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Tales of Horror
Born in 1809, Edgar Allan Poe was raised as an orphan by Mr. and Mrs. Allan in Richmond, Virginia. He was educated in Virginia and in England, but he spent most of his life in poverty, supported by his writing, which did not become widely recognised until after his death.
Poe was a skilled craftsman in both prose and poetry. His themes explore the bizarre; his images evoke the world of the dim and the sinister. Through his tales we are introduced to experiences on the borders of sanity. In "The Pit and the Pendulum" we share the dreamlike swoons of a man in a dungeon who has been sentenced to a horrible death by the Inquisition. Roderick Usher in "The Fall of the House of Usher" suffers increasing nervous agitation accompanied by an unnatural acuteness of the senses - especially his hearing. All of Poe's heroes are victims of neuroses of some kind and are touched by the strange effects of horror, the macabre and the grotesque.
Poe was a skilled craftsman in both prose and poetry. His themes explore the bizarre; his images evoke the world of the dim and the sinister. Through his tales we are introduced to experiences on the borders of sanity. In "The Pit and the Pendulum" we share the dreamlike swoons of a man in a dungeon who has been sentenced to a horrible death by the Inquisition. Roderick Usher in "The Fall of the House of Usher" suffers increasing nervous agitation accompanied by an unnatural acuteness of the senses - especially his hearing. All of Poe's heroes are victims of neuroses of some kind and are touched by the strange effects of horror, the macabre and the grotesque.
4 pages, Audio Cassette
Published January 1, 1979
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About the author
Edgar Allan Poe
9,885 books28.6k 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 - 7 of 7 reviews
April 24, 2023
It's abridged, which I normally dislike, but it's "Christopher Lee Reads Edgar Allan Poe" so complaints aren't allowed.
May 13, 2022
A truly delightful reading of four of Poe's greatest short stories by one of the greatest voices to ever narrate a story.
Christopher Lee and Edgar Allan Poe make the most delightful of bedfellows.
Christopher Lee and Edgar Allan Poe make the most delightful of bedfellows.
June 9, 2024
Finally finished audiobooks found on youtube. I started to get in halloween mood and been wanting to finish. They are really good and read by a master of horror. Next Vincent Price couldn't pick anyone better to read works by Edgar Allen Poe.
August 25, 2021
Classic horror read by Christopher Lee. What else do you need? Lee's voice is so perfect for these tales. You will find this masterpiece from youtube :)
October 15, 2025
Solid short story collection.
You can definitely tell some of the stories are abridged, I didn’t feel like it negatively impacted The House of Usher.
I enjoyed the audiobook Version even if Christopher Lee really only did stage play dramatics instead of dramatic audiobook readings as is more contemporary
You can definitely tell some of the stories are abridged, I didn’t feel like it negatively impacted The House of Usher.
I enjoyed the audiobook Version even if Christopher Lee really only did stage play dramatics instead of dramatic audiobook readings as is more contemporary
October 10, 2018
I'd listen to Poe and Christopher Lee any day of the week!
January 19, 2024
POE ACTUALLY GOT ME TO CLUTCH MY PEARLS IN HORROR AND DISGUST WITH THE BLACK CAT
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews