Iysis Shaffers – Pearly White Body Horror in “Berenice”

This edition of Edgar Allan Poe’s riveting short horror tale, “Berenice,” is the original version that was released in 1835. Its first publication was in a Virginia-based periodical called the Southern Literary Messenger. It would go on to be re-released in 1845 in the New York-based Broadway Journal that was run by Poe at the time. The re-released version of “Berenice” had four large paragraphs omitted and a few seemingly insignificant single-word changes. These omissions were orchestrated by Poe himself.

Within this edition, I’d like to highlight Poe’s choices that augment the horror of the tale, as well as explore craft reasons for the omissions that go beyond simple censorship. In doing so, I hope to emphasize the importance of the gory details within horror fiction and the visceral reactions they can cause.

The source text is:

Edgar Allan Poe, “Berenice” (Text-02b), Southern Literary Messenger (Richmond, VA), vol. I, no. 7, March 1835, pp. 333-336

However, I will be comparing this version to:

Edgar Allan Poe, “Berenice” (Text-04b), Broadway Journal (New York, NY), vol. I, no. 14, April 5, 1845, pp. 217-219.

Link to Elizabeth Klink’s take on “Berenice” regarding Poe’s treatment of women.

Link to Emma Grause’s take on “Berenice” that also talks of Poe and women.