Scrieri alese

by Edgar Allan Poe

O selectie de povesti si poezii.

Poe, desi fundamental romantic, framantat de cele mai contradictorii pasiuni, a profesat cultul ratiunii si al luciditatii, tagaduind valoarea inspiratiei si acordand inteligentei pure un rol hotarator in procesul creativitatii. (J. L. Borges)

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction

680 pages, Paperback

First published February 15, 1979

About the author

The 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...

Reviews

[Elena Papadopol · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mi-a placut foarte mult - ma asteptam doar la literatura gotica, insa am gasit mult mai mult decat atat.
De la elemente SF si de biologie, la ocultism si mister, de la umor si ironie, la frica si tristete, fiecare povestire are ceva inedit.
Nu pot spune ca am rezonat prea mult cu poeziile, din pacate.

"[...] Sa nu uitam ca de obicei scopul gazetelor noastre este mai degraba de a face senzatie, de a aduce ceva nou decat de a cauta adevarul."

"[...] In ochii celor multi nu pare profund decat acela care ne infatiseaza lucruri in contradictie acuta cu parerea tuturor."

"Ar fi fost mai intelept, ar fi fost mai firesc, sa clasificam (daca tot trebuie sa clasificam) bazandu-ne pe ceea ce face omul, de obicei sau ocazional - si mai ales ocazional - decat sa luam drept buna presupunerea ca Divinitatea este aceea care-l determina sa actioneze."

[Socrate · Rating 4 out of 5]

Că Pierre Bon‑Bon era un birtaş cu însuşiri deosebite, socot că nimeni dintre cei ce se perindau prin mica lui cafenea din fundătura Le Febre, la Rouen, în timpul domniei lui…, n‑ar putea s‑o tăgăduiască. Că Pierre Bon‑Bon era la fel de priceput şi în filosofia epocii sale este, după părerea mea, şi mai greu de tăgăduit. E mai presus de orice îndoială că pateul lui de ficat era fără de prihană. Dar ce condei ar putea preamări cum se cuvine eseurile lui sur la Nature, cugetările lui sur l' me, observaţiile lui sur l'Esprit? Dacă omletele lui, dacă fripturile lui împănate erau nepreţuite, care scriitor din vremea aceea n‑ar fi dat pe o singură idee de a lui Bon‑Bon de două ori mai mult decât pe tot maldărul de idei al tuturor celorlalţi cărturari la un loc?
Bon‑Bon scotocise prin biblioteci pe care nimeni nu le mai cercetase… citise mai mult decât şi‑ar putea închipui cineva care ştie ce înseamnă a citi… Înţelesese mai multe decât ar fi socotit cineva că‑i poate fi dat să înţeleagă…

[Cosmin Boca · Rating 5 out of 5]

Poezii foarte bine traduse în Română, evidențiind talentul imens al Autorului.