Edgar Allan Poe question 2.

[snaykz]

Why is it that in several Poe stories (or at least the versions I have read), names of certain characters are excluded from the text, to be replaced by just the initial letter? For example, from 'The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar', 'My Dear P___,__ You may as well come now. D___ and F___ are agreed...' and 'Doctors D___ and F___ were in attendance.' Thanks.

[xyzzyplugh]

Maybe he did it for aesthetics; to mystificate. Also it's the one thing about Poe stories that I hate. It seems to jar the flow. Maybe he felt a need to jangle the reader's nerves with this awful punctuative device. All it did for me was irritate.

[WendyW]

I always thought that he did it to make it look as if the story was a real one and that he was keeping certain people anonymous.

[Andromeda]

Yes, it is quite a common convention in 19th century literature. WendyW is most probably correct, but to me it tends to look as if the author couldn't be bothered to make up a name!

Andy

[mykola]

...or he was so full of opium that he couldn't give a proverbial �h1t