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Tales of Mystery and Imagination: A Masterpiece of 19th Century Gothic Horror and Detective Fiction
HarperCollins is proud to present its new range of best-loved, essential classics.
‘Yet I am not more sure that my soul lives, than I am that perverseness is one of the primitive impulses of the human heart – one of the indivisible primary faculties, or sentiments, which gives direction to the character of Man.’
Including Poe’s most terrifying, grotesque and haunting short stories, Tales of Mystery and Imagination is the ultimate collection of the infamous author’s macabre works.
Considered to be one of the earliest American writers to encapsulate the genre of detective-fiction, the collection features some of his most popular tales.‘The Gold-Bug’ is the only tale that was popular in his lifetime, whereas ‘The Black Cat’, ‘The Pit and the Pendulum’ and ‘The Murders in the Rue Morgue’ became more widely read after his death.
Focussing on the internal conflict of individuals, the power of the dead over the living, and psychological explorations of darker human emotion that appear to anticipate Sigmund Freud’s later theories on the psyche, Poe’s Gothic terror stories are considered masterpieces the world over.
390 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1842
About the author
Edgar Allan Poe
10.2k books29.1k followersThe name Poe brings to mind images of murderers and madmen, premature burials, and mysterious women who return from the dead. His works have been in print since 1827 and include such literary classics as The Tell-Tale Heart, The Raven, and The Fall of the House of Usher. This versatile writer’s oeuvre includes short stories, poetry, a novel, a textbook, a book of scientific theory, and hundreds of essays and book reviews. He is widely acknowledged as the inventor of the modern detective story and an innovator in the science fiction genre, but he made his living as America’s first great literary critic and theoretician. Poe’s reputation today rests primarily on his tales of terror as well as on his haunting lyric poetry.
Just as the bizarre characters in Poe’s stories have captured the public imagination so too has Poe himself. He is seen as a morbid, mysterious figure lurking in the shadows of moonlit cemeteries or crumbling castles. This is the Poe of legend. But much of what we know about Poe is wrong, the product of a biography written by one of his enemies in an attempt to defame the author’s name.
The real Poe was born to traveling actors in Boston on January 19, 1809. Edgar was the second of three children. His other brother William Henry Leonard Poe would also become a poet before his early death, and Poe’s sister Rosalie Poe would grow up to teach penmanship at a Richmond girls’ school. Within three years of Poe’s birth both of his parents had died, and he was taken in by the wealthy tobacco merchant John Allan and his wife Frances Valentine Allan in Richmond, Virginia while Poe’s siblings went to live with other families. Mr. Allan would rear Poe to be a businessman and a Virginia gentleman, but Poe had dreams of being a writer in emulation of his childhood hero the British poet Lord Byron. Early poetic verses found written in a young Poe’s handwriting on the backs of Allan’s ledger sheets reveal how little interest Poe had in the tobacco business.
For more information, please see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edgar_al...
Just as the bizarre characters in Poe’s stories have captured the public imagination so too has Poe himself. He is seen as a morbid, mysterious figure lurking in the shadows of moonlit cemeteries or crumbling castles. This is the Poe of legend. But much of what we know about Poe is wrong, the product of a biography written by one of his enemies in an attempt to defame the author’s name.
The real Poe was born to traveling actors in Boston on January 19, 1809. Edgar was the second of three children. His other brother William Henry Leonard Poe would also become a poet before his early death, and Poe’s sister Rosalie Poe would grow up to teach penmanship at a Richmond girls’ school. Within three years of Poe’s birth both of his parents had died, and he was taken in by the wealthy tobacco merchant John Allan and his wife Frances Valentine Allan in Richmond, Virginia while Poe’s siblings went to live with other families. Mr. Allan would rear Poe to be a businessman and a Virginia gentleman, but Poe had dreams of being a writer in emulation of his childhood hero the British poet Lord Byron. Early poetic verses found written in a young Poe’s handwriting on the backs of Allan’s ledger sheets reveal how little interest Poe had in the tobacco business.
For more information, please see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edgar_al...
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 809 reviews
May 31, 2017
It's unfair to just burying Poe in the "Horror" tomb, with a Raven & a Black Cat..
Reading this volume I really see how HUGE his imagination was, how it was ahead of his times.
From traveling over the ocean by a air transportation... or to the moon..
Or inventing the first Detective story ever..
Or his delving into the matter, death, soul, mind and even God and free well by hypothesis.
Or of course, the delving into the man's Conscience, guilt and self-destruction..
There's even kind of Romance, Fantasy, adventure, treasure hunt, code breaking, satire...
He inspired Fyodor Dostoyevsky and Arthur Conan Doyle with crime novels,
And inspired Jules Verne ,then H G Wells and even recently Andy Weir with his science fiction stories,
And so more... just by his wild imagination..
So the five stars here are for his originality and innovations in stories..
Which is not just little Horror Stories..
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Personal Note:
----------
In order to enjoy his stories, I read first the Arabic -complete, unbridged- translation of it... then reviewing and fast readin it in its original forum, since Poe use a bit hard language for me and he's got a way in 'digression' sometimes and complex sentences.
So I skipped few stories here till I have the translation of it-and even enjoyed some stories that aren't in this edition-, so I'll be back to this book again soon.
Mohammed Arabey
From 20 April 2017
To 6 May 2017
Reading this volume I really see how HUGE his imagination was, how it was ahead of his times.
From traveling over the ocean by a air transportation... or to the moon..
Or inventing the first Detective story ever..
Or his delving into the matter, death, soul, mind and even God and free well by hypothesis.
Or of course, the delving into the man's Conscience, guilt and self-destruction..
There's even kind of Romance, Fantasy, adventure, treasure hunt, code breaking, satire...
He inspired Fyodor Dostoyevsky and Arthur Conan Doyle with crime novels,
And inspired Jules Verne ,then H G Wells and even recently Andy Weir with his science fiction stories,
And so more... just by his wild imagination..
So the five stars here are for his originality and innovations in stories..
Which is not just little Horror Stories..
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Personal Note:
----------
In order to enjoy his stories, I read first the Arabic -complete, unbridged- translation of it... then reviewing and fast readin it in its original forum, since Poe use a bit hard language for me and he's got a way in 'digression' sometimes and complex sentences.
So I skipped few stories here till I have the translation of it-and even enjoyed some stories that aren't in this edition-, so I'll be back to this book again soon.
Mohammed Arabey
From 20 April 2017
To 6 May 2017
January 18, 2025
The tales of Edgar Allan Poe never fail to amaze and mystify, to horrify and delight. I own many collections of Poe’s stories, and each one helps me to see something new in the work of a great author whose stories I have read many, many times. This collection comes from the Everyman Library of the J.M. Dent publishing company of London, and bears the straightforward title of Tales of Mystery and Imagination.
A chronology of Poe’s times is followed by a helpful introduction in which editor Graham Clarke of the University of Kent remarks that “Edgar Allan Poe remains an endlessly elusive and problematic writer” (p. xxi) – an assessment with which most students of Poe’s work would no doubt agree. Afterward, we are off into the tales – and I found that the way editor Graham arranged the tales contributes much to the success of this volume.
For instance, Poe’s often-overlooked story “Morella” chronicles the life, death, and (perhaps) after-life of a woman named Morella. Morella, who knows that childbirth is going to kill her, tells her un-loving husband, the story’s narrator, that he will love their daughter (also to be named Morella) as he never loved her. The narrator records that after the death of the mother Morella, the daughter Morella “grew strangely in stature and intellect, and was the perfect resemblance of her who had departed, and I loved her with a love more fervent than I had believed it possible to feel for any denizen of Earth” (p. 200).
The regular reader of Poe’s work will not be surprised to hear that things do not end well for the narrator of “Morella.” Yet what I found artful in arrangement, in this edition of Poe’s Tales of Mystery and Imagination, was the way editor Clarke placed “Morella” alongside other Poe tales of an ill-fated love, all of which bear, as their title, a woman’s first name: “Ligeia,” “Eleonora,” “Berenice.” Such careful editorial arrangement and organization of the tales is characteristic of this entire volume.
I also appreciated how Clarke placed Poe’s three mystery tales involving the Parisian master-sleuth C. Auguste Dupin – “The Murders in the Rue Morgue,” “The Mystery of Marie Rogêt,” and “The Purloined Letter” – one after another, in the order in which they were published. This arrangement helps the reader to see the development of Poe’s ideas of “ratiocination,” the practice of imaginative identification through which Dupin solves three different mysteries. “The Purloined Letter” is particularly clear about how Dupin’s theory of ratiocination rejects the strictly rational and employs elements of the intuitive; as Dupin’s friend, the unnamed narrator of the stories, remarks, “It is merely…an identification of the reasoner’s intellect with that of his opponent” (p. 503).
The harm that editor Rufus Griswold did in publishing his scabrous obituary of Poe, after the author’s premature death at age 40 in 1849, endures, as many readers to this day think of Poe as a demonic and death-obsessed uber-Goth. In fact, Poe’s tales of aberrant psychology always involve an element of moral choice, as when the unnamed narrator of “The Premature Burial” explains at length his morbid fear of being buried alive, and then explains how a traumatic life event helped him to achieve a sort of breakthrough:
…[O]ut of Evil proceeded Good….My soul acquired tone – acquired temper. I went abroad. I took vigorous exercise. I breathed the free air of Heaven. I thought upon other subjects than Death. I discarded my medical books….I read…no fustian about churchyards – no bugaboo tales – such as this. In short I became a new man, and lived a man’s life. (p. 301)
These are not the words of a man who celebrates unhealthy psychological states; they represent the thinking of an author who recognizes that such states of mind exist and affect people’s lives.
In his introduction to these tales, editor Clarke reminds the reader that “we would do well to remember that Poe is the interminable hoaxer, and that, while he wrote some wonderful short stories, he also told some excessively tall tales” (p. xxvii). Clarke’s words of warning certainly apply in the case of “The Balloon Hoax.” Poe’s completely fictional account of a balloon voyage across the Atlantic was presented as a serious news story, and was accepted as fact by many readers before the truth of the story’s falsity became generally known.
This early example of “fake news” benefited from the verisimilitude with Poe set forth authentic sounding details about the non-existent balloon that supposedly made this epic voyage: “From the end of the axis which is next the car, proceeds a shaft of steel, connecting the screw with the pinion of a piece of spring machinery fixed in the car. By the operation of this spring, the screw is made to revolve with great rapidity, communicating a progressive motion to the whole” (p. 400). In his meticulous description of technology that does not exist yet, Poe looks ahead to the science-fiction genre of which he was, with Mary Shelley and Jules Verne, among the founding authors.
On this reading of the tales of Poe, I also found myself focusing on “The Gold Bug.” Typically, when reading this story, I would focus on its Southern setting in antebellum South Carolina, or on its possible connections to Poe’s early life (as a young soldier, he was stationed at Fort Moultrie, on coastal Sullivan’s Island where the story is set). This time however, I found myself focusing much more on the story’s codebreaking elements.
The story’s protagonist, William Legrand, is a noble Southerner who has fallen into poverty through no fault of his own – much the way Poe liked to think of himself. Legrand stumbles upon a coded clue that, if deciphered accurately, might reveal the location of a vast pirate treasure. Speaking to the story’s unnamed narrator, Legrand expresses his pride in his abilities as a cryptographer, much the way Poe himself often did: “Circumstances, and a certain bias of mind, have led me to take interest in such riddles, and it may well be doubted whether human ingenuity can construct an enigma of the kind which human ingenuity may not, by proper application, resolve” (p. 99).
In the various editorial positions he held in Richmond, Philadelphia, and New York City, Poe often boasted of his abilities as a cryptographer, challenging his readers to send in coded messages and claiming never to have failed to solve one. “The Gold Bug” certainly demonstrates Poe’s interest in code-breaking; and the story’s resolution may represent a form of wish-fulfillment, with Poe perhaps fantasizing about his cryptographic abilities leading him and his family out of the poverty that characterized so much of his life.
This collection of Poe’s short stories is a favourite of mine for another reason. One of the films I like best is François Truffaut’s Fahrenheit 451 (1966), an adaptation of Ray Bradbury’s 1953 novel about a dystopian future society where reading is illegal and firemen burn books. The film’s protagonist, a reformed fireman named Guy Montag, is asked at one point to pick out a favourite book, and without hesitation he produces a copy of Tales of Mystery and Imagination by Edgar Allan Poe – a nice nod to the way Poe inspired Bradbury, the way he has inspired so many authors of fantasy, horror, and science-fiction literature.
It was good spending time once again with my old Baltimore pal Edgar Allan Poe – and I look forward to the next time I take up another edition of his stories, and see what stands out for me then.
A chronology of Poe’s times is followed by a helpful introduction in which editor Graham Clarke of the University of Kent remarks that “Edgar Allan Poe remains an endlessly elusive and problematic writer” (p. xxi) – an assessment with which most students of Poe’s work would no doubt agree. Afterward, we are off into the tales – and I found that the way editor Graham arranged the tales contributes much to the success of this volume.
For instance, Poe’s often-overlooked story “Morella” chronicles the life, death, and (perhaps) after-life of a woman named Morella. Morella, who knows that childbirth is going to kill her, tells her un-loving husband, the story’s narrator, that he will love their daughter (also to be named Morella) as he never loved her. The narrator records that after the death of the mother Morella, the daughter Morella “grew strangely in stature and intellect, and was the perfect resemblance of her who had departed, and I loved her with a love more fervent than I had believed it possible to feel for any denizen of Earth” (p. 200).
The regular reader of Poe’s work will not be surprised to hear that things do not end well for the narrator of “Morella.” Yet what I found artful in arrangement, in this edition of Poe’s Tales of Mystery and Imagination, was the way editor Clarke placed “Morella” alongside other Poe tales of an ill-fated love, all of which bear, as their title, a woman’s first name: “Ligeia,” “Eleonora,” “Berenice.” Such careful editorial arrangement and organization of the tales is characteristic of this entire volume.
I also appreciated how Clarke placed Poe’s three mystery tales involving the Parisian master-sleuth C. Auguste Dupin – “The Murders in the Rue Morgue,” “The Mystery of Marie Rogêt,” and “The Purloined Letter” – one after another, in the order in which they were published. This arrangement helps the reader to see the development of Poe’s ideas of “ratiocination,” the practice of imaginative identification through which Dupin solves three different mysteries. “The Purloined Letter” is particularly clear about how Dupin’s theory of ratiocination rejects the strictly rational and employs elements of the intuitive; as Dupin’s friend, the unnamed narrator of the stories, remarks, “It is merely…an identification of the reasoner’s intellect with that of his opponent” (p. 503).
The harm that editor Rufus Griswold did in publishing his scabrous obituary of Poe, after the author’s premature death at age 40 in 1849, endures, as many readers to this day think of Poe as a demonic and death-obsessed uber-Goth. In fact, Poe’s tales of aberrant psychology always involve an element of moral choice, as when the unnamed narrator of “The Premature Burial” explains at length his morbid fear of being buried alive, and then explains how a traumatic life event helped him to achieve a sort of breakthrough:
…[O]ut of Evil proceeded Good….My soul acquired tone – acquired temper. I went abroad. I took vigorous exercise. I breathed the free air of Heaven. I thought upon other subjects than Death. I discarded my medical books….I read…no fustian about churchyards – no bugaboo tales – such as this. In short I became a new man, and lived a man’s life. (p. 301)
These are not the words of a man who celebrates unhealthy psychological states; they represent the thinking of an author who recognizes that such states of mind exist and affect people’s lives.
In his introduction to these tales, editor Clarke reminds the reader that “we would do well to remember that Poe is the interminable hoaxer, and that, while he wrote some wonderful short stories, he also told some excessively tall tales” (p. xxvii). Clarke’s words of warning certainly apply in the case of “The Balloon Hoax.” Poe’s completely fictional account of a balloon voyage across the Atlantic was presented as a serious news story, and was accepted as fact by many readers before the truth of the story’s falsity became generally known.
This early example of “fake news” benefited from the verisimilitude with Poe set forth authentic sounding details about the non-existent balloon that supposedly made this epic voyage: “From the end of the axis which is next the car, proceeds a shaft of steel, connecting the screw with the pinion of a piece of spring machinery fixed in the car. By the operation of this spring, the screw is made to revolve with great rapidity, communicating a progressive motion to the whole” (p. 400). In his meticulous description of technology that does not exist yet, Poe looks ahead to the science-fiction genre of which he was, with Mary Shelley and Jules Verne, among the founding authors.
On this reading of the tales of Poe, I also found myself focusing on “The Gold Bug.” Typically, when reading this story, I would focus on its Southern setting in antebellum South Carolina, or on its possible connections to Poe’s early life (as a young soldier, he was stationed at Fort Moultrie, on coastal Sullivan’s Island where the story is set). This time however, I found myself focusing much more on the story’s codebreaking elements.
The story’s protagonist, William Legrand, is a noble Southerner who has fallen into poverty through no fault of his own – much the way Poe liked to think of himself. Legrand stumbles upon a coded clue that, if deciphered accurately, might reveal the location of a vast pirate treasure. Speaking to the story’s unnamed narrator, Legrand expresses his pride in his abilities as a cryptographer, much the way Poe himself often did: “Circumstances, and a certain bias of mind, have led me to take interest in such riddles, and it may well be doubted whether human ingenuity can construct an enigma of the kind which human ingenuity may not, by proper application, resolve” (p. 99).
In the various editorial positions he held in Richmond, Philadelphia, and New York City, Poe often boasted of his abilities as a cryptographer, challenging his readers to send in coded messages and claiming never to have failed to solve one. “The Gold Bug” certainly demonstrates Poe’s interest in code-breaking; and the story’s resolution may represent a form of wish-fulfillment, with Poe perhaps fantasizing about his cryptographic abilities leading him and his family out of the poverty that characterized so much of his life.
This collection of Poe’s short stories is a favourite of mine for another reason. One of the films I like best is François Truffaut’s Fahrenheit 451 (1966), an adaptation of Ray Bradbury’s 1953 novel about a dystopian future society where reading is illegal and firemen burn books. The film’s protagonist, a reformed fireman named Guy Montag, is asked at one point to pick out a favourite book, and without hesitation he produces a copy of Tales of Mystery and Imagination by Edgar Allan Poe – a nice nod to the way Poe inspired Bradbury, the way he has inspired so many authors of fantasy, horror, and science-fiction literature.
It was good spending time once again with my old Baltimore pal Edgar Allan Poe – and I look forward to the next time I take up another edition of his stories, and see what stands out for me then.
July 13, 2017
This will be another ongoing review, as I've been doing with collections and anthologies. Poe has always mesmerised me in terms of his influence on writers and the short story genre at large; his poetry is also both haunting and relatively accessible. This collection was given to me in hardback, 31 years ago. Its pages are now yellow and aged, but the contents within are better than I remember. If you're patient with Poe, I think you'll find he's very rewarding in return. If you rush through and don't enjoy the rhythm of the prose, I'd imagine he'd be tiresome. He's one of those writers to be savoured when you have the time rather than a page turning entertainment.
William Wilson 5* William Wilson" is all about 'the double'. Even the eponymous title is a pun of sorts: Will-I-am, and Wil-son. Through a doppelganger haunting William, Poe explores the concept of sanity. An interesting story with long sentences but little specific imagery. Psychologically chilling.
The Gold-Bug 3* A little more dated, involving a bug bite (and potential madness) and a cryptogram. Not a storyline that did much for me personally.
The Fall of the House of Usher 5* A classic Poe story. The unnamed narrator visits the crumbling gothic mansion of his friend Usher to learn of Usher's sister's death. But not all is as seems. This story is the very opposite of William Wilson in terms of style. Rather than being devoid of imagery, Poe illustrates his stylistic variation and prowess with a story of sensory imagery overload. Poe manages this detailed gothic prose to build on an especially macabre mood and atmosphere. The language aesthetics here are as powerful as the story. A gothic horror masterpiece.
The Masque of Red Death 5* Another gothic fantasy. Holed up in an aristocratic castle trying to avoid 'the Red Death'- basically the plague; a masquerade ball takes a catastrophic turn. A masked guest in blue is the Red Death personified. And although deadly, he is both more and less than he seems. Foreboding atmosphere throughout. A strong tale.
The Cask of Amontillado 4.5* Like most of Poe's stories, this haunted me long after I finished it. What atmosphere could be more chilling than a man murdering another for revenge at Carnivale time in a unnamed part of Italy? The protagonist, Montresor, somehow holds Fortunato accountable for his own decline in fortunes. Fortunato (obviously relating to fortune) is a happy, respected and an admired member of society, who has risen through the ranks, possibly with the aid of The Freemasons. He is everything Montresor once was, and he has apparently made a few derogatory comments about Montresor, although whether this is the reason for his murder, or whether the reason is an envy bordering on lunacy, is questionable. Another excellent dark story.
A Descent into the Maelstrom 3* An old-fashioned tale of a maelstrom whirlpool survivor. Only Poe takes the wonders and beauty of the vortex further. Not my personal favourite, but I'd think a few sci-fi fans would love it.
The Pit and the Pendulum 4* As a reader who enjoys dark fiction, fantasy and historical fiction, this imaginative tale of torture during the Spanish Inquisition really intrigued me. The strong aural imagery throughout takes us almost into the realm of the ghostly too. I feel as though this story had a great influence on gothic horror tales in general. While not as complicated as some other stories here, it's still a captivating narrative.
The Purloined Letter 3.5* A forerunner for short detective fiction. A letter has been stolen and there appears blackmail (and more) at hand. There are far better detective stories out there, but this is an interesting look at an early exponent of the genre.
Metzengerstein 4* A gothic tale on a hyperbolic scale. This one is devoid of subtlety and is rather heavy handed with regards to both the gothic tropes along with its overt symbolism. In this tale, Frederick, the sole living member of the Metzengerstein family line, has a long standing vendetta with the Berlifitzing clan. When a fire destroys the Berlifitzing patriarch, Frederick is suspected. Frederick, however, is obsessed with a wild horse, which has eerily gone unobserved. Metzengerstein's own home is then set alight, and with an ironic justice, the wild horse, with Frederick on it, charges into the flames. A clever case of guilt personified -or guilt hippofied...
The Murders in the Rue Morgue 3.5* Murders, balconies, and that good ol'orangutan... Detective Dupin from The Purloined Letter is back again. Once again this mystery story is not nearly as sharp as the detective stories of today. In fact, this story is laughable. I still liked it though, as I don't think I'll ever read another mystery story involving a Bornean great ape.
The Tell-tale Heart 5* One of the most famous of Poe's stories, so it doesn't require any of my clumsy commentary. Lovely way to end the collection.
This collection is worth it. It chiefly contains the best of Poe with a range of styles on display, and those few tales that aren't his best are still incredibly interesting in terms of the evolution of the short story. When on song, Poe is a gothic master, and the chilling psychology behind most of these haunting tales adds extra layers to the intrigue and uncertainty, and these layers exemplify Poe's greatest works.
William Wilson 5* William Wilson" is all about 'the double'. Even the eponymous title is a pun of sorts: Will-I-am, and Wil-son. Through a doppelganger haunting William, Poe explores the concept of sanity. An interesting story with long sentences but little specific imagery. Psychologically chilling.
The Gold-Bug 3* A little more dated, involving a bug bite (and potential madness) and a cryptogram. Not a storyline that did much for me personally.
The Fall of the House of Usher 5* A classic Poe story. The unnamed narrator visits the crumbling gothic mansion of his friend Usher to learn of Usher's sister's death. But not all is as seems. This story is the very opposite of William Wilson in terms of style. Rather than being devoid of imagery, Poe illustrates his stylistic variation and prowess with a story of sensory imagery overload. Poe manages this detailed gothic prose to build on an especially macabre mood and atmosphere. The language aesthetics here are as powerful as the story. A gothic horror masterpiece.
The Masque of Red Death 5* Another gothic fantasy. Holed up in an aristocratic castle trying to avoid 'the Red Death'- basically the plague; a masquerade ball takes a catastrophic turn. A masked guest in blue is the Red Death personified. And although deadly, he is both more and less than he seems. Foreboding atmosphere throughout. A strong tale.
The Cask of Amontillado 4.5* Like most of Poe's stories, this haunted me long after I finished it. What atmosphere could be more chilling than a man murdering another for revenge at Carnivale time in a unnamed part of Italy? The protagonist, Montresor, somehow holds Fortunato accountable for his own decline in fortunes. Fortunato (obviously relating to fortune) is a happy, respected and an admired member of society, who has risen through the ranks, possibly with the aid of The Freemasons. He is everything Montresor once was, and he has apparently made a few derogatory comments about Montresor, although whether this is the reason for his murder, or whether the reason is an envy bordering on lunacy, is questionable. Another excellent dark story.
A Descent into the Maelstrom 3* An old-fashioned tale of a maelstrom whirlpool survivor. Only Poe takes the wonders and beauty of the vortex further. Not my personal favourite, but I'd think a few sci-fi fans would love it.
The Pit and the Pendulum 4* As a reader who enjoys dark fiction, fantasy and historical fiction, this imaginative tale of torture during the Spanish Inquisition really intrigued me. The strong aural imagery throughout takes us almost into the realm of the ghostly too. I feel as though this story had a great influence on gothic horror tales in general. While not as complicated as some other stories here, it's still a captivating narrative.
The Purloined Letter 3.5* A forerunner for short detective fiction. A letter has been stolen and there appears blackmail (and more) at hand. There are far better detective stories out there, but this is an interesting look at an early exponent of the genre.
Metzengerstein 4* A gothic tale on a hyperbolic scale. This one is devoid of subtlety and is rather heavy handed with regards to both the gothic tropes along with its overt symbolism. In this tale, Frederick, the sole living member of the Metzengerstein family line, has a long standing vendetta with the Berlifitzing clan. When a fire destroys the Berlifitzing patriarch, Frederick is suspected. Frederick, however, is obsessed with a wild horse, which has eerily gone unobserved. Metzengerstein's own home is then set alight, and with an ironic justice, the wild horse, with Frederick on it, charges into the flames. A clever case of guilt personified -or guilt hippofied...
The Murders in the Rue Morgue 3.5* Murders, balconies, and that good ol'orangutan... Detective Dupin from The Purloined Letter is back again. Once again this mystery story is not nearly as sharp as the detective stories of today. In fact, this story is laughable. I still liked it though, as I don't think I'll ever read another mystery story involving a Bornean great ape.
The Tell-tale Heart 5* One of the most famous of Poe's stories, so it doesn't require any of my clumsy commentary. Lovely way to end the collection.
This collection is worth it. It chiefly contains the best of Poe with a range of styles on display, and those few tales that aren't his best are still incredibly interesting in terms of the evolution of the short story. When on song, Poe is a gothic master, and the chilling psychology behind most of these haunting tales adds extra layers to the intrigue and uncertainty, and these layers exemplify Poe's greatest works.
July 25, 2014
I remember visiting the Edgar Allan Poe museum the last time I was in Richmond, Virginia. At the time I don't think I had read any of his work, except perhaps The Raven. The museum was a creepy place, as you might imagine, with a lot of dark wood and eerie pictures and a strange garden that seemed to be in permanent shadow. It was a strange place and he was a strange man – a hard writer to pin down: distinctly American, but hugely influential in European letters; not technically a very brilliant writer, and yet the founder of half a dozen new literary genres.
Reading him feels, to me, like an act of almost shameful self-indulgence; rich but sickly; you feel you need a brisk walk afterwards. His weird stories mark a bridge between the Gothic and the new movements of symbolism and decadence and, later, the genres that would become known as horror and science fiction. He also invented the modern detective story.
I think of him as one of those writers that translates easily. In the same way, Tolstoy is venerated by non-Russians while native speakers find his prose mediocre. French speakers often say something similar about Victor Hugo. And the French were, it must be said, quite obsessed with ‘Edgar Poe’, particularly after his works were translated by Baudelaire.
Quelque chose de monomanique was the shrewd judgement of the Goncourts. Hard to argue with that. The predominant theme is death, but death elevated to a supernatural vividness and importance. The archetypal image of his works, for me, is the image of the young, beautiful, dead woman. This trope features heavily in ‘Morella’, ‘Berenice’, ‘The Fall of the House of Usher’, ‘Ligeia’ – and indeed in Poe's own life, because he married his thirteen-year-old cousin and she went on to die of tuberculosis when she was twenty-four. The death clearly left a lasting imprint on him.
So, yes: thanatophilia. I'm rolling out the long words. But it's true. Have a look at how he chooses to end ‘The Masque of the Red Death’, for instance:
And now was acknowledged the presence of the Red Death. He had come like a thief in the night. And one by one dropped the revellers in the blood-bedewed halls of their revel, and died each in the despairing posture of his fall. And the life of the ebony clock went out with that of the last of the gay. And the flames of the tripods expired. And Darkness and Decay and the Red Death held illimitable dominion over all.
Sleep tight, kids! Another story ends: ‘the grave was still a home, and the corrosive hours, co-mates.’ Another ends: ‘there lay a nearly liquid mass of loathsome—of detestable putridity.’ Another ends – well you get the idea.
Poe's prose is melodramatic and rococo and makes full use of Grand Exclamations! And italicised phrases of dread! Oh the Horror and the Agony! And nothing but the drear grave and the worm for evermore! And so forth. But he is also imaginative and, sometimes, positively economical, setting the scene brilliantly in just a few short sentences and creating an atmosphere all his own (what Allen Ginsberg called his ‘demonic dreaminess’). His vocabulary, steeped as it is in the high-flown tradition of dark romanticism, was a constant delight to me, built of ornate items like sulphureous, pulsation, exergue, faucial, chasmal, cachinnatory, asphyctic and many more goodies besides.
Jorge Luis Borges said that Poe's writings as a whole constitute a work of genius, although each individual piece is flawed. This is a very appealing assessment. He is an important writer, and often a very fascinating and enjoyable one – but that said, I don't really feel the desire to spend all that much time in his company.
However, make sure you get a version with Harry Clarke's angular, Beardsley-esque illustrations. They are superlative.
April 11, 2013
"An artist is usually a damned liar, but his art, if it be art, will tell you the truth of his day." D.H. Lawrence.
Burying people alive, ghosts, macabre deaths of usually delicate and young women, dark magic, effects of inebriation and hallucination, torture, whirlpools sucking people out of their time, fatal plagues, abnormal psychological states, obsessional behaviors... William Blake in prose.
If D.H. Lawrence was any close to right about his predicament I wouldn't have liked to be in Mr.Poe's skin, such horrors!
That Poe lead a tormented and dysfunctional life is no secret. Haunted by the death of his mother when he was barely a toddler and later by the long illness and ultimate death of the love of his life(his cousin Virginia)whom he married when she was only thirteen, Poe struggled to keep afloat between feelings of abandonment and loss and his growing ill-health and addictions which eventually killed him in mysterious circumstances at the age of 40.
Whether this gloomy life served him as inspiration or he released his pain into his work, the extremeness of his imaginative creations managed to capture attention, if not acceptance.
The sickness-the nausea-
The pitiless pain-
Have ceased, with the fever
That maddened my brain-
With the fever called "Living"
That burned in my brain.
Considered the father of the short story, Poe manages to control the soul of the reader, nothing intervenes or distracts once you are engulfed in one of his curious and terrifying tales, you feel pulled down by an inexplicable and exotic sort of nostalgia which catches at your breath and prevents you from stopping to read. But make no mistake, Poe plays with you, giving you hope in a futile attempt to search for the truth and offer a plausible explanation for the unaccountable, even though you know deep inside that the end will be doomed from the start.
His literary quality is irrefutable, he borrows from the European Gothic tradition and adds elements of detective stories, creating a new register which seeks for the horrendous truth, for the paincuts into your soul, although sometimes a rare kind of beauty oozes from the text, whether conscious or unconsciously I can't say:
Then silence, stillness, and night were the universe
But mainly, Poe appears as a ruthless, crude and pessimistic voice who wants to put order amid the chaos, who wants to explain the inexplicable to elevate the name of the artist; offering an alternative to the newly born optimism, complacency and materialism of his age, and asking for nothing in return. He didn't seek for approval and often had to endure rebuke, few of his contemporaries valued his work at the time and being considered an oddball he was banned from society (or he excluded himself willingly).
It is through the anguish and torment expressed in his poems and short stories that it is plausible to imagine his existence rather miserable and that he suffered from a precariously balanced state of mind. But then, once again, I ask myself the same question which always arises when I try to link the real life of a writer with his work, was it his eccentricity that made his works so special? Were they the product of a genius or a deranged mind ? Or both?
The truth is, I am heartily sick of this life, and of the nineteenth century in general. I am convinced that everything is going wrong. Besides, I am anxious to know who will be President in 2045. As soon, therefore, as I shave and swallow a cup of coffee, I shall step over to Ponnonner's and get embalmed for a couple of hundred years.
In any case, although his haunted mind offered no respite, Poe's lucid writing managed to push the scales of reality and redefine the artistic world of beauty and lyricism towards a new daring approach where the probability of terror and darkness prevailed and where the motto could be summed up as to deny what is, and explain what is not .
As it usual happens in real life, neither black nor white, just a blurred smudge of indistinct grey.
Burying people alive, ghosts, macabre deaths of usually delicate and young women, dark magic, effects of inebriation and hallucination, torture, whirlpools sucking people out of their time, fatal plagues, abnormal psychological states, obsessional behaviors... William Blake in prose.
If D.H. Lawrence was any close to right about his predicament I wouldn't have liked to be in Mr.Poe's skin, such horrors!
That Poe lead a tormented and dysfunctional life is no secret. Haunted by the death of his mother when he was barely a toddler and later by the long illness and ultimate death of the love of his life(his cousin Virginia)whom he married when she was only thirteen, Poe struggled to keep afloat between feelings of abandonment and loss and his growing ill-health and addictions which eventually killed him in mysterious circumstances at the age of 40.
Whether this gloomy life served him as inspiration or he released his pain into his work, the extremeness of his imaginative creations managed to capture attention, if not acceptance.
The sickness-the nausea-
The pitiless pain-
Have ceased, with the fever
That maddened my brain-
With the fever called "Living"
That burned in my brain.
Considered the father of the short story, Poe manages to control the soul of the reader, nothing intervenes or distracts once you are engulfed in one of his curious and terrifying tales, you feel pulled down by an inexplicable and exotic sort of nostalgia which catches at your breath and prevents you from stopping to read. But make no mistake, Poe plays with you, giving you hope in a futile attempt to search for the truth and offer a plausible explanation for the unaccountable, even though you know deep inside that the end will be doomed from the start.
His literary quality is irrefutable, he borrows from the European Gothic tradition and adds elements of detective stories, creating a new register which seeks for the horrendous truth, for the paincuts into your soul, although sometimes a rare kind of beauty oozes from the text, whether conscious or unconsciously I can't say:
Then silence, stillness, and night were the universe
But mainly, Poe appears as a ruthless, crude and pessimistic voice who wants to put order amid the chaos, who wants to explain the inexplicable to elevate the name of the artist; offering an alternative to the newly born optimism, complacency and materialism of his age, and asking for nothing in return. He didn't seek for approval and often had to endure rebuke, few of his contemporaries valued his work at the time and being considered an oddball he was banned from society (or he excluded himself willingly).
It is through the anguish and torment expressed in his poems and short stories that it is plausible to imagine his existence rather miserable and that he suffered from a precariously balanced state of mind. But then, once again, I ask myself the same question which always arises when I try to link the real life of a writer with his work, was it his eccentricity that made his works so special? Were they the product of a genius or a deranged mind ? Or both?
The truth is, I am heartily sick of this life, and of the nineteenth century in general. I am convinced that everything is going wrong. Besides, I am anxious to know who will be President in 2045. As soon, therefore, as I shave and swallow a cup of coffee, I shall step over to Ponnonner's and get embalmed for a couple of hundred years.
In any case, although his haunted mind offered no respite, Poe's lucid writing managed to push the scales of reality and redefine the artistic world of beauty and lyricism towards a new daring approach where the probability of terror and darkness prevailed and where the motto could be summed up as to deny what is, and explain what is not .
As it usual happens in real life, neither black nor white, just a blurred smudge of indistinct grey.
June 17, 2017
ادگار آلن پو در ایران بیشتر به واسطۀ چهار پنج تا از داستان های خیلی معروفش (گربۀ سیاه، نقاب مرگ سرخ، قلب رازگو، سقوط خاندان آشر و...) شناخته میشه. این کتاب مجموعه ای از داستان های کمتر شناخته شدۀ پو در ایرانه. هر چند بعضی از داستان های این مجموعه هم جزء داستان های کلیدی پو هستن. مثل دو داستان اول (جنایت در کوی غسّالخانه، و نامۀ گمشده) که کارآگاه آگوست دوپن رو برای اولین بار معرفی می کنن. کارآگاهی که بعدها منبع الهام برای خلق کارآگاه های دیگه، مثل شرلوک هولمز، پوآرو شد.
جدای از این دو داستان، چند داستان خیلی خوب دیگه هم توی این مجموعه بود، به طور خاص، سوسک طلایی، حقیقت قضیۀ آقای والدمار و لیجیا جزء داستان های خوب این کتاب بودن.
باقی داستان ها در حدّ قابل قبول بودن، بعضی هاشون کم و بیش تکرار ایده های داستان های دیگۀ پو بودن (مثل متزن گرشتاین، که عناصری از گربۀ سیاه داشت).
جدای از این دو داستان، چند داستان خیلی خوب دیگه هم توی این مجموعه بود، به طور خاص، سوسک طلایی، حقیقت قضیۀ آقای والدمار و لیجیا جزء داستان های خوب این کتاب بودن.
باقی داستان ها در حدّ قابل قبول بودن، بعضی هاشون کم و بیش تکرار ایده های داستان های دیگۀ پو بودن (مثل متزن گرشتاین، که عناصری از گربۀ سیاه داشت).
December 16, 2016
Me guardo unos poquitos cuentos para el Halloween del año que viene.... Me parece la lectura perfecta para esas fechas aunque no es recomendable leer tantos cuentos de Poe muy seguidos para no saturar. Distanciándolos se disfrutan y aprecian mucho más, hay alguno que tardaré en olvidar, es un autor que me ha sorprendido mucho.
Read
August 2, 2019Tales of Mystery & Imagination
Since I've written mini reviews for each of the stories I will have them here slightly edited along with an overall rating and review for the collection as a whole.
1) The Gold Bug
A treasure hunt story involving cryptography, directions, clues, skulls, and a lot of digging. It felt like watching Dora the Little Explorer but in a much darker atmosphere. 4 main characters, the narrator, his friend Mr Legrand, Legrand's dog and Legrand's servant, a nigger, yes another story that has racist remarks. Anyway this was a 3.5 stars story nothing more than a treasure hunt. But I've enjoyed it more than others.
2) The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar
A practitioner of mesmerism (a precursor of hypnosis) tries through the medium of hypnosis/mesmerism to revive a recently deceased person. A macabre little tale worthy of 3 stars. Didn't blew my mind though.
3) MS. Found in a Bottle
A story about a man that scrambles aboard a gigantic ship manned by elderly crewmen who are unable to see him (possibly a ghost ship). A sea tale that ends abruptly and with a sense of doom. 3 stars because I needed more, something that Mr. Poe rarely does.
4) A Descent into the Mælström
At the summit of a mountain climb in Lofoten (mentioned in Kavvadias Ο Πιλότος Νάγκελ), in Norway, an old Norwegian is telling the story of his near escape from a massive whirlpool called Mælström. Interesting story but there's no actual rising action or suspense because you know that the narrator is going to survive since he's the one telling the story. Almost 3 stars.
5) The Murders in the Rue Morgue
A tale that is considered the first detective story, written 46 years before the first Sherlock Holmes story in 1887. A gruesome double murder is committed in Rue Morgue in Paris and amateur detective C. Auguste Dupin investigates the crime scene. What he finds is beyond suspicion. 3.5
6) The Mystery of Marie Rogêt
A sequel to the previous story. The longest and most boring story so far. It doesn't have a plot. Dupin just discusses with the narrator whether the murdered girl was murdered and then thrown into the river or the other way round, whether her clothes were torn intentionally or not, or whether the newspaper articles were telling the truth or were inventing things about the murder &c. You will enjoy this essay-like story only if you are a forensics/criminology student. 2 stars
7) The Purloined Letter
Definitely better story than The Mystery of Marie Rogêt but definitely not as good as The Murders in the Rue Morgue, or moreover an enjoyable reading. It is a discussion more or less of how Dupin managed to take back the Purloined Letter from the villain of the story (a blackmailer) and give it back to the police. They also talk about versions of reality and mathematics. 2.9 stars
8) The Fall of the House of Usher
Finally, a decent gothic story by Mr. Poe in this collection. Our narrator arrives at the gloomy, gothic, decaying house of his childhood friend Roderick Usher and the atmosphere is oppressive even for the reader who anticipates this fall of the house that looms over the story like a threat. An eerie story that you enjoy even though some elements remain inexplicable. 3,5 stars
9) The Pit and the Pendulum
From Wikipedia: Terror is the feeling of dread and anticipation that precedes the horrifying experience. By contrast, horror is the feeling of revulsion that usually occurs after something frightening is seen, heard, or experienced.
So this is a terror story, the narrator describes his experience of being tortured next to a pit full of rats and a pendulum above him is about to cut him in half. The story was a disappointment though even to George R.R. Martin, who while at high school he changed the story into a much gruesome and horrible ending which I approve.
10) The Premature Burial
A horror short story on the theme of being buried alive (!)
In the first part the narrator describes different cases of premature burials from where some victims escaped and some not!
In the second part he describes his own experience as a man who suffers from anxiety of being buried alive. Graves, corpses, tombs, graveyards, mausoleums. Everything I like to read this time of the year. 3.5
11) The Black Cat
Violence against animals, which is followed by a series of ghastly revenges. The narrator, a most unlikable character. He deserved everything he suffered (IMO). Moreover the story is a critique of the perverse actions brought on by alcoholism. 3.5
12) The Masque of the Red Death
The title says it all: Death. The story starts and ends with death.
All the characters of the story die drenched in blood. 3.5
13) The Cask of Amontillado
This was one of the first stories I've ever read in English back in 2009 when my English was worse than Tsipras's. Since then I've read it at least 3 more times. A favourite story of revenge, wine, and murder. . . 4 stars.
14) The Oval Portrait
From Wikipedia: "The Oval Portrait" is a short story [...] involving the disturbing circumstances surrounding a portrait in a chateau. It is one of his shortest stories, filling only two pages in its initial publication in 1842.
I believe this tale might have inspired Oscar Wilde to write his only novel The Picture of Dorian Gray. 3.5
15) The Oblong Box
Nice little story but of course I saw what was coming. A mysterious box belonging to an even more mysterious man, on a ship full of passengers. 3 stars because it was simply interesting but not long enough.
16) The Tell-Tale Heart
A story that was pretty similar with the Black Cat but with a more sinister feeling and a very unreliable insane person as a narrator. The ending was the same with Black Cat's ending so I was a bit disappointed to read the same thing again. 3.5 stars though.
17) Ligeia
The story can be divided into 3 parts.
Part 1 where the unnamed narrator describes his wife Ligeia, her appearance and her mind and then she falls ill and dies.
Part 2 where the narrator moves to an unnamed gothic abbey in England marries a second wife Rowena who also falls ill and dies.
Part 3 is where the supernatural elements of the story come alive. . . Can't say more, you have to read it yourself. Atmospheric and eerie, yet verbose and slow. 3 stars
18) Loss of Breath
What a weird little story. A man literally loses his breath and everybody thinks he's a corpse and so they throw him out of a carriage, they dissect him, they hang him, they bury him, but he can't feel anything because he's out of breath! It was strange and macabre but the concept didn't convince me. How is it possible to live after losing your breath? Well it's fiction but again. . . 3 stars
19) Shadow - A Parable
A story 3 pages long and it left me standing in the shadows. After 2 readings I was still feeling like an ignoramus. 2 stars
20) Silence - A Fable
A fable about a demon and a man in an enchanted land. The demon tells his story, the man listens, and I am confused. Again. . .
Can't say more about this story because I simply can't. I just need to point out that the epigraph of this story was in Ancient Greek.
εὕδουσι δ΄ ὀρέων κορυφαί τε καὶ φάραγγες πρώονές τε καὶ χαράδραι
Since the feeling of the story was quite eerie I will give it 2.9 stars. I'm a good man.
21) The Man of the Crowd
A man follows an old man through a crowded London for almost two days and then he decides to stop following him because the old man is the man of the crowd. [...] worse than the Hortulus Anime; and perhaps it is one of the great mercies of God that er laßt sich nicht lesen.
Τι λες σοβαρά; Σουαχίλι γιατί ξέχασες να γράψεις; Again no explanation, which left me disappointed even though following a man for such a long time is quite creepy. 3 stars
22) Some Words with a Mummy
Finally, the last story, and an interesting one. 4 stars.
A group of intellectuals try to revive a mummy and the mummy now revived begins a conversation with the men. It was a witty story, a satire on Epyptomania and a criticism on the supposed superiority of the west. The end was one of the best parts of the story.
My wife is a shrew. The truth is, I am heartily sick of this life, and of the nineteenth century in general. I am convinced that everything is going wrong. Besides, I am anxious to know who will be president in 2045. As soon, therefore, as I shave and swallow a cup of coffee, I shall just step over to Ponnonner's and get embalmed for a couple of hundred years.
To be honest I'm anxious too to know who will be president of the United States in 2045; if they survive the (likely) Armageddon called Donald Trump.
Overall
70.2/22=3.19 which translates into 3 stars. A satisfying collection I had lying unread on my shelves since 2011 but not something I enjoyed 100% Certainly I will buy the 'sequel' to this collection Tales and Poems but I don't think I will bother buying all his writings since it's obvious I will be disappointed by most of them.
Well done if you've reached this gargantuan, lengthy, sheety review.
Since I've written mini reviews for each of the stories I will have them here slightly edited along with an overall rating and review for the collection as a whole.
1) The Gold Bug
A treasure hunt story involving cryptography, directions, clues, skulls, and a lot of digging. It felt like watching Dora the Little Explorer but in a much darker atmosphere. 4 main characters, the narrator, his friend Mr Legrand, Legrand's dog and Legrand's servant, a nigger, yes another story that has racist remarks. Anyway this was a 3.5 stars story nothing more than a treasure hunt. But I've enjoyed it more than others.
2) The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar
A practitioner of mesmerism (a precursor of hypnosis) tries through the medium of hypnosis/mesmerism to revive a recently deceased person. A macabre little tale worthy of 3 stars. Didn't blew my mind though.
3) MS. Found in a Bottle
A story about a man that scrambles aboard a gigantic ship manned by elderly crewmen who are unable to see him (possibly a ghost ship). A sea tale that ends abruptly and with a sense of doom. 3 stars because I needed more, something that Mr. Poe rarely does.
4) A Descent into the Mælström
At the summit of a mountain climb in Lofoten (mentioned in Kavvadias Ο Πιλότος Νάγκελ), in Norway, an old Norwegian is telling the story of his near escape from a massive whirlpool called Mælström. Interesting story but there's no actual rising action or suspense because you know that the narrator is going to survive since he's the one telling the story. Almost 3 stars.
5) The Murders in the Rue Morgue
A tale that is considered the first detective story, written 46 years before the first Sherlock Holmes story in 1887. A gruesome double murder is committed in Rue Morgue in Paris and amateur detective C. Auguste Dupin investigates the crime scene. What he finds is beyond suspicion. 3.5
6) The Mystery of Marie Rogêt
A sequel to the previous story. The longest and most boring story so far. It doesn't have a plot. Dupin just discusses with the narrator whether the murdered girl was murdered and then thrown into the river or the other way round, whether her clothes were torn intentionally or not, or whether the newspaper articles were telling the truth or were inventing things about the murder &c. You will enjoy this essay-like story only if you are a forensics/criminology student. 2 stars
7) The Purloined Letter
Definitely better story than The Mystery of Marie Rogêt but definitely not as good as The Murders in the Rue Morgue, or moreover an enjoyable reading. It is a discussion more or less of how Dupin managed to take back the Purloined Letter from the villain of the story (a blackmailer) and give it back to the police. They also talk about versions of reality and mathematics. 2.9 stars
8) The Fall of the House of Usher
Finally, a decent gothic story by Mr. Poe in this collection. Our narrator arrives at the gloomy, gothic, decaying house of his childhood friend Roderick Usher and the atmosphere is oppressive even for the reader who anticipates this fall of the house that looms over the story like a threat. An eerie story that you enjoy even though some elements remain inexplicable. 3,5 stars
9) The Pit and the Pendulum
From Wikipedia: Terror is the feeling of dread and anticipation that precedes the horrifying experience. By contrast, horror is the feeling of revulsion that usually occurs after something frightening is seen, heard, or experienced.
So this is a terror story, the narrator describes his experience of being tortured next to a pit full of rats and a pendulum above him is about to cut him in half. The story was a disappointment though even to George R.R. Martin, who while at high school he changed the story into a much gruesome and horrible ending which I approve.
10) The Premature Burial
A horror short story on the theme of being buried alive (!)
In the first part the narrator describes different cases of premature burials from where some victims escaped and some not!
In the second part he describes his own experience as a man who suffers from anxiety of being buried alive. Graves, corpses, tombs, graveyards, mausoleums. Everything I like to read this time of the year. 3.5
11) The Black Cat
Violence against animals, which is followed by a series of ghastly revenges. The narrator, a most unlikable character. He deserved everything he suffered (IMO). Moreover the story is a critique of the perverse actions brought on by alcoholism. 3.5
12) The Masque of the Red Death
The title says it all: Death. The story starts and ends with death.
All the characters of the story die drenched in blood. 3.5
13) The Cask of Amontillado
This was one of the first stories I've ever read in English back in 2009 when my English was worse than Tsipras's. Since then I've read it at least 3 more times. A favourite story of revenge, wine, and murder. . . 4 stars.
14) The Oval Portrait
From Wikipedia: "The Oval Portrait" is a short story [...] involving the disturbing circumstances surrounding a portrait in a chateau. It is one of his shortest stories, filling only two pages in its initial publication in 1842.
I believe this tale might have inspired Oscar Wilde to write his only novel The Picture of Dorian Gray. 3.5
15) The Oblong Box
Nice little story but of course I saw what was coming. A mysterious box belonging to an even more mysterious man, on a ship full of passengers. 3 stars because it was simply interesting but not long enough.
16) The Tell-Tale Heart
A story that was pretty similar with the Black Cat but with a more sinister feeling and a very unreliable insane person as a narrator. The ending was the same with Black Cat's ending so I was a bit disappointed to read the same thing again. 3.5 stars though.
17) Ligeia
The story can be divided into 3 parts.
Part 1 where the unnamed narrator describes his wife Ligeia, her appearance and her mind and then she falls ill and dies.
Part 2 where the narrator moves to an unnamed gothic abbey in England marries a second wife Rowena who also falls ill and dies.
Part 3 is where the supernatural elements of the story come alive. . . Can't say more, you have to read it yourself. Atmospheric and eerie, yet verbose and slow. 3 stars
18) Loss of Breath
What a weird little story. A man literally loses his breath and everybody thinks he's a corpse and so they throw him out of a carriage, they dissect him, they hang him, they bury him, but he can't feel anything because he's out of breath! It was strange and macabre but the concept didn't convince me. How is it possible to live after losing your breath? Well it's fiction but again. . . 3 stars
19) Shadow - A Parable
A story 3 pages long and it left me standing in the shadows. After 2 readings I was still feeling like an ignoramus. 2 stars
20) Silence - A Fable
A fable about a demon and a man in an enchanted land. The demon tells his story, the man listens, and I am confused. Again. . .
Can't say more about this story because I simply can't. I just need to point out that the epigraph of this story was in Ancient Greek.
εὕδουσι δ΄ ὀρέων κορυφαί τε καὶ φάραγγες πρώονές τε καὶ χαράδραι
Since the feeling of the story was quite eerie I will give it 2.9 stars. I'm a good man.
21) The Man of the Crowd
A man follows an old man through a crowded London for almost two days and then he decides to stop following him because the old man is the man of the crowd. [...] worse than the Hortulus Anime; and perhaps it is one of the great mercies of God that er laßt sich nicht lesen.
Τι λες σοβαρά; Σουαχίλι γιατί ξέχασες να γράψεις; Again no explanation, which left me disappointed even though following a man for such a long time is quite creepy. 3 stars
22) Some Words with a Mummy
Finally, the last story, and an interesting one. 4 stars.
A group of intellectuals try to revive a mummy and the mummy now revived begins a conversation with the men. It was a witty story, a satire on Epyptomania and a criticism on the supposed superiority of the west. The end was one of the best parts of the story.
My wife is a shrew. The truth is, I am heartily sick of this life, and of the nineteenth century in general. I am convinced that everything is going wrong. Besides, I am anxious to know who will be president in 2045. As soon, therefore, as I shave and swallow a cup of coffee, I shall just step over to Ponnonner's and get embalmed for a couple of hundred years.
To be honest I'm anxious too to know who will be president of the United States in 2045; if they survive the (likely) Armageddon called Donald Trump.
Overall
70.2/22=3.19 which translates into 3 stars. A satisfying collection I had lying unread on my shelves since 2011 but not something I enjoyed 100% Certainly I will buy the 'sequel' to this collection Tales and Poems but I don't think I will bother buying all his writings since it's obvious I will be disappointed by most of them.
Well done if you've reached this gargantuan, lengthy, sheety review.
December 10, 2019
30 verhalen: William Wilson; Een verhaal van de ruige bergen; De sfinx; De goudkever; De val van het huis van Usher; Het rendez-vous Venetië; Het ovale portret; Koning Pest; Het masker van de rode dood; Het vat amontillado; Metzengerstein; De put en de slinger; Hup-kikker; Een afdaling in de Maelström; Manuscript gevonden in een fles; De voortijdige begrafenis; De feiten in het geval Valdemar; Het verraderlijke hart; Mellonta tauta; Het duizend-tweede verhaal van Scheherazade; De langwerpige kist; Hoe een krantebericht ge-ixt werd; Het duiveltje van de dwarsheid; De stunt van de ballontocht; De moorden in de Rue Morgue; Het mysterie van Marie Roget; De gestolen brief; "Gij zijt die man"; De duivel in de klokketoren; De zwarte kater.
Sommige van deze verhalen waren zeer goed en spannend, of humoristisch, andere waren saai, of technisch erg ingewikkeld, en sommige vond ik ronduit slecht. Een mengelmoesje dus.
Sommige van deze verhalen waren zeer goed en spannend, of humoristisch, andere waren saai, of technisch erg ingewikkeld, en sommige vond ik ronduit slecht. Een mengelmoesje dus.
Read
November 16, 2021TOP PICKS:
-The Gold-Bug
-The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar
-The Black Cat
-The Masque of the Red Death
-The Cask of Amontillado
-The Imp of the Perverse
-The Oval Portrait
-The Tell-Tale Heart
-Berenice
-The Gold-Bug
-The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar
-The Black Cat
-The Masque of the Red Death
-The Cask of Amontillado
-The Imp of the Perverse
-The Oval Portrait
-The Tell-Tale Heart
-Berenice
September 25, 2021
شگفت انگیز نبودن 😕
May 21, 2025
As with all anthologies, some stories were better than others. They ranged from the absolutely classic Poe masterpieces to stories that I skimmed just to get through. Overall I’ll give this a solid 4 stars.
November 18, 2022
No puede haber un mes de Noviembre sin leer algo de los maestros del terror gótico. Así que este año le tocó a Poe y sus cuentos de imaginación y misterio.
Poe, escritor maldito con una vida difícil y dura que puso los mimbres de muchas cosas que vinieron después. Culto hasta lo pedante, sus cuentos repiten siempre el mismo patrón pero sabía como hacer que una historia te helara la sangre.
Gótico en estado puro.
La edición es todo un clásico , con las ilustraciones de Harry Clark y la traducción de Julio Cortázar. Es de esos libros que hay que tener en la estantería para releer de vez en cuando.
Poe, escritor maldito con una vida difícil y dura que puso los mimbres de muchas cosas que vinieron después. Culto hasta lo pedante, sus cuentos repiten siempre el mismo patrón pero sabía como hacer que una historia te helara la sangre.
Gótico en estado puro.
La edición es todo un clásico , con las ilustraciones de Harry Clark y la traducción de Julio Cortázar. Es de esos libros que hay que tener en la estantería para releer de vez en cuando.
May 31, 2020
Recept za dobre priče:
Dobre priče, veli Po, treba da budu napisane za čitanje „iz jednog sedenja”.
Dobre priče jesu kratke da bi se održalo jedinstvo utis(a)ka – njihov kraj je vrhunac svih elemenata pripovedanja.
Dobre priče nisu rezultat namigivanja muze, već preciznog vrenja razuma.
Lepota nije kvalitet, već efekat.
Poove priče su dobre priče. Upravo zato što su prevazišla pravila koja je ustanovio u „Filozofiji kompozicije”. Kako Vinaver primećuje – u njima kao da ima neke neočekivane, zapravo nedostupne zakonomernosti, one su: „složen i čudan organizam, sa osetljivim nervnim sistemom, koji je po ponegde čudno istanjen, a drugde opet, bog zna zašto: ogrubeo, prevučen rožnjačama, odbranjen oklopima”. Izuzetan je taj ukrštaj rožnatog i iskre magičeske! Izuzetan, jer je to život sam – meso i misao u međuzavisnosti. Vinaver je insistirao i na zvučnosti, koju je primećivao kod pisaca i kad drugi ne primećuju. I tu je posredi jedna okeanska priča, misterioznija od svih Poovih duhova, dvojnika i mȍra – kad čovek ne misli, misli zvuk.
U Malstermskom vrtlogu – Ako dovoljno dugo gledaš u dubinu, dubina će gledati u tebe. Ako uđeš u dubinu, gubiš svaku nadu. Izgubivši svaku nadu, dobijaš pravu nadu.
Bes orkana, barka, čeljust vira, strahotna veličanstvenost, debela, teška magla, Norveška.
Skaz i (pseudo)naučna objašnjenja – tumačenja tumačenja.
Sve priče jesu priče o putovanjima. Poneke su o višim silama.
Kud više?
Kud višim!
Fakta o slučaju g. Valdemara – Ne hipnotiše se samo umirući, već i čitaoci. Obratiti pažnju na Valdemarove oči. (Valdemar → Voldemor?)
Viljem Vilson – Svaka priča o dvojniku na ovaj ili onaj način komunicira sa Vilijamom Vilsonom. Neverovatna je Poova poetika prostora – raspamećujući gotički lavirinti soba.
Horor je uvek u svesti. Van svesti, ništa nije strašno.
Morela – Morela čita Loka, Fihtea, Šelinga, pitagorejce. Ako je identitet istovetnost jednog umnog bića, šta se dešava kada biće umire?
Da li je metempsihoza nasledna?
Opet, dvojnice.
Ligeja – Kako u reči uobličiti lepo biće? Preko drevnih opisa? Da bi lepota bila jasna, treba predmet lepote predočiti kao umetnički objekat. Tražena izveštačenost dovodi do (efekta) verodostojnosti.
A Ligeja kao tobožnje opredmećenje lepote, ima kratku gornju usnu kao Liza Bolkonska i jevrejski nos.
Sve je kod Poa, inače, puno egzotičnog enterijera – istočnjački svećnjaci, sarkofazi, bračna postelja od abonosa, ćilimi, zlatne tkanine.
Pad kuće Ušera – Kuće imaju sećanja. Svetlost ima pukotine. Opijum i živi zakopani.
Volim likove-čitaoce.
Ćutanje – Gnosticizam – kako sam đavo pripoveda. A ton mu biblijski. Ždralovi kričahu. Na kamenu ništa. I bi priča.
Senka – Poneke senke se švercuju iz Hada i prepadaju žive stvorove, naročito one pripite, što pevahu anakreontske pesme.
I senka ima svoju senku.
P. S. Uživao sam u prevodu Svetislava Stefanovića – kako starom pravopisu, koji nameće drukčiji ritam u čitanju, tako i arhaičnoj leksici koja odlično stoji samom Pou. Umesto levog i desnog plućnog krila – levo i desno pluće.
Dobre priče, veli Po, treba da budu napisane za čitanje „iz jednog sedenja”.
Dobre priče jesu kratke da bi se održalo jedinstvo utis(a)ka – njihov kraj je vrhunac svih elemenata pripovedanja.
Dobre priče nisu rezultat namigivanja muze, već preciznog vrenja razuma.
Lepota nije kvalitet, već efekat.
Poove priče su dobre priče. Upravo zato što su prevazišla pravila koja je ustanovio u „Filozofiji kompozicije”. Kako Vinaver primećuje – u njima kao da ima neke neočekivane, zapravo nedostupne zakonomernosti, one su: „složen i čudan organizam, sa osetljivim nervnim sistemom, koji je po ponegde čudno istanjen, a drugde opet, bog zna zašto: ogrubeo, prevučen rožnjačama, odbranjen oklopima”. Izuzetan je taj ukrštaj rožnatog i iskre magičeske! Izuzetan, jer je to život sam – meso i misao u međuzavisnosti. Vinaver je insistirao i na zvučnosti, koju je primećivao kod pisaca i kad drugi ne primećuju. I tu je posredi jedna okeanska priča, misterioznija od svih Poovih duhova, dvojnika i mȍra – kad čovek ne misli, misli zvuk.
U Malstermskom vrtlogu – Ako dovoljno dugo gledaš u dubinu, dubina će gledati u tebe. Ako uđeš u dubinu, gubiš svaku nadu. Izgubivši svaku nadu, dobijaš pravu nadu.
Bes orkana, barka, čeljust vira, strahotna veličanstvenost, debela, teška magla, Norveška.
Skaz i (pseudo)naučna objašnjenja – tumačenja tumačenja.
Sve priče jesu priče o putovanjima. Poneke su o višim silama.
Kud više?
Kud višim!
Fakta o slučaju g. Valdemara – Ne hipnotiše se samo umirući, već i čitaoci. Obratiti pažnju na Valdemarove oči. (Valdemar → Voldemor?)
Viljem Vilson – Svaka priča o dvojniku na ovaj ili onaj način komunicira sa Vilijamom Vilsonom. Neverovatna je Poova poetika prostora – raspamećujući gotički lavirinti soba.
Horor je uvek u svesti. Van svesti, ništa nije strašno.
Morela – Morela čita Loka, Fihtea, Šelinga, pitagorejce. Ako je identitet istovetnost jednog umnog bića, šta se dešava kada biće umire?
Da li je metempsihoza nasledna?
Opet, dvojnice.
Ligeja – Kako u reči uobličiti lepo biće? Preko drevnih opisa? Da bi lepota bila jasna, treba predmet lepote predočiti kao umetnički objekat. Tražena izveštačenost dovodi do (efekta) verodostojnosti.
A Ligeja kao tobožnje opredmećenje lepote, ima kratku gornju usnu kao Liza Bolkonska i jevrejski nos.
Sve je kod Poa, inače, puno egzotičnog enterijera – istočnjački svećnjaci, sarkofazi, bračna postelja od abonosa, ćilimi, zlatne tkanine.
Pad kuće Ušera – Kuće imaju sećanja. Svetlost ima pukotine. Opijum i živi zakopani.
Volim likove-čitaoce.
Ćutanje – Gnosticizam – kako sam đavo pripoveda. A ton mu biblijski. Ždralovi kričahu. Na kamenu ništa. I bi priča.
Senka – Poneke senke se švercuju iz Hada i prepadaju žive stvorove, naročito one pripite, što pevahu anakreontske pesme.
I senka ima svoju senku.
P. S. Uživao sam u prevodu Svetislava Stefanovića – kako starom pravopisu, koji nameće drukčiji ritam u čitanju, tako i arhaičnoj leksici koja odlično stoji samom Pou. Umesto levog i desnog plućnog krila – levo i desno pluće.
January 10, 2020
Poe is the pioneer of American literature in several genres. Detective fiction, Gothic horror, perhaps even science fiction? Included in this collection are some of Poe’s best stories, including “The Cask of Amontillado,” “The Fall of the House of Usher,” The Gold Bug,” “The Mystery of Marie Rogêt,” “The Purloined Letter,” and “The Murders in the Rue Morgue.” I enjoyed them all. As a freshman at Penn State, Poe’s stories were required reading the second semester and I enjoyed them just as much then as now.
The Mystery of Marie Rogêt is a fictionalized version of an actual murder that occurred in the New York City area, but Poe sets the scene in the Paris of Inspector Dupin. It is a critique of contemporary newspaper accounts of Mary Cecelia Rogers’ disappearance and the possible discovery of her body floating in the river. As such it is also a discourse on early 19th century forensic analysis of the materials appearing in the newspapers. It is thought to be “the first murder mystery based on the details of a real crime” according to the Wikipedia article. I will guess it is also of little interest to any but those fascinated by murder or the details of forensic analysis.
“The Murders in the Rue Morgue” is the first “detective” story by Poe and the one most often read and mentioned. C. Auguste Dupin is introduced in this story, the first of three appearances; given his deductive methods, Dupin has to be an early version of Britain’s own Sherlock Holmes. Aside the surprise ending, could this be the first, or an early, version of a “locked room mystery?”
As a biological anthropologist I was also interested in several other stories for strictly professional reasons. “The Fall of the House of Usher” seems to feature a family cursed either by tuberculosis or, because of the intergenerational description, perhaps a genetic disorder such as phenylketonuria (PKU), although in the long run, it is just a curse meant to horrify a gothic-loving audience.
Last, Poe’s contribution to literary humor – or sarcasm – is seen in such stories as “The Devil in the Belfry,” and an early version of “1066 and All That,” in his interpretation of Scheherazade’s very last story. The horrible “Masque of the Red Death” might have been written after reading Boccaccio’s “The Decameron.”
So much has been written about Poe that I will not duplicate the already abundant literature. I will note that Poe richly describes the settings and the characters so that you feel to be a part of the scene and almost interacting with the characters. Thus, he is also a master of the gothic novel very early on. The book is a classic and a grand compendium of Poe’s best stories although some elements are certainly dated and an annotated version would occasionally help with some minutae. Be sure to have this on your MUST READ list soon!
The Mystery of Marie Rogêt is a fictionalized version of an actual murder that occurred in the New York City area, but Poe sets the scene in the Paris of Inspector Dupin. It is a critique of contemporary newspaper accounts of Mary Cecelia Rogers’ disappearance and the possible discovery of her body floating in the river. As such it is also a discourse on early 19th century forensic analysis of the materials appearing in the newspapers. It is thought to be “the first murder mystery based on the details of a real crime” according to the Wikipedia article. I will guess it is also of little interest to any but those fascinated by murder or the details of forensic analysis.
“The Murders in the Rue Morgue” is the first “detective” story by Poe and the one most often read and mentioned. C. Auguste Dupin is introduced in this story, the first of three appearances; given his deductive methods, Dupin has to be an early version of Britain’s own Sherlock Holmes. Aside the surprise ending, could this be the first, or an early, version of a “locked room mystery?”
As a biological anthropologist I was also interested in several other stories for strictly professional reasons. “The Fall of the House of Usher” seems to feature a family cursed either by tuberculosis or, because of the intergenerational description, perhaps a genetic disorder such as phenylketonuria (PKU), although in the long run, it is just a curse meant to horrify a gothic-loving audience.
Last, Poe’s contribution to literary humor – or sarcasm – is seen in such stories as “The Devil in the Belfry,” and an early version of “1066 and All That,” in his interpretation of Scheherazade’s very last story. The horrible “Masque of the Red Death” might have been written after reading Boccaccio’s “The Decameron.”
So much has been written about Poe that I will not duplicate the already abundant literature. I will note that Poe richly describes the settings and the characters so that you feel to be a part of the scene and almost interacting with the characters. Thus, he is also a master of the gothic novel very early on. The book is a classic and a grand compendium of Poe’s best stories although some elements are certainly dated and an annotated version would occasionally help with some minutae. Be sure to have this on your MUST READ list soon!
January 26, 2013
Poe is now a household name. An American institution. Everyone knows Poe, though few have really delved into more than one or two of his short stories. I'm also pretty sure he was completely insane. Which means he was brilliant, and everyone should read his work.
As the title of the book says, there are many different stories in here, and admittedly, they are not all of the same caliber. It seems that Poe generally became a better writer as he wrote more and more stuff, and I think his later work is (in general!) superior to his earlier work. Some stories in this compendium are 3-star stories, and some are 5-star stories, with the remainder taking 4-stars. All of Poe's popular and well-known shorts are in here, The Cask of Amontillado, The Tell-Tale Heart, The Fall of The House of Usher all make their respective appearances. Some of my favorites ones however, were his lesser known works William Wilson, Morella, and A Descent Into the Malestrom were all fantastic surprises to me. There was even a delightful comedy stowed away in here in the form of Some Passages in the Life of A Lion (Lionizing). Imagine that; an actual comedy from Poe!
Though Poe chose the short story as his main body of work, there is a common theme about Poe's work. Poe is, ultimately, a blender. A boundary weakener. A line eraser. The boundaries between life and death, good and evil, one world and another. The line between soundness and insanity. None of these are sacred to Edgar Allan Poe's tinkering, and you can't help but admire Poe for the artful way he manipulates the reader's preconceptions.
His methods inspired hosts of other writers to explore the same themes (H.P. Lovecraft obviously, and some of Robert Louis Stevenson's work can all be traced to Poe's influence), yet Poe remains an independent, unique, and terrifyingly brilliant voice.
In short: Read Poe! You might hate him and go insane (ah well, can't get them all), you might love him and still go crazy (face it, you were probably crazy to begin with), OR you could become entranced by Poe's stories and start a "Poe Boy's" fan club. Whichever way, you should never be forgiven for not reading as much Poe as you can.
As the title of the book says, there are many different stories in here, and admittedly, they are not all of the same caliber. It seems that Poe generally became a better writer as he wrote more and more stuff, and I think his later work is (in general!) superior to his earlier work. Some stories in this compendium are 3-star stories, and some are 5-star stories, with the remainder taking 4-stars. All of Poe's popular and well-known shorts are in here, The Cask of Amontillado, The Tell-Tale Heart, The Fall of The House of Usher all make their respective appearances. Some of my favorites ones however, were his lesser known works William Wilson, Morella, and A Descent Into the Malestrom were all fantastic surprises to me. There was even a delightful comedy stowed away in here in the form of Some Passages in the Life of A Lion (Lionizing). Imagine that; an actual comedy from Poe!
Though Poe chose the short story as his main body of work, there is a common theme about Poe's work. Poe is, ultimately, a blender. A boundary weakener. A line eraser. The boundaries between life and death, good and evil, one world and another. The line between soundness and insanity. None of these are sacred to Edgar Allan Poe's tinkering, and you can't help but admire Poe for the artful way he manipulates the reader's preconceptions.
His methods inspired hosts of other writers to explore the same themes (H.P. Lovecraft obviously, and some of Robert Louis Stevenson's work can all be traced to Poe's influence), yet Poe remains an independent, unique, and terrifyingly brilliant voice.
In short: Read Poe! You might hate him and go insane (ah well, can't get them all), you might love him and still go crazy (face it, you were probably crazy to begin with), OR you could become entranced by Poe's stories and start a "Poe Boy's" fan club. Whichever way, you should never be forgiven for not reading as much Poe as you can.
November 14, 2015
I have to open with a confession, for those of you who do not know I am a self-confessed Poe obsessive so there is every possibility that this review is a tad biased. Having said that this collection of 10 tales and poems shows his genius at capturing the darker side of humanity, from the ability to torment and torture to the sometimes unbelievable determination to survive, even when pounding on death's door. This collection includes some of my absolute favourites from Poe including The Raven, which for me is one of the darkest and most heartbreaking poems ever, and The Tell-Tale Heart, which is more than disturbing with it's glimpse into the mind of the guilty. Each tale/poem is illustrated by a different artist so the styles vary with each but they all manage to capture the essence of the associated story and I'm sure Edgar would be rather happy with them too. An excellent collection and a good introduction to one of the masters of the macabre should you need it.
The full contents is:
MS. Found in a Bottle
The Raven
Hop-Frog
The Tell-Tale Heart
The Black Cat
The Conqueror Worm
The Oval Portrait
The Bells
The Pit and the Pendulum
The Thousand-and-Second Tale of Scheherazade
The Masque of the Red Death
The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar
A Descent into the Maelstrom
The full contents is:
MS. Found in a Bottle
The Raven
Hop-Frog
The Tell-Tale Heart
The Black Cat
The Conqueror Worm
The Oval Portrait
The Bells
The Pit and the Pendulum
The Thousand-and-Second Tale of Scheherazade
The Masque of the Red Death
The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar
A Descent into the Maelstrom
August 16, 2016
Κάθε ιστορία του σε καθηλώνει σε αναστατώνει και σε ανατριχιάζει!
Οι ιστορίες φαντασίας είχαν όλες την δική τους σκοτεινή ατμόσφαιρα και δύσκολα δεν θα σοκάρουν με την εξέλιξη και κατάληξη τους.
Οι ιστορίες μυστηρίου όμως ξεπέρασαν κάθε προσδοκία μου καθώς διαπίστωσα τελικά ότι ο Doyle εμπνεύστηκε και βασίστηκε για την δημιουργία του Sherlock Holmes, στον C. Auguste Dupin του Poe. Η δομή, η αφήγηση και το ύφος κάθε περιπέτειας αλλά και η ανάλυση των στοιχείων των δύο ντετέκτιβ είναι πανομοιότυπες!
Εκπληκτικός ο Poe για άλλη μια φορά!
Οι ιστορίες φαντασίας είχαν όλες την δική τους σκοτεινή ατμόσφαιρα και δύσκολα δεν θα σοκάρουν με την εξέλιξη και κατάληξη τους.
Οι ιστορίες μυστηρίου όμως ξεπέρασαν κάθε προσδοκία μου καθώς διαπίστωσα τελικά ότι ο Doyle εμπνεύστηκε και βασίστηκε για την δημιουργία του Sherlock Holmes, στον C. Auguste Dupin του Poe. Η δομή, η αφήγηση και το ύφος κάθε περιπέτειας αλλά και η ανάλυση των στοιχείων των δύο ντετέκτιβ είναι πανομοιότυπες!
Εκπληκτικός ο Poe για άλλη μια φορά!
October 31, 2024
4★ because it’s Poe (-1 star for formatting issues in my edition)
┊ 𝕣𝕖𝕒𝕕𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕡𝕝𝕒𝕪𝕝𝕚𝕤𝕥: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6KP...
︶꒦꒷♡꒷꒦︶
┊┊ ✎ ༉‧₊ 𝕥𝕙𝕠𝕦𝕘𝕙𝕥𝕤 + 𝕕𝕚𝕤𝕔𝕦𝕤𝕤𝕚𝕠𝕟: Since this is a short story collection, I’ll just give a brief overview of my thoughts on each story that I read with little to no explanation (or spoilers) because there really isn’t a way to discuss the book as a whole:
“The Gold Bug:” Woah I did not see that coming— wait there are cryptograms? This is actually so cool
“The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar:” I didn’t know what I was expecting but it sure wasn’t THAT ending
“MS. Found in a Bottle:” I’m sorry but no. I felt like I was reading Moby Dick with all that sailing terminology
“A Descent into the Maelström:” Okay… more sailing terminology, but this time it’s interesting
“The Murders in the Rue Morgue:” One of my favorites!
“The Pit and the Pendulum:” Heart-pounding suspense that only Poe could write.
“The Premature Burial:” Reminiscent of Frankenstein. I like the message that Poe conveys about letting go of your fears.
“The Black Cat:” I feel so bad for the cat ☹ This is equally as well-written as it is terrifying.
“The Masque of the Red Death:” Literally founded the dark royalcore aesthetic. Absolute perfection.
“The Cask of Amontillado:” I knew it!!
“The Oval Portrait:” I thought of The Girl with a Pearl Earring as the painting described…
“The Oblong Box:” I love how he brought a 6 foot long box on a cruise ship and no one was suspicious
“The Tell-Tale Heart:” Talented, brilliant, incredible, amazing, show stopping, spectacular, never the same
“Ligeia:” Perfect ghost story for Halloween
“Loss of Breath:” Very unique
“Shadow- A Parable:” Who are these people?
“Silence- A Fable:” Yes. Just yes.
“The Man of the Crowd:” It had an interesting message but I kind of found the ending to be anticlimactic…
︶꒦꒷♡꒷꒦︶
┊ ┊ ┊ 𝕨𝕙𝕠 𝕤𝕙𝕠𝕦𝕝𝕕 𝕣𝕖𝕒𝕕 𝕚𝕥: For any fan of classic literature, this is a must. Many of the stories have an autumn atmosphere, so seasonal readers would also like this book for September – November.
┊ 𝕣𝕖𝕒𝕕𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕡𝕝𝕒𝕪𝕝𝕚𝕤𝕥: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6KP...
︶꒦꒷♡꒷꒦︶
┊┊ ✎ ༉‧₊ 𝕥𝕙𝕠𝕦𝕘𝕙𝕥𝕤 + 𝕕𝕚𝕤𝕔𝕦𝕤𝕤𝕚𝕠𝕟: Since this is a short story collection, I’ll just give a brief overview of my thoughts on each story that I read with little to no explanation (or spoilers) because there really isn’t a way to discuss the book as a whole:
“The Gold Bug:” Woah I did not see that coming— wait there are cryptograms? This is actually so cool
“The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar:” I didn’t know what I was expecting but it sure wasn’t THAT ending
“MS. Found in a Bottle:” I’m sorry but no. I felt like I was reading Moby Dick with all that sailing terminology
“A Descent into the Maelström:” Okay… more sailing terminology, but this time it’s interesting
“The Murders in the Rue Morgue:” One of my favorites!
“The Pit and the Pendulum:” Heart-pounding suspense that only Poe could write.
“The Premature Burial:” Reminiscent of Frankenstein. I like the message that Poe conveys about letting go of your fears.
“The Black Cat:” I feel so bad for the cat ☹ This is equally as well-written as it is terrifying.
“The Masque of the Red Death:” Literally founded the dark royalcore aesthetic. Absolute perfection.
“The Cask of Amontillado:” I knew it!!
“The Oval Portrait:” I thought of The Girl with a Pearl Earring as the painting described…
“The Oblong Box:” I love how he brought a 6 foot long box on a cruise ship and no one was suspicious
“The Tell-Tale Heart:” Talented, brilliant, incredible, amazing, show stopping, spectacular, never the same
“Ligeia:” Perfect ghost story for Halloween
“Loss of Breath:” Very unique
“Shadow- A Parable:” Who are these people?
“Silence- A Fable:” Yes. Just yes.
“The Man of the Crowd:” It had an interesting message but I kind of found the ending to be anticlimactic…
︶꒦꒷♡꒷꒦︶
┊ ┊ ┊ 𝕨𝕙𝕠 𝕤𝕙𝕠𝕦𝕝𝕕 𝕣𝕖𝕒𝕕 𝕚𝕥: For any fan of classic literature, this is a must. Many of the stories have an autumn atmosphere, so seasonal readers would also like this book for September – November.
April 15, 2020
Μου άρεσαν περισσότερο οι ιστορίες μυστηρίου που συμπεριλαμβαναν και ένα ψυχογραφημα της συναισθηματικης κατάστασης του Πόε, παρά οι ιστορίες φαντασίας. Όσο για το ύφος του, το περίμενα περισσότερο μακάβριο, πιο ελεύθερο, παραδομενο στο δράμα του αφηγητή αποδεσμευμενο από τους φορμαλισμους της νεοαμερικανικης βοστονεζικης γλώσσας που κυριαρχούσε στην καλή κοινωνία- και κουβαλούσε τα κατάλοιπα της λονδρέζικης ευγένειας. Ο φωκνερ ας πούμε έχει ένα ολοκληρωτικά δικό του στυλ, και η γλώσσα του αισθητικά σε βάζει στο πετσί του κάθε χαρακτήρα σε πρώτο πρόσωπο, και βλέπεις μέσα από τα μάτια του, είτε είναι ένας γελαδαρης, είτε ο δικηγόρος της κομητείας. Στον Πόε ήταν σα να διαβασω μια επίσημη αφήγηση ενός γράμματος, και δεν υπήρχε μεγάλη διακύμανση ανάμεσα στον καθε χαρακτήρα. . Ίσως ήταν και η μετάφραση. Rather than that, σκοτώνεται ευχάριστα η ώρα σου.
September 21, 2015
Partly, but quite sufficiently different selection of Poe's stories compared to Selected Tales, which I also have and re-read from time to time. Absorbing, suspenseful, chilling and very very good!
March 22, 2020
Some stories in this collection are better than others. For example, Edgar Allan Poe's detective stories such as "The Murders in Rue Morgue" or "The Mystery of Marie Rogêt" were inferior in quality in comparison with "The Fall of the House of Usher", "The Pit and the Pendulum", and my absolute favorite, "The Black Cat". This story is, to my mind, the pinnacle of Poe's macabre genius (as far as his prose goes), as it shows vividly the gradual mental breakdown from first person perspective. Not to mention it really pushed me to the limit in regard to my disgust of animal torture! The idea of a slow, but impending doom is also the theme of his second best story "The Pit and the Pendulum".
As said previously, Poe is a genius, and a master of macabre, but his talent is even better expressed in his poetry, which this book sadly lacks, so I had to acquire his poetry collection separately.
As said previously, Poe is a genius, and a master of macabre, but his talent is even better expressed in his poetry, which this book sadly lacks, so I had to acquire his poetry collection separately.
March 26, 2023
my first edgar allan poe!
six brilliantly written tales with the perfect amount of intrigue and suspense - if you love a good detective story with riddles & secrets, this is just the book for you!
i highly recommend this, it was very fun to read!
six brilliantly written tales with the perfect amount of intrigue and suspense - if you love a good detective story with riddles & secrets, this is just the book for you!
i highly recommend this, it was very fun to read!
September 9, 2017
First who reads Poe to their kiddies though I suppose it's no worse than some of the fairy stories the kids like. Speaking of fairy tales, though I know it's not his best, I couldn't help wishing 'The Island of the Fay' was included not because it's his best story but because I think it would make for an evocative illustration. Obviously not all of Poe's stories are included in this volume though probably two-thirds are. I think every story has a picture though not all have a color illustration. Some of the black and and white pictures are as good as the color ones. Oddly the color illustrations aren't with the story they depict but scattered throughout the book. None have more than four or five colors and I believe I counted ten color illustrations in all. The black and white pictures are with thei proper text and two that stood out are of 'The Pit and the Pendulum' and 'The Muders in the Rue Morgue'. The Pit pic is notable for the horrified expression and the Rue Morgue because the shadowed figures trail lacelike tendrils from he ladies gowns and some of th gents clothes and hair and even the dogs fur which helps depict their made race to find the killer. The pictures are evocative of the 19th century though per the back of the title pages it states that Arthur Rackham's Poe work was first shown in 1935.
A word about the volume itself; it has no dust jacket to lose in the nursery but it's sturdy and has a small set in color illustration on the cover. There's also a slate gray silk cord to mark your place in the book.
A word about the volume itself; it has no dust jacket to lose in the nursery but it's sturdy and has a small set in color illustration on the cover. There's also a slate gray silk cord to mark your place in the book.
November 14, 2022
It's official. I'm a Poehead. I just know know that Poe could hang.
1 The Tell Tale Heart
2 Berenice
3 The Raven
4 A Descent into the Maelstrom
5 The Bells
6 Fall of the House of Usher
7 Silence
8 The Cask of Amontillado
9 The Goldbug
10 The Masque of the Red Death
11 The Imp of the Perverse
12 The Premature Burial
13 Hop-Frog
14 William Wilson
15 Annabel Lee
16 The Mystery of Marie Roget
17 The Colloquy of Monos and Una
18 Ms. Found in a bottle
19 Ligeia
20 The Murders of the Rue Morgue
21 Morella
22 Bon Bon
23 Metzengerstein
24 The Black Cat
25 The Conversation of Eiros and Charmion
26 The Assignation
27 The Oval Portrait
28 The Pit and the Pendulum
29 The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar
30 The Oblong Box
31 The Man of the Crowd
32 The Purloined Letter
33 The Spectacles
34 Landor's Cottage
35 King Pest
40 Lionizing
If I wrote a Poe story, this would be the scaffold:
- A man in the afterlife having a conversation with a deceased lover.
- Following his wife's passing he develops a misunderstood medical condition that causes him to black out.
- He figures out he dresses up as an orangutan and kills people, solely for the reason that it's the wrong thing to do.
- He is confident no one will find out (maybe only Dupin could), but he confesses to the police.
- Runs away into a wine cellar, hidden under the floorboards.
- Townsfolk get mad and set his gothic house on fire -- the smoke takes the form of an orangutan (kino).
- Cellar collapses on him, burying him alive.
Yeah, I'm a bit of a Poehead.
1 The Tell Tale Heart
2 Berenice
3 The Raven
4 A Descent into the Maelstrom
5 The Bells
6 Fall of the House of Usher
7 Silence
8 The Cask of Amontillado
9 The Goldbug
10 The Masque of the Red Death
11 The Imp of the Perverse
12 The Premature Burial
13 Hop-Frog
14 William Wilson
15 Annabel Lee
16 The Mystery of Marie Roget
17 The Colloquy of Monos and Una
18 Ms. Found in a bottle
19 Ligeia
20 The Murders of the Rue Morgue
21 Morella
22 Bon Bon
23 Metzengerstein
24 The Black Cat
25 The Conversation of Eiros and Charmion
26 The Assignation
27 The Oval Portrait
28 The Pit and the Pendulum
29 The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar
30 The Oblong Box
31 The Man of the Crowd
32 The Purloined Letter
33 The Spectacles
34 Landor's Cottage
35 King Pest
40 Lionizing
If I wrote a Poe story, this would be the scaffold:
- A man in the afterlife having a conversation with a deceased lover.
- Following his wife's passing he develops a misunderstood medical condition that causes him to black out.
- He figures out he dresses up as an orangutan and kills people, solely for the reason that it's the wrong thing to do.
- He is confident no one will find out (maybe only Dupin could), but he confesses to the police.
- Runs away into a wine cellar, hidden under the floorboards.
- Townsfolk get mad and set his gothic house on fire -- the smoke takes the form of an orangutan (kino).
- Cellar collapses on him, burying him alive.
Yeah, I'm a bit of a Poehead.
January 13, 2018
أود أن أقرأ أكثر لإدغار ألن بو ،هذا الرجل أذهلني بالفعل .
محتوى القصص :القصة الاولى عن رجل مع آرشر وعن مرضه بسبب الكآبة المتواجدة في منزله ثم يتأثر بسماع قصصه ويعتقد بأن القصة تتحدث عنه فيموت بعده هو وأخته .
القصة الثانية عن القطة الاسود الذي قلعته عينه بوساطة صاحبه ومن ثم خنق بوساطته أيضا لينتقم منه قط لديه وشم يذكره بالذي فعله مع القط السوداء فيغضب ثم يقتل زوجته ويخبئها خلف الحائط ثم يتعرف بلسانه أمام الشرطة عندما بحثت عن ذلك .
القصة الثالثة عن الرجل الذي كأني منع رجلا أخرى من ارتكاب الجرائم ولايعرف بأن هذا الرجل إنما هو نفسه إلا عندما يقتل الرجل فيعرف بأنه قتل نفسه وكأنها (صورة رمزية عن الضمير )
القصة الثالثة عن رجل لديه إذن حادة أراد قتل رجل عجوز لأنه لديه عينان مثل النسر في الحدة فيقتله ثم يقطع أجزاء جسده وخبأها جيدًا ححتى جأت الشرطة بسبب ان الجيران قد سمعوا صوتًا قويًا لتتأكد بأنه لم يحدث شيء يعترف الرجل بأنه قتل الرجل العجوز عندما يمسع نبضات قلب الرجل العجوز مع أن الشرطة لم تكن تسمع النبضات
محتوى القصص :القصة الاولى عن رجل مع آرشر وعن مرضه بسبب الكآبة المتواجدة في منزله ثم يتأثر بسماع قصصه ويعتقد بأن القصة تتحدث عنه فيموت بعده هو وأخته .
القصة الثانية عن القطة الاسود الذي قلعته عينه بوساطة صاحبه ومن ثم خنق بوساطته أيضا لينتقم منه قط لديه وشم يذكره بالذي فعله مع القط السوداء فيغضب ثم يقتل زوجته ويخبئها خلف الحائط ثم يتعرف بلسانه أمام الشرطة عندما بحثت عن ذلك .
القصة الثالثة عن الرجل الذي كأني منع رجلا أخرى من ارتكاب الجرائم ولايعرف بأن هذا الرجل إنما هو نفسه إلا عندما يقتل الرجل فيعرف بأنه قتل نفسه وكأنها (صورة رمزية عن الضمير )
القصة الثالثة عن رجل لديه إذن حادة أراد قتل رجل عجوز لأنه لديه عينان مثل النسر في الحدة فيقتله ثم يقطع أجزاء جسده وخبأها جيدًا ححتى جأت الشرطة بسبب ان الجيران قد سمعوا صوتًا قويًا لتتأكد بأنه لم يحدث شيء يعترف الرجل بأنه قتل الرجل العجوز عندما يمسع نبضات قلب الرجل العجوز مع أن الشرطة لم تكن تسمع النبضات
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 13, 2017
I read this compendium of Poe's stories while still at high-school.
Loved it then and love it now.
Poe was a trailblazer in the mystery, suspense and horror genres and his writing has been hugely influential, changing the world of literature.
"The Murders in the Rue Morgue", considered the first modern detective story, is a short masterpiece. Grisly and gory by the standards of its day, this tale is well worth a read today, as are all the other wonderful tales in this collection of Poe's works. In particular, "The Tell-Tale Heart" and "The Pit and the Pendulum".
Loved it then and love it now.
Poe was a trailblazer in the mystery, suspense and horror genres and his writing has been hugely influential, changing the world of literature.
"The Murders in the Rue Morgue", considered the first modern detective story, is a short masterpiece. Grisly and gory by the standards of its day, this tale is well worth a read today, as are all the other wonderful tales in this collection of Poe's works. In particular, "The Tell-Tale Heart" and "The Pit and the Pendulum".
January 23, 2015
Tales of Mystery and Imagination is a great compilation of short stories by Egdar Allan Poe, including some of his most appraised works, like "The Tell-Tale Heart", "The Black Cat", and "The Murders in the Rue Morgue"; and quite a few of lesser known - and also great - works, such as "The Colloquy of Monos and Una" and "Berenice". This collection was a good mixture of horror and mystery, and I highly recommend checking out Poe's works if you haven't already!
December 17, 2014
بهتر از بورخس نبود، ولی با تقریبِ خیلی خوبی خوب بود.
رازآلودیِ کتابش از جنس فریک لیتریچر یا ادبیاتِ غریب نبود مسلماً، یه طوری بود که آخرِ داستانها مساله حل میشد
البته منظورم این نیست که کاراگاهیطور بود، اما خب به سبکِ بورخس هم نبود که مثلاً با یه چیزِ خیلی عجیب مواجه شی و توش گیر کنی و هیچ وقت نتونی ازش خلاص شی.
شاید بقیه داستانهاش رو هم بخونم.
رازآلودیِ کتابش از جنس فریک لیتریچر یا ادبیاتِ غریب نبود مسلماً، یه طوری بود که آخرِ داستانها مساله حل میشد
البته منظورم این نیست که کاراگاهیطور بود، اما خب به سبکِ بورخس هم نبود که مثلاً با یه چیزِ خیلی عجیب مواجه شی و توش گیر کنی و هیچ وقت نتونی ازش خلاص شی.
شاید بقیه داستانهاش رو هم بخونم.
March 26, 2019
I came to understand, while reading this collection, that Poe is remembered for his ideas, rather than his writing. He is often credited as the origin of such innovations as the unreliable narrator and the modern detective story, and such inventiveness is amply on display in these stories. But it’s blended with object lessons for any beginning writer struggling with such technical matters as the importance of selecting the right point of view for a story, or the value of showing over telling.
In short, Poe’s ability to invent a story is magnificent. His ability to tell one, however, is middling. Too often he provides a first-person narrator at a remove from the story, so that the narrator is being told a summary of the actual story by another character who is more central to it. The detective stories featuring C. Auguste Dupin, for instance, are related by a first-person narrator to whom Dupin tells the actual story, in summary masquerading as dialogue. (Other 19th-century writers suffered from this same contorted POV problem; Mary W Shelley’s Frankenstein and Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights leap to mind.) Or a narrative that begins inside the story will then take a leap away from it, as does “The Gold Bug,” which begins with a first-person narrator trying to make sense out of his friend's apparent madness, appears to climax with the friend’s vindication as they dig up a pirate’s massive treasure, and then disintegrates with a coda longer than the story itself in which the friend explains to the narrator how he came to discover the treasure map, how he deciphered the encoded message it contained, and so on.
The trouble with this kind of narrative distance is that it sucks the energy out a story. There is no suspense at all in the decipherment of the treasure map, because the reader has already seen the treasure discovered. There’s likewise diminished suspense in “Descent into the Maelstrom,” for the man who experienced the harrowing ride on a ship sucked down into a huge ocean vortex is sitting on a rock, relating that experience to the story’s narrator. And it’s a terrible waste of some of Poe’s excellent ideas.
All that technical complaining aside, there are some superb stories in this volume, and the ones that are best known are generally also the best executed. “The Cask of Amontillado” is everything for which one reads Poe, with its demented unreliable narrator, rationalizing a particularly cruel murder while never telling the reader exactly what wrong was done to him that justifies it in his mind. In “The Tell-Tale Heart,” a murderer’s conscience famously gets the better of him. And “William Wilson,” my overall favorite, shows a dissolute man with a splintered identity, at war with his own conscience, which he perceives as a separately incarnated man. I read that Patricia Highsmith was particularly influenced by Poe, and I believe it; one can see quite distinctly in these stories the embryos of men like Charlie Bruno, Guy Haines, and Tom Ripley.
In short, Poe’s ability to invent a story is magnificent. His ability to tell one, however, is middling. Too often he provides a first-person narrator at a remove from the story, so that the narrator is being told a summary of the actual story by another character who is more central to it. The detective stories featuring C. Auguste Dupin, for instance, are related by a first-person narrator to whom Dupin tells the actual story, in summary masquerading as dialogue. (Other 19th-century writers suffered from this same contorted POV problem; Mary W Shelley’s Frankenstein and Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights leap to mind.) Or a narrative that begins inside the story will then take a leap away from it, as does “The Gold Bug,” which begins with a first-person narrator trying to make sense out of his friend's apparent madness, appears to climax with the friend’s vindication as they dig up a pirate’s massive treasure, and then disintegrates with a coda longer than the story itself in which the friend explains to the narrator how he came to discover the treasure map, how he deciphered the encoded message it contained, and so on.
The trouble with this kind of narrative distance is that it sucks the energy out a story. There is no suspense at all in the decipherment of the treasure map, because the reader has already seen the treasure discovered. There’s likewise diminished suspense in “Descent into the Maelstrom,” for the man who experienced the harrowing ride on a ship sucked down into a huge ocean vortex is sitting on a rock, relating that experience to the story’s narrator. And it’s a terrible waste of some of Poe’s excellent ideas.
All that technical complaining aside, there are some superb stories in this volume, and the ones that are best known are generally also the best executed. “The Cask of Amontillado” is everything for which one reads Poe, with its demented unreliable narrator, rationalizing a particularly cruel murder while never telling the reader exactly what wrong was done to him that justifies it in his mind. In “The Tell-Tale Heart,” a murderer’s conscience famously gets the better of him. And “William Wilson,” my overall favorite, shows a dissolute man with a splintered identity, at war with his own conscience, which he perceives as a separately incarnated man. I read that Patricia Highsmith was particularly influenced by Poe, and I believe it; one can see quite distinctly in these stories the embryos of men like Charlie Bruno, Guy Haines, and Tom Ripley.
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