House of Seven Gables

I've already posted that I don't like horror movies or reading them. I've never been interested in reading a Steven King book, but I did like his forward for a Harlan Ellison anthology. I do like Edgar Allan Poe.
From 7th grade on I read Poe. The Pit and the Pendulum, Cask of Amontillado, Tell Tale Heart. In college for American literature the Dread Professor Jamar assigned all students a topic for the semester term paper. I was given: Explore the Gothicism in the writings of Edgar Allan Poe.
I felt I lucked out. I'd read most of Poe's stories and his poems and brushing up on them would be easy. The only story I hadn't read was The House of Seven Gables. I naturally procrastinated about writing the term paper until it was a week before it was due. It was between Cross Country and Track seasons so I had a weekend without a road trip. My roommate went home and like a fool I waited until 11pm to start reading the one story I had never read. It took me thirty minutes to read. Then I got up, got dressed and went to the SUB not venturing back to the my dorm room until dawn. BTW I got an B on the term paper. That was as good as an A in any other class. She was the only teacher in college that made us do graduate level work. She would have been my easiest teacher at Seminary.