fortunato's offense real or imagined?
Title: Re: PodCastle Miniature 19: Cask of Amontillado
Post by: gregbillock on November 09, 2008, 06:30:20 AM
is Fortunato's offense real or imagined?

I think that's part of what reduces the distance to the reader. If it's a real offense (or spelled out), you think to yourself, "Well, I haven't done that, this is about someone else." Left unspecified, the reader's invited to wonder whether anything he or she has done might qualify, or perhaps it doesn't take doing anything at all...
Title: Re: PodCastle Miniature 19: Cask of Amontillado
Post by: Heradel on November 09, 2008, 06:39:27 AM
It also brings into question if Montressor is really evil or not — for all we know Fortunado raped and killed his sister, escaping punishment because of his station.
Title: Re: PodCastle Miniature 19: Cask of Amontillado
Post by: Windup on November 09, 2008, 03:42:20 PM
It also brings into question if Montressor is really evil or not — for all we know Fortunado raped and killed his sister, escaping punishment because of his station.

Well, had Fortundo really done something that extreme, I don't think he would have accepted the "continued freindship" of Montressor quite so readily.
Title: Re: PodCastle Miniature 19: Cask of Amontillado
Post by: wintermute on November 10, 2008, 01:01:22 PM
It also brings into question if Montressor is really evil or not — for all we know Fortunado raped and killed his sister, escaping punishment because of his station.

Well, had Fortundo really done something that extreme, I don't think he would have accepted the "continued freindship" of Montressor quite so readily.
Unless he didn't know that Montressor knew, maybe.
Title: Re: PodCastle Miniature 19: Cask of Amontillado
Post by: Talia on November 12, 2008, 08:15:41 PM
Awesome reading.
Title: Re: PodCastle Miniature 19: Cask of Amontillado
Post by: Anarkey on November 13, 2008, 09:58:16 PM
Awesome reading.

Ok I have to say something here.  I love Cheyenne Wright's readings beyond all reason.  Just thinking about him reading a story makes me swoon.  And I love this story deeply.

Thus I thought this would be a story I would love and pet and call george and listen to over and over again.

This did not turn out to be the case.

I almost could not listen to it once through because of the freaky-ass pronunciation of "Amontillado" as "Amontialdo".  I know this is totally petty, but it was incredibly distracting.  I am so sad.   :( 

I still love PC and Poe and Wright's readings, but this one fared poorly under the strain of my heightened expectations.
Title: Re: PodCastle Miniature 19: Cask of Amontillado
Post by: stePH on November 13, 2008, 10:07:26 PM
Thus I thought this would be a story I would love and pet and call george and listen to over and over again.

 :D :D :D :D :D
Title: Re: PodCastle Miniature 19: Cask of Amontillado
Post by: Unblinking on January 05, 2010, 08:57:10 PM
is Fortunato's offense real or imagined?

To me, the ambiguity is what makes this story great!  Me, I strongly suspect that Montressor is simply insane, killing a friend over something that never happened (or perhaps something very minor), much like in the Tell-Tale Heart the guy butchers his roommate over an imagined evil eye.  It's told from Montressor's point of view, and insane people generally don't realize they're insane.  If the story gave substantial evidence that Fortunado had wronged him that might convince me that he is sane and simply vengeful, but by leaving that out intentionally it leaves it up to the reader to decide.  The fact that he's recalling this 50 years later leads me to guess that he experiences moments of clarity when he realizes what he's done and his conscience nags him.

I've got to echo Anarkey here.  I love Cheyenne Wright's readings very much, and his voice is GREAT for a story like this, but the mispronunciation of Amontillado drove me nuts.  It would've been better if he had mispronounced it phonetically, by giving the l's an English sound with reversing the order of the "L" and "A" sounds.  And if it were an unimportant word, I'd forget about it quickly, but it was a very important wrod:  it was in the title, was used a bajillion times in the story, and was the driving motivation for one of the two characters.  So I was pretty bummed by it.

Also, not really sure where the fantasy is in this story, but I'm not really complaining.  I'd love to hear more Poe, especially The Telltale Heart.