The Mask of the Red Death and Other Stories

by Edgar Allan Poe

"The Masque of the Red Death", originally published as "The Mask of the Red A Fantasy" (1842), is a short story by Edgar Allan Poe. The story follows Prince Prospero's attempts to avoid a dangerous plague, known as the Red Death, by hiding in his abbey. He, along with many other wealthy nobles, hosts a masquerade ball within seven rooms of the abbey, each decorated with a different color. In the midst of their revelry, a mysterious figure disguised as a Red Death victim enters and makes his way through each of the rooms. Prospero dies after confronting this stranger, whose "costume" proves to contain nothing tangible inside it; the guests also die in turn. Poe's story follows many traditions of Gothic fiction and is often analyzed as an allegory about the inevitability of death, though some critics advise against an allegorical reading.

Genres: Short Stories, Classics, Gothic, Horror

191 pages, Paperback

Published April 7, 2020

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

[Ian D]

Ατμοσφαιρικά ποιητικός τρόμος όπως μόνο ο Edgar Allan Poe μπορεί.

[Scott]

Insanely great. Sooo far ahead of its time. Poe's incredible merging of lyrical prose and poetry is absolutely brilliant here.

An incredibly intense tale of a highly statured regal persona trying to keep a deadly commonwealth sickly virus at bay, but succumbing to Death's uninvited visit during this Regal's own lavishly thrown ballroom gala nonetheless. Perhaps Poe's commentary on delusionanary Wealth vs. Reality. Truly visionary storytelling from Poe.

[Jane]

Giving me so much horror poem inspiration…

[Nicole | bridge four books]

3.5

[Ashlyn]

I found the plot predictable.

[Ray]

This is primarily a review for the story "The Mask of the Read Death," and not necessarily the "and Other Stories" part.

I came across this work for the first time after discovering that there was a reference to this in Andrew Lloyd Webber's Phantom of the Opera after the 25th anniversary recording was played for free on YouTube during the pandemic (some time in 2020?).

It's an absolutely unsettling allegory, and was a wonderful Easter egg in Phantom.

It definitely fits with Poe's other works being equally as grim/macabre. Quite unsettling at times. I would not read this if I was having a down day, that's for sure.

Highly recommended, especially if you like short stories. Just make sure that you are ready to confront existential dread face to face, otherwise perhaps skip this and save it for a day when you are. I have often found that encountering a work "at the right time" makes all the difference.

[Ca]

My summary I took from 3 years ago:
The story take place at the castellated abbey of the happy, dauntless and sagacious, Prince Prospero. Prospero and 1,000 other noble have taken refuge in this walled abbey to escape the Red Death, a terrible plague with gruesome symptoms that has swept over the land. Victims are overcome by “sharp pains”, “sudden dizziness”, “profuse bleeding at the pores”, and die within half an hour. Prospero and his court are indifferent to the sufferings of the population at large, they intend to await the end of the plagues in luxury and safety behind the walls of their secure refuge, having welded the doors shut.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5 :)

[Eloise Luscombe]

Incredibly well written and really exaggerates on the inevitability of death and gruesome ways it can hurt ourselves or other people. The emotional and physical turmoil of all of these short stories where quite graphic in their descriptions, and probably something I wouldn't revisit again. However, I am very glad that I have read something written by Edgar Allan Poe and can say that I have now read :)

[Storm]

The screenwriters for the Vincent Price movie popped off. Took and kept the original intention of the short story but grew it into such a visceral experience.

Strong 3.5 here. Review only for Mask of the Red Death but they didn’t have that as a single to shelve.

[Laura]

2,5 ⭐️
De los libros que me he leído de Poe, este es el que menos me ha gustado. Sin embargo también creo que es el que más significado tiene: no importa tu estatus ni tu riqueza, nadie puede escapar del propio destino.

[Nourhan]

This is my second read! My first read was for academic purposes, but this time, wow!!

Edger Allan Poe's writing is so beautiful, heavily symbolic, and psychologically driven! Wow, I adore English literature💗

[Shannon]

One of my favorites!

[Alison]

In in

[Amanda Artist Cat]

(I did not actually read the "and other stories" part, only "Red Death" but it wasn't available to shelve as a single book.)

[Patricia Pages]

Wow, a story where the elite locked out all the peasants during a plague and threw a party believing they'd be immune to the disease (they were not). I wonder why that sounds so familiar?

[Angie]

Even wealth and popularity can’t shield you from reality and the cold hands of Death.
This one was beautifully written.

[Gweda]

beautiful

[iga]

6/10, nawet fajne te opisy

[Bookish Hag]

It's Edgar Allan Poe. Of course it's 5 stars.

[Jay]

2020 covid core

[Kathy]

A small sampler of Edger Allen Poe, my favorite will always be "The Tell Tale Heart". I read Ligiea which is a story which I have not read. Nice quick read.

[Anna]

Simply short story about the inevitability of death. It comes to all. Atmospheric, rich and haunting. I enjoyed the stalking figure and the feeling of dread from the master of the Macabre.

[Susan van Eijck]

waauww zo poetic maar niet iets wat ik voor de lol lees (ik ben weer gestopt)

[JKS]

The mask of the red death: the poetic nature of Poe's writing hit especially well in the last paragraph.

The fall of the house of Usher: feels like an ode to a friend, to something that is withering away, to something that once was and never will be again. Nice gothic dark story turn at the end.

The black cat: solid

Ligeia: this story confuses me to the point of insane laughter. how? what? huh?

The cask of Amontillado: most complex story so far. Felt too short for it could have dived a but further into motives.

The pit and the pendulum: felt like a fever dream prison experience. Could not get into it. Also, im heavily starting to wonder whether Poe was a (convicted) fellon himself. He writes an awful lot in regards to crime and (the consequences of) getting caught.

The tell-tale heart: loved this story, a bit creepy but a nice display of paranoia of the concious. Once again, i shall return to my previous suspicion tho...

[Calee Lawson]

Realizing you are in the orange room makes life a little more spooky.