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"Metzengerstein", also called "Metzengerstein: A Tale in Imitation of the German", was the first short story by American writer and poet Edgar Allan Poe to see print. It was first published in the pages of Philadelphia's ''Saturday Courier'' magazine, in 1832. The story follows the young Frederick, the last of the Metzengerstein family, who carries on a long-standing feud with the Berlifitzing family. Suspected of causing a fire that kills the Berlifitzing family patriarch, Frederick becomes intrigued with a previously unnoticed and untamed horse. Metzengerstein is punished for his cruelty when his own home catches fire and the horse carries him into the flame. Part of a Latin hexameter by Martin Luther serves as the story's epigraph: ''Pestis eram vivus—moriens tua mors ero'' ("Living I have been your plague, dying I shall be your death"). "Metzengerstein" follows many conventions of Gothic fiction and, to some, exaggerates those conventions. Consequently, critics and scholars debate if Poe intended the story to be taken seriously or considered a satire of Gothic stories. Regardless, many elements introduced in "Metzengerstein" would become common in Poe's future writing, including the gloomy castle and the power of evil. Because the story follows an orphan raised in an aristocratic household, some critics suggest an autobiographical connection with its author. The story was submitted as Poe's entry to a writing contest at the ''Saturday Courier''. Though it did not win, the newspaper published it in January 1832. It was re-published with Poe's permission only twice during his lifetime; its subtitle was dropped for its final publication. Poe intended to include it in his collection ''Tales of the Folio Club'' or another called ''Phantasy Pieces'', though neither collection was ever produced. ==Plot summary== The story, told from an unnamed third-person narrator, takes place in Hungary at an unspecified date. The opening passages describe a centuries-long rivalry between two wealthy families: the Metzengersteins and the Berlifitzings. The bitter enmity between the two families is so old that no one knows how far back it dates. The narrator states that its origin appears to rely on an "ancient" prophecy: "A lofty name shall have a fearful fall when, as the rider over his horse, the mortality of Metzengerstein shall triumph over the immortality of Berlifitzing." Young Frederick, Baron of Metzengerstein, was orphaned at a young age and, thus, inherited the family fortune at age 18 (though the age changes throughout its many re-publications〔Quinn, Arthur Hobson. ''Edgar Allan Poe: A Critical Biography''. Johns Hopkins University Press, 1998: 193. ISBN 0-8018-5730-9〕). Equipped with enormous wealth and power, he begins to exhibit particularly cruel behavior. "The behavior of the heir out-heroded Herod".〔Sova, Dawn B. ''Edgar Allan Poe: A to Z''. New York City: Checkmark Books, 2001: 155. ISBN 0-8160-4161-X〕 Four days after he receives his inheritance, the stables of the rival family Berlifitzing catch fire. The neighborhood "instantaneously" attributed the act of arson to Frederick Metzengerstein (the story, however, does not say expressly if he did it or not). That day, Metzengerstein, in his home, sits staring intently at an old tapestry depicting "an enormous, and unnaturally colored horse" that belonged to the Berlifitzing clan. Just behind the horse, Frederick sees its rider who has just been killed by "the dagger of a Metzengerstein". Soon, Frederick sees the horse move and assume "an energetic and human expression". Immediately, Frederick opens the door to leave, and the action strikingly causes his shadow to fall exactly on the spot of the murderer in the tapestry. Outside, he sees his men handling a horse that is "the counterpart" of the horse in the tapestry. The men tell Frederick that this new, remarkable "fiery-colored" horse has been found in his stables with the letters "W.V.B." branded on its forehead. The equerry says, "I supposed them, of course, to be the initials of William Von Berlifitzing, but all at the castle are positive in denying any knowledge of the horse." Frederick takes ownership of the horse. In the next moment, a page appears and tells Frederick that "a small portion of the tapestry" is missing (presumably the part containing the image of the horse). Frederick also hears, some time later, that old Wilhelm Berlifitzing died in the fire as he tried to save one of his horses in the burning stable. Thenceforth, Frederick and the "ferocious and demonlike" horse, which no one else but Frederick has dared to touch since its arrival, become seemingly inseparable. Day after day, Metzengerstein rides the animal as if addicted, and he becomes less and less interested in the affairs of his house and of society. He eventually begins to live in seclusion to the extent that others in the neighborhood suspect that he is either mad, sick, or overwhelmingly conceited. "One tempestuous night", Frederick awakes and maniacally mounts the horse to ride into the forest. Some hours later, the Metzengerstein castle catches fire. A crowd gathers to watch the peculiarly "ungovernable" flames and, soon, see the horse, now carrying "an unbonneted and disordered rider" who clearly has no control over the animal. The sight makes everyone present utter the word "horrible". The animal leaps into the flames with its rider and "disappeared amid the whirlwind of chaotic fire", thereby killing the last of the Metzengerstein clan. Immediately, the fire "died away". In the calm, the horrified onlookers observe a cloud of smoke settle above the castle in the shape of "the distinct colossal figure of — ''a horse''". ==Publication history== Poe originally sent "Metzengerstein" to the ''Saturday Courier'' as his entry to a writing competition along with five other prose works, including "The Duke de l'Omelette" and "A Decided Loss".〔Asselineau, Roger. ''Edgar Allan Poe''. University of Minnesota Press, 1970: 9. ISBN 0-8166-0561-0〕 None of his entries won, though the judges apparently liked "Metzengerstein" enough to print it a few months later in their January 14, 1832 edition.〔Fisher, Benjamin Franklin. "Poe's 'Metzengerstein': Not a Hoax" in ''On Poe: The Best from "American Literature''. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1993: 145. ISBN 0-8223-1311-1〕 It was published without Poe's name attached to it but it is acknowledged as the first tale published by Poe.〔 Poe likely was not paid for its initial publication.〔Quinn, Arthur Hobson. ''Edgar Allan Poe: A Critical Biography''. Johns Hopkins University Press, 1998: 192. ISBN 0-8018-5730-9〕〔Thomas, Dwight & David K. Jackson. ''The Poe Log: A Documentary Life of Edgar Allan Poe, 1809–1849''. Boston: G. K. Hall & Co., 1987: 125. ISBN 0-8161-8734-7〕 The subtitle of "A Tale in Imitation of the German" was added when it was republished in the ''Southern Literary Messenger'' in January 1836, likely to capitalize on the popular interest in German horror.〔 It was removed for its publication as part of the collection ''Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque'' in 1840.〔 "Metzengerstein" was one of 11 tales Poe would have collected as ''Tales of the Folio Club'',〔Hammond, Alexander. "A Reconstruction of Poe's 1833 ''Tales of the Folio Club'', Preliminary Notes", from ''Poe Studies'', vol. V, no. 2, December 1972: 29.〕 a tale collection Poe announced but never actually printed. The "Folio Club" would have been a fictitious literary society the author called a group of "dunderheads" out to "abolish literature".〔Sova, Dawn B. ''Edgar Allan Poe: A to Z''. New York City: Checkmark Books, 2001: 88. ISBN 0-8160-4161-X〕 At each monthly meeting, a member would present a story. In the case of "Metzengerstein", the speaker was "Mr. Horrible Dictû, with white eyelashes, who had graduated at Gottingen" according to an early draft.〔Haggerty, George E. ''Gothic Fiction/Gothic Form''. Penn State Press, 1985: 81. ISBN 0-271-02639-1〕 The ''Baltimore Saturday Visiter'' ran an advertisement calling for subscribers for the collection at $1 apiece. A week later, however, the newspaper announced that the author had withdrawn the pieces with the expectation they would be printed in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.〔Silverman, Kenneth. ''Edgar A. Poe: Mournful and Never-ending Remembrance''. Harper Perennial, 1991: 92-93. ISBN 0-06-092331-8〕 Poe also considered publishing "Metzengerstein" in a collection of stories to be called ''Phantasy Pieces'' as "The Horse-Shade", though the edition was never printed.〔Quinn, Arthur Hobson. ''Edgar Allan Poe: A Critical Biography''. Johns Hopkins University Press, 1998: 336-337. ISBN 0-8018-5730-9〕 In its first several publications, "Metzengestein" included a line about the mother's death by consumption. The young baron says: "It is a path I have prayed to follow. I would wish all I love to perish of that gentle disease."〔 When Poe was still a child, his own mother, Eliza Poe, died, presumably of consumption.〔Silverman, Kenneth. ''Edgar A. Poe: Mournful and Never-ending Remembrance.'' New York City: Harper Perennial, 1991: 8. ISBN 0-06-092331-8〕 His wife Virginia also had tuberculosis and died in 1847. After her death, Poe altered his personal view of fictional heroines who were sick and idealized sick women while wishing for their death. This more romantic view of death was not uncommon in writing, as in John Keats's "Ode to a Nightingale", which may have inspired Poe.〔Meyers, Jeffrey. ''Edgar Allan Poe: His Life and Legacy''. New York: Cooper Square Press, 1992: 206. ISBN 0-8154-1038-7〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Metzengerstein」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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