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PseudoPod 700: Hop Frog

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Bdoomed:
PseudoPod 700: Hop Frog

Author: Edgar Allan Poe
Narrator: John Bell
Host: Alasdair Stuart
Audio Producer: Marty Perrett

“Hop Frog” was first published in the March 7, 1849 Flag of Our Union.


Show Notes
Twitch eapodcasts
Hop Frog Animated Version

Content warning:Spoiler (click to show/hide) Ableism, fatphobia, sharpening the guillotines

I never knew anyone so keenly alive to a joke as the king was. He seemed to live only for joking. To tell a good story of the joke kind, and to tell it well, was the surest road to his favour. Thus it happened that his seven ministers were all noted for their accomplishments as jokers. They all took after the king, too, in being large, corpulent, oily men, as well as inimitable jokers. Whether people grow fat by joking, or whether there is something in fat itself which predisposes to a joke, I have never been quite able to determine; but certain it is that a lean joker is a rara avis in terris.

About the refinements, or, as he called them, the ‘ghost’ of wit, the king troubled himself very little. He had an especial admiration for breadth in a jest, and would often put up with length, for the sake of it. Over-niceties wearied him. He would have preferred Rabelais’ ‘Gargantua’ to the ‘Zadig’ of Voltaire: and, upon the whole, practical jokes suited his taste far better than verbal ones.



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Scuba Man:
It's alright!


Updated, 16:35 EST May 05, 2020... This post is best read in the same tone as Doctor Frankenfurter of the Rock Horror Picture Show.

Marlboro:
Congrats on 700! Good story choice. I agree with the host that it's underrated. Nice narration here, too.

A couple of thoughts:

I don't see the flaws that the host mentioned. It's a very short story that's almost a fairytale; I don't think it needs much in the way of characterization. Having said that, the host's comments about Trippetta possibly being the mastermind makes me really want to read a re-imagined version of the story.

The host also says that Poe was being lazy by simply describing the King and his ministers as being "fat." Well, on one hand, it is a "fat = evil" trope, but it misses the larger point of why he wrote them as being fat. Think back to the beginning of the story where the narrator muses on the relationship between fat and humor. He suggests that there may be something innate in the substance that breeds humor. Now, what were candles once made of? Animal fat. The description of the king and his men foreshadows the climax of the story: fat is funny and the jester's last jest is to take advantage of an abundant supply of the jolly substance.



P.S. Pseudopod may not have done a lot of Poe stories, but PodCastle has done a few. Fans should be sure to check those out. Pseudopod has done at least one Poe inspired story: episode 166 "Something There Is."

Fenrix:

--- Quote from: Marlboro on May 09, 2020, 01:11:28 AM ---
P.S. Pseudopod may not have done a lot of Poe stories, but PodCastle has done a few. Fans should be sure to check those out. Pseudopod has done at least one Poe inspired story: episode 166 "Something There Is."


--- End quote ---

Don't forget https://pseudopod.org/2011/09/23/pseudopod-248-killing-merwin-remis/ which riffs on The Tell-Tale Heart, which is impeccably delivered by Ian Stuart over on Cast of Wonders.

Marlboro:
I don't think I've listened to Tell-Tale Heart. Ian Stuart always delivers, so I'm sure it's going to be good.  Downloading now.

P.S. Is there no discussion thread in the forums for that episode? I can't seem to find one.

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