Product Description
The book has no illustrations or index. It may have numerous typos or missing text. However, purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original rare book from the publisher's website (GeneralBooksClub.com). You can also preview excerpts of the book there. Purchasers are also entitled to a free trial membership in the General Books Club where they can select from more than a million books without charge. Volume: 1; Original Publisher: J. ShiellsAmazon.com Review
He revolutionized the horror tale, giving it psychologicalinsight and a consistent tone and atmosphere; he invented the moderndetective story; he wrote some of the world's best-known lyric poetryand a major novella of the fantastic; he impressed such writers as Baudelaire,Mallarmeand Borges. If it'sbeen a while since you read any Edgar A. Poe (he never used "Allan"),you've probably forgotten how terrific he is. And some of his bestwork is in his lesser-known stories, such as "The Imp of the Perverse"and "A Descent into the Maelstrom." In short, what are you waitingfor? ... Read more

Customer Reviews (10)

Extensive Collection
Selected Works / 0-517-05358-6

Odds are, you already know whether you like Poe or not, and if you're considering purchasing this volume, you would most benefit from a table of contents. Here is the list of all the included stories and poems included in this collection, listed in order of inclusion:

MS. Found in a Bottle
Berenice
Morella
Some Passages in the Life of a Lion
The Unparalleled Adventures of One Hans Pfaall
The Assignation
Bon-Bon
Shadow: A Parable
Loss of Breath: A Tale Neither In nor Out of "Blackwood"
King Pest: A Tale Containing an Allegory
Metzengerstein
Le Duc De l'Omelette
Four Beasts in One; The Homo-Cameleopard
A Tale of Jerusalem
Mystification
Ligeia
How to Write a Blackwood Article
A Predicament: The Scythe of Time
Silence: A Fable
The Journal of Julius Rodman
The Devil in the Belfry
The Man That Was Used Up
The Fall of the House of Usher
William Wilson
The Conversation of Eiros and Charmion
Why the Little Frenchman Wears His Hand in a Sling
The Business Man
The Man in the Crowd
The Murders in the Rue Morgue
A Descent into the Maelstrom
The Island of the Fay
The Colloquy of Monos and Una
Never Bet the Devil Your Head
Three Sundays a Week
Eleonora
The Oval Portrait
The Masque of the Red Death
The Mystery of Marie Roget
The Pit and the Pendulum
The Tell-Tale Heart
The Gold-Bug
The Black Cat
Diddling Considered as One of the Exact Sciences
A Tale of the Ragged Mountains
The Spectacles
The Balloon-Hoax
Mesmeric Revelation
The Premature Burial
The Oblong Box
The Angel of the Odd
Thou Art the Man
The Purloined Letter
The Literary Life of Thingum Bob, Esq.
The Thousand-and-Second Tale of Scheherazade
Some Words with a Mummy
The Power of Words
The Imp of the Perverse
The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar
The System of Dr. Tarr and Prof. Fether
The Sphinx
The Cask of Amontillado
The Domain of Arnheim
Mellonta Tauta
Hop-Frog
X-ing a Paragrab
Von Kempelen and His Discovery
Landor's Cottage
The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket
The Raven
The Bells
Annabel Lee
Lenore
Eulalie - A Song
To Helen
A Dream Within a Dream
Ulalume
Sonnet - To Science
Al Aaraaf
To the River
To My Mother
The Lake - To -
Catholic Hymn
Stanzas
Song
Fairy-Land
For Annie
The Sleeper
Bridal Ballad
To M -
To One in Paradise
The Haunted Palace
The City in the Sea
To F-s S. O-d
Dreams
To F-
Eldorado
To M.L.S.-

A Good Start
This book provides the reader a significant sampling of Poe's works both stories and poems.I found the 69 stories to be adequate for the casual reader including all the well known tales: The Masque of the Red Death, The Pit and the Pendulum, The Tell-Tale Heart, The Black Cat, and The Cask of Amontillado.I was pleased to see that "Hop Frog" also made the cut.

His included poems numbered 31 and included: The Raven, Lenore, To The River, The Sleeper, The Haunted Palace, and Dreams.I believe the collection is well suited for a "Selected Works" book.

The book itself is hardbound, the edges of the pages are gold, and a yellow ribbon book mark is built in to the top of the spine.The only negative thing I can truly say about this book is that my personal copy had a broken spine when I took it out of the box, though it was new.

Excellent Plethora of E. Allan Poe Material
This is an excellent book, it has gold leaf paper and its own bookmark and has a GREAT sum of his work although some 'may' be missing but all the great ones are there such as the infamous The Raven and The Masque of Red Death, The Fall of The House of Usher among many others; to keep this short and simple this book is well worth the price and looks better in person then what amazon shows. Do keep in mind like I said this is a very nice book and only buy it if your either an avid Poe fan or want a great book to add to your growing library (like me), otherwise buy a paperback if you want something to tote around with you between classes etc.

The Father of the Horror Genre!
Edgar Allan Poe is truely the father of Horror stories. My favourite creepy story is 'The Tell-Tale Heart' a short read that should be read late at night to get the atmosphere of a true Edgar Allan Poe work of art.

I also enjoyed 'The Masque of Red Death' - a little known short story as well as 'Murders in the Rue Morgue'. Poe's greatest known work - 'The Raven' is also included, and that is by far the best thing Poe has written.

There are not only short stories and poetry. Poe did give script writing a go, and the play 'The Power of Words' is an interesting read, and shows a discussion with a tutor and a pupil over various topics. This script is meant to be read and nor performed, however.

Edgar Allan Poe's best work is defienetly in this volume, and I recomened it for lovers of reading and not just poetry, and vice versa.

"The Cast Of Amontillado"
Edgar Allen Poe's, "The Cast Of Amontillado," is a witty and daring tale between two enemies.It humorously portrays the foil of Fortunato, as he is led through the catacombs.Poe's humor is dark, sarcastic and very ironic, which quickly becomes a signpost of the tale.Poe sets himself apart from other authors in his works, based on how he depicts and encounters death.It accentuates the notion that at times, your worst enemy will appear as your best friend.Pride is the downfall of every man and the same can be said for fortunato. "Nemo me impune lacessit." ... Read more

Product Description

Product Description
Selected short stories and poetry by the master of mystery and the macabre.
Biography and commentary by Willard C Phillips. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

I was ok... the guy read a little fast though.
When he read the poetry, it seemed he was reading so fast that - before I could think about what he was saying he said something else.You should get this if you're not really interested in the entertainment value over just listening to some Poe and visualising his stories.It's "generic," yet good listening.

Best, still the best
Edgar Allan Poe is the Nietzsche of literature world

I loved it!
I had to read it for class. But, I really enjoyed it ... Read more

Product Description
El maestro del relato de terror, Edgar Allan Poe, consigue en esta peculiar novela de aventuras, publicada en forma de memorias del viajero Arturo Gordon Pym, que se le corte la respiracion al lector presa del asombro, el pavor, el deslumbramiento y la angustia claustrofobica. Amante de las emociones fuertes, Gordon Pym se cuela como polizonte en un barco que surca los mares rumbo al Polo Sur. Y los sucesos no defraudaran sus anhelos. Correra toda suerte de experiencias, desde el pavor a ser enterrado vivo, hasta los amotinamientos, tormentas, naufragios, escenas de canibalismo a causa del hambre, luchas con tribus indigenas y el descubrimiento de mundos fascinantes y prodigiosos: islas con arroyos de colores, aves exoticas desconocidas, inscripciones misteriosas, y un final sorprendente en el que el espanto y la locura se entremezclan con el delirio profetice. Poe, que elevo a sus mas altas cimas el relato breve y al que muchos consideran precursor de la novela policiaca. ... Read more

Product Description
While traveling alone from Richmond, Virginia, to New York City, Poe disappeared for nearly a week. When seen again he was terribly drunk and nearly dead in Baltimore. In the hospital, four days later, after periods of raving delirium, he died. The immediate cause of death given was "congestion of the brain". At first no one seriously doubted that Poe died from drunken debauchery. However, Poe adherents, suggested many theories of a physical nature about precipitating causes but no one has seroiusly probed the mystery of the missing week....until now. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (16)

"The man who invented the detective story...provided American literature with its first endearing real-life mystery"
The excellent Poe biography by Kenneth Silverman is very thorough but, surprisingly, offers remarkably little about his mysterious death.It does not even give passing mention to the many theories.I turned to "Midnight Dreary" to fill the gap.John Evangelist Walsh does not cover in detail the different theories either, except for the "cooping" theory that maintains Poe was kidnapped by election "sharks" and forced to vote.Walsh has his own idea of what happened.

I won't give away Walsh's theory, but he uses the evidence of the time, including period writings that were not taken as seriously by Poe biographers, to support his claims.The foundation of his theory are articles written by accomplished writer Elizabeth Oakes Smith (who was an acquaintance of Poe) in 1857, 1867, and 1876.She tells a story different from that of political club agents.Her articles were read by one of Poe's loves, Sarah Helen Whitman, who did not take issue with her rendition of Poe's demise, save for one detail described in the last article (pg. 95).Another piece of the puzzle is the writings of another Poe acquaintance, Susan Talley, who divulged a "sensational story" going around at the time that supports Walsh's theory (pp. 98-99).

Walsh uses the testimony of Dr. Carter, Joseph Snodgrass, and those who saw Poe during his last days in the telling of his story.He does take one large liberty:John Sartain's famous story of being met by a paranoid Poe who wanted to shave off his mustache so as not to be recognized by would-be murderers and his bout with suicidal tendencies is treated as two different events which happened months apart. Sartain's memories of his strange meeting with Poe seemed to have happened in a period of a few days.Walsh maintains that Poe's thoughts of suicide occurred in July 1849 while his murder plot scare was within a week of his death.It seems strange that Sartain never mentioned such a suspicious meeting happened so soon before Poe died.Walsh does offer convincing evidence to back up his claims.Some of the facts he uses as evidence is a bit of a stretch, however, as in Poe referring to a wife in Richmond while in the hospital demonstrating he had been preoccupied with returning to Elmira Shelton to save himself (pg. 121).Also, Sartain stated that Poe claimed to have overheard a threat on his life whereas Walsh describes a physical confrontation (pg. 114).

Walsh is, for the most part, careful with the facts and is adept at analyzing the different stories, told and retold, by those who observed Poe's final days (some, like Dr. Moran, became Poe apologists).I, for one, am not thoroughly convinced by Walsh's theory, but it is logical and fits well with the facts that are already known.The book is about 200 pages, but only 129 of it make up Walsh's case.The rest of the book includes letters of Elmira Shelton, almost 50 pages of notes and sources, and acknowledgments.It has wide margins, too, so it is a quick read.A more thorough look at the origins and strengths and weaknesses of the different theories on Poe's death would bring more substance to the work.The "cooping" theory is the most prevalent, but I would like to learn about some of the other ideas that are out there.My co-worker believes rabies was the cause.What is the evidence to support that conjecture?Perhaps a book covering all the theories will be published but, until then, anyone interested in the mysterious death of the legendary writer should read "Midnight Dreary."

Excellent Detective Work!
After the tender brilliance of his account on John Keats' last days and death in Rome, I couldn't wait to read the solution he had arrived in untangling (for once and all) the long-confusing Gordian knot of the death of Edgar Allan Poe.This very well documented and deduced explanation seems to solve every answerable question.Even the notes were essential reading.I loved every page.As an English professor, I found a thorough reading of Mr. Walsh's "Midnight Dreary:The Mysterious Death of Edgar Allan Poe" extremely valuable to any in-class discussion.Highly recommended to anyone interested in Poe.

Interesting Book But Not Convincing
While certainly an enjoyble read and very well researched,John Evangelist Walsh's book 'Midnight Dreary' does not present an utterly convincing case as to the cause of Edgar Allan Poe's death.
I really did enjoy reading this book and it does present a nice picture of Poe's final days.The real problem is that Walsh's theory is really to dependant on a certain amount of speculation,and as another reviewer noted Walsh seems to bend the facts to make it fit his theory rather then the other way round,like assuming Poe's visit to John Sartain was in fact in October instead of July of 1849 as Sartain said.Well its obvious a certain amount of speculation is needed to come up with any idea as to how Poe died as there are simply not enough established facts as to what occured during those 5 days that Poe was missing and the events surrounding it to say for certain what occured then.That being said the speculation in this book does go a bit over board and is based it seems on mainly cicrumstancial evidence.As for Walsh suggesting certain people in those times where in fact mistaken or lied about the dates that things happened,well thats just unacceptable.

If you want a decent account of Poe's final days and another theory as to how the man died this book is worth reading however if what you seek is a book to put forth a truly convincing theory on Poe's death this book will be a bit of a disapointment

Another theory on Poe's demise.Follow the tale of Poe's moustache.was it there or wasn't it?
An interesting Poe murder theory.true Poe did make alot of enemies and even if it is gossip it can still hurt a persons reputation,especially if the gossipers themselves are socially prominent,"In my opinion of course Mr.Poe is a(gold digging,womanizing,drunkard-personally i respect the mans' works but can't stand him as a person)"The book spends some time going over alot of these rumours that even if untrue do seem to stick.Silverman in his book suggested that Poe may have been impotent,but this work turns him into a probable lecher(all rumour however)I am convinced that he was engaged to Elmira Shelton(a wealthy widow and childhood sweetheart of Poe) at the time of his Baltimore/Richmond/ Philly mishaps.Poe's ego would make him feel justified in such a high stake game for after all as poe would remind one,"I wrote "The Raven" .The book strongly suggests that Ms. Shelton"s 3 brothers were anything but impressed with Mr. Poe and may have engineered his unfortunate mishaps resulting in his demise.The Shelton brothers andboth of Elmira Sheltons'adult children wanted nothing to do with Poe and may have seen his engagement as an attempt by Poe to "land a cash cow" for his pet projects.It's all speculation but it could fit as logically as the bunk about the election day "cooping" which the author proves false to at least my satisfaction.the pictures in the book all relate to this detective story. Is the stern face of Elmira Shelton the result of a stern Puritanic faith or is she hiding a terrible secret?Kissinger always said "even the true paranoic has real enemies",and Poe would definitely have made headlines for todays tabloids.Remember he married his 13 year old first cousin and then the rumours of alcohol and opiates not to mention the harsh criticisms of other writers that could be studied by those wishing to give "the perfect insult"..I always theorized that maybe Poe had a diabetic episode in Baltimore that left him at the mercy of urban predators who stole his clothes,then beat and robbed him.It never entered my mind before reading this book that maybe someone was hired for the job and Poe became only too aware of it.DT's have little to nothing to do with this book.It is a detective story that Poe himself would have been proud to write.

An odd theory in book form
What kills John E. Walsh's book is that he spends the first half of his book debunking others for their half-cooked theories on Poe's death and their basis on speculation rather than evidence. The second half of the book is Walsh's own half-cooked theory on Poe's death based on speculation rather than evidence. What does save this book is that it does give a fairly good overview of the wide spectrum of theories on Poe's death. Stop about halfway through, and it's a fairly decent, readable book.

And to the "doc" who posted: many doctors have considered this case over the past 150 years and each has come up with a different final answer. His alcoholism is not a fact and is in wide dispute, and he may have been sober for at least a year before his death. Case closed...? If so, we wouldn't have entire books, like this one, trying to solve the case. ... Read more

Product Description
A lavishly illustrated collection of the poet's most popular and haunting works encompasses such favorites as ""The Bells,"" ""Annabel Lee,"" ""The Raven,"" and ""To Helen"" and features a three-piece binding and ribbon marker. ... Read more

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Edgar Allan Poe's only novel, The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket is a pivotal work in which Poe calls attention to the act of writing and to the problem of representing the truth. It is an archetypal American story of escape from domesticity tracing a young man's rite of passage through a series of terrible brushes with death during a fateful sea voyage. Included are eight related tales which further illuminate Pym by their treatment of persistent themes--fantastic voyages, gigantic whirlpools, and premature burials--as well as its relationship to Poe's art and life. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Best novel ever
I do not love novels really and mostly I only get turned on by classics, but this is by far the masterpiece of all novels in that genre! 100% must have if you are a fan of ALL of Poe or just want to read a very special novel!

"I feared I should not be able to write, from mere memory, a statement so minute..."
Claiming that this is the true narrative of a sea voyage by Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket, Edgar Allen Poe records the strange, unbelievable events aboard the ship Grampus in 1827 and on a voyage of discovery to the Antarctic six months later.Published in 1838, Poe's fictionalized narrative, supposedly penned by Pym, a young man from Nantucket, describes Pym's experiences beginning in July, 1827.Stowed away in the hold of the ship and aided by his friend Augustus Barnard, whose father is captain of the Grampus, Pym endures more than a week alone and in almost total darkness before he discovers that a mutiny has occurred onboard.

Macabre details of ghastly deaths and unrelieved bloodlust, the massacre of the crew, and the casting adrift of the captain presage even more gory events.A countermutiny, equally bloody, leaves only four men alive on the Grampus.A gale, a gruesome death ship which passes them, circling sharks, and additional deaths leave only two men alive when the brig capsizes.

The second half of the account details the trip of discovery taken by Pym and the other survivor, along with an English crew from a passing ship, south to the "Antarctic Sea," a voyage in which they go "more than eight degrees farther south than any previous navigators."On this journey they encounter a monstrous "Arctic bear," more than 15 feet long, a cat-like animal with red teeth and claws,warm water with Galapagos tortoises, a series of islands inhabited by canoe-paddling natives, the Aurora Borealis, hot and milky water, white ashy showers, and a huge human figure in white, not the sights reported by later Antarctic explorers.

Poe's only novel, in the romantic tradition of sea adventures, presages the publication of Melville's Typee, which is a true story.In this case, Poe plays with the reader's sense of reality, claiming that his fictional narrative is true and that the fictional Pym had "refused" to publish it because he thought no one would believe his tale.Ironies abound, matched only by the romantic embellishments and imaginative "discoveries" in Antarctica that make this fast-paced narrative as full of tense drama as any soap opera.The abrupt "conclusion" remains ironically inconclusive.Breathless excitement and near death experiences, combined with mystical visions and inexplicable events, make this exciting narrative fun to read. n Mary Whipple

Poe's One and Only Novel:
In this novel I had the same feeling I used to have watching or reading Treasure Island. It is one of the best adventure novels I have ever read.

It speaks about an adventure seeker, a Mr. A. Gordon Pym. He tries to leave the luxury of his little city Nantucket, where he used to live with his father. One friend of his convinces him to travel. The first voyage was a total disaster. But he did not quit his dream. He went on yet another ... Man, it was the most chilling experience I ever had. It is not like anything you dream, it is even stranger. No goblins nor trolls appear hear, yet still, Poe can really bring the horror to your heart.

A mutiny is added to the singular experience Pym had, and then Cannibalism. And after you thought the story finished, you see that Poe starts a new story which not as impressive as the first, yet turns the attention to some other direction.

The end was a bit shaky. I did not like it at all. I usually do not like open endings. That was the only reason I gave 4 instead of 5 stars.

Overall, I would recommend you to read it in the middle of the night (if you do not have anything else to do), with a cup of tea, and with no one else around! You would enjoy it even more.

A disturbing tale of shipwreck and savagery
This story, Poe's only novel, is an endurance test for both reader and characters. I believe it was originally serialized, and reads like a collection of incidents rather than a complete story. However, it is a captivating tale, astounding in it's detail and casual horror. Arthur Gordon Pym was born under an unlucky star. He survives in the most inconceivable circumstances, from a drifting, overturned hulk to the frozen waters of the Antarctic. Each page turned piles more horror in his path, described with a growing clinical distance. Pym himself becomes more desensitized to each incident, until he views the irrational with a casual curiosity. The language is beautifully detailed, and some feel this story is the inspiration for "Moby Dick."

Altogether, a delightfully disturbing story. One of the best I have read.

Poe's Best Long Work -- And His Only, Even
At 150 pages or so, Arthur Gordon Pym is the closest Poe came to a novel. Rife with his characteristic polarization and dreamscape plots, this stands, in my opinion, as one of Poe's best. The short stories includedonly add to the mainstay, and it's a great value. ... Read more

Product Description
This volume contains a collection of some of the best short stories ever written by Edgar Allan Poe. A master of the macabre, Poe exhibits his literary prowess in these classic short stories. Contained within this volume are the following: The Gold-Bug, The Murders in the Rue Morgue, The Balloon-Hoax, The Purloined Letter, A Descent into the Maelström, The Black Cat, The Fall of the House of Usher, The Masque of the Red Death, The Cask of Amontillado, The Pit and the Pendulum, and The Tell-Tale Heart. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Get Out Your Magnifying Glasses!
Although this is a good collection of Poe's short stories, the pages crisp and the typeface clear, THE TYPE ITSELF IS VERY, VERY, VERY SMALL!I am getting older, but do not need glasses yet and I can hardly read a word or two before my eyes begin to cross!I don't understand book manufacturers anymore.Either the typeface is illegible, the paper so poor that all the letters blot together, or the print is teenie tiny.Aren't books supposed to be read?Also, something strange, the chapters arent seperated.One story runs into the next without starting a new page. ... Read more

Product Description
This title has fewer than 24 printed text pages. The Last Gentleman is presented here in a high quality paperback edition. This popular classic work by Rory Magill is in the English language. If you enjoy the works of Rory Magill then we highly recommend this publication for your book collection. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

All for Poe, and Poe for all
The opening pages of "Eureka" seem designed to appeal specifically to my Inner Nerd; Poe conjures a letter from the future (2848 AD, to be exact) discussing the historical influence of philosophers Aries Tottle and Hog (i.e. Aristotle and Francis Bacon), including a passing reference to "one Kant, a Dutchman, the originator of that species of Transcendentalism which, with the change merely of a C for a K, now bears his peculiar name." The alleged letter manages to toe the line between clever and downright loopy.

After this auspicious opening, however, Poe's short "Prose Poem" is a pretty tough slog, with a few curious and exceptional passages towards the end. Part of its difficulty is its datedness, not to mention Poe's attempt to create a Grand Unified Theory that somehow integrates mesmerism, the "hypothesis of Gravitation," the formation of the planets (the nebular hypothesis), and the shape of the Milky Way. In a page torn from modern cosmology, Poe envisions a universe that expands, then contracts, constantly renewing itself; the theory itself is still afloat today, but Poe's suppositions are based more on philosophy than on the science of Hog. To Poe, the story of the universe is like a plot of a novel: every incident relates to the other, and the Universe is simply the perfect plot.

Poe's analysis doesn't get much better than that. The scientific descriptions here can cause eyes to roll, minds to spin, and heads to ache. Still, there are surprises. One of the best passages (conceptually useful even today) is Poe's vivid description of the immensity of the universe. But his conclusions are what earned him notoriety among contemporary critics, theologians, and scientists. It's a short walk from an abstract discussion of the interrelatedness of everything to an argument for the equivalence of all, and Poe blithely saunters down that path: he proposes a pantheism that elevates humanity (and, of course, Poe) to the Divine; "each soul is in part, its own God--its own Creator." More explicitly, "this Heart Divine--what is it? It is our own."

As a work of science or of theology, then, Poe's arguments and his conclusions are strained. "Eureka" is more useful for understanding a literary cosmos; it's as if he were drafting an early vision of the universe imagined by Lovecraft or Borges.

"rise again to the Life Everlasting"
This work is most accurately described as an essay. Poe writes on its pages a Cosmogony, that is to say, he gives an explanation of how and why the Universe began, the way it evolved to its present condition, and what will happen to it in the end. This is no simple work, and contains not only his view of the Universe, but presents Poe's concerns with beauty, aesthetics, eternity and infinity. The essay has scientific speculations and methaphysical discussions, but Poe himself wanted it to be judged as a poem, perhaps synthesising in his wish the contradictory character of this strange, beautiful and profound work.

Poe's Pinnacle Work on the Creation of the Universe
Written in 1848, Eureka, one of Edgar Allan Poe's last works, propounds his theory of the creation of the material and spiritual universe.In his preface, Poe says "...it is as a Poem only that I wish this work to bejudged after I am dead."However, a reader would find it hard to considerEureka a poem of any sort when the author spends three-quarters of the workexpounding, through philosophical proof, a scientific belief in an essayformat. Poe's belief is that "Gravity exists on account of Matter'shaving been radiated, at its origin, atomically, into a limited sphere ofSpace, from one, individual, unconditional, irrelative, and absoluteParticle Proper, by the sole process in which it was possible to satisfy,at the same time, the two conditions, radiation and equable distributionthroughout the sphere-that is to say, by a force varying in directproportion with the squares of the distances between the radiated atoms,respectively, and the Particular centre of Radiation."

As a scientific orphilosophical discourse on astronomy, Eureka is a work ahead of its time. Poe went step by step using undeniable comparisons, similar to a geometricproof, to conclude with the aforementioned statement.He begins byproposing his theme that "In the Original Unity of the First Thing lies theSecondary Cause of All Things, with the Germ of their InevitableAnnihilation."He means that through the only Ultimate Principle-theVolition of God, the Universe was created.Within this creation there isan inherited yearning to return to the Original Unity.Poe furtherexplains his theory which is extremely similar to the Big Bang Theory. During creation, the Will of God produced a reaction within a finite space,causing the Original Unity to separate and disperse (or radiate).Afterthe force of creation, "Gravity",an equal but opposite force began toexert itself.This force, proven through Newtonian experimentation, is nowcontracting the universe back into the "One" or "Original Unity."That ishow Poe explains the existence of Gravity along with the dispersion ofgalaxies, stars, planets, and moons.

But as a literary piece, mostreaders would drop the book within the first ten pages.Poe's diatribesucceeds in alienating the modern reader through his references toseemingly unknown astronomers and physicists from the 18th and 19thcenturies such as Laplace, Comte, Dr. Nichol, Mädler, Lord Rosse, and manyothers.The usual motifs found in his short stories and poems are missingwithin the pages of Eureka.What is retained is his compounded clausesentence structure and his sense of self-worth.In many instances, Poedescribes scientists' discoveries as being correct, but driven by instinctinstead of reason, unlike his own.Interestingly, throughout his essay, heuses the words Divine and God very often.It leads one to believe thatsince this is written at the end of his life, that maybe he has begun tofear what is to come.Yet this uncharacteristic Poe disappears in the lastpage in which he states that "Man will at length attain that awfullytriumphant epoch when he shall recognize his existence as that of Jehovah." Here Poe, the short story writer, returns as the curtain falls, letting usall know that there is no God but the Unity of ourselves, which of courseincludes himself. ... Read more

Product Description
A wit, a wag, a laugh-aloud humorist and satirist? A jaunty man of ideas, with his finger on the pulse of the science and technology of his age? An ornery literary prankster whose hoaxes fooled thousands of people? These are not common descriptions of Edgar Allan Poe, better known as a master of horror, gloom, and melancholy. This new and unique collection, edited and introduced by prize-winning poet and playwright Wim Coleman, introduces "The Poe You Don't Know" through works of wild hilarity such as "Never Bet the Devil Your Head," inventive science fiction such as "The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar," and philosophical speculation such as "The Power of Words." Also presented in its entirety is the brilliantly plausible "The Balloon-Hoax," Poe's newspaper story that astounded all of New York City with a detailed account of an aerial crossing of the Atlantic that never really happened. Readers of this book will be surprised to meet a playful, exuberant Poe whose reputation for Gothicism has too long dwarfed his capacity for merriment and speculation. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A book to read on the train
Here is a book that can be useful to people who only know the more gruesome tales by Poe. But don't ask too much from it. The introduction is slim and there are no notes. It is for current reading. Nothing new there for Poe fans. More than 25 years ago, such a collection had already been published under the title The Other Poe. It was edited by David Galloway for Penguin Books, with a few very useful notes. ... Read more

Product Description
Edgar Poe was born the son of itinerant actors on January 19th, 1809 in Boston, Massachusets. Abandoned by his father and the later death of his mother, he was taken into the foster care of John Allan, a Virginia tobacco farmer. Now styled as Edgar Allan Poe, he distinguished himself at the University of Virginia but was equally adept at collecting debts from his assiduous gambling. His stepfather's disapproval shattered their fragile relationship and Poe left home to seek his fortune.
In 1836 he married his cousin Virginia but despite his prolific activities - journalism, poetry, lecturing, short stories, publishing, criticism and experimentation with fictional genres, including the detective novel which he virtually invented with the publication of 'The Murders in the Rue Morgue' (1841) - he received scant recognition for his efforts until the publication of 'The Raven' in 1845. The poem's instant popularity gave him a new visibility in literary circles, but his personal situation remained desperate: poverty, illness, drink, and the physical decline and ultimate death of Virginia in 1847 led to his untimely and premature decline. In 1849 he was found sick, injured and semi-conscious in a Baltimore tavern. Taken to hospital, he lingered on for four days, but never recovered and on October 7th Edgar Allan Poe died at the age of 40.
He was one of the most original writers in the history of American letters - a genius who, thanks to his dire reputation, was tragically misunderstood during his lifetime. It was not until Baudelaire enthusiastically translated his work that he found a wider audience in Europe, and became not only an enormous influence on modern French literature but also on the acclaimed work of writers such as Dostoevsky, Conan Doyle and Jules Verne. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (14)

What of the competing editions?
I have an inexplicable attraction to the Modern Library hardbacks. Inevitably, if a Modern Library hardback version of some book that I want exists, I'll end up buying it. I really don't know why. Anyway, case and point: Edgar Allan Poe.

The benefits of this edition are evident:

a) All the short stories--yes, even the uproariously funny ones that most paperbacks leave out, as well as Poe's bizarre "hoaxes" and inexplicably contrived "articles" that don't really pass very well as stories

b) All the poems--including poetry written in childhood as well as posthumously discovered

c) ...and a couple of essays--most importantly, "The Rationale of Verse."


However, the book still lacks most of Poe's criticism and other essays. I suggest you purchase Dover's little paperback _Edgar Allan Poe: Literary Theory and Criticism_ (kind of a "Greatest Hits" collection of Poe's critical work which, in reality, spans over 1500 pages) to complete your library. There you will find the great classic "The Philosophy of Composition" accompanied by dozens of ingenius (and at times ascerbic) reviews of books you may know from elsewhere. It's an invaluable resource.


Moreover, the same Modern Library problems afflict this edition--thus, herein lies another reason I cannot explain why I must keep on buying and reading Modern Library hardbacks:

A) There is no textual or intertextual editing, nor are there any critical footnotes. Moreover, there is no critical introduction by a Poe scholar. This bytes.

B) There is no margin room. There never is in a Modern Library hardback. This gets really annoying when you're reading "The Fall of the House of Usher," and you're trying to tie together pieces of evidence (all part of Poe's perfect conceived "totality" of content) to form a of cohesive, critical interpretation of the story with about a centimeter of margin room in which to write! Your handwriting will quickly show itself illegible, and your hand mercilessly cramped.

C) Modern Library hardbacks are customarily printed on cheap (although smooth and aesthetically pleasing) paper. Thus, when you write in your book, the ink is very likely to bleed over onto the converse page. Also quite annoying.


However, however, however--I must not forget that the goal of Modern Library is not to print the best book possible, but the best _affordable_ book possible. And at $18.00, this 1000 page hardback is hard to beat.

So, if you have the money, do actually buy _the best_ edition: the Library of America edition. ISBN 0940450186. It's over 1400 pages, is printed on paper that will last forever, and is edited by a prominent Poe scholar--but it's almost $40.00!


But, more importantly for those of us on budgets: This edition is in direct competition with both the DoubleDay and Castle editions of Poe's collected stories and poems. Under no circumstances would I recommend the other two editions due to their typesettings. I know that may sound ridiculous, but a humane typesetting has a lot to do with the pleasure and utility that a book can and will proffer its reader. The print on the other two editions is inordinately overloaded (too much packed on each page) and serves to burden the eyes. For sooth, the Modern Library version is packed too--but it's a huge improvement on the other two editions.

If you've got $40, get the Library of America edition. If you've only got $20, get this one.

Quoth the raven
I've always had a liking for Edgar Allan Poe, with his tales of horror, mystery and suspense, done in the atmospheric prose of a master writer. Since I live close enough, I've even made some trips to his gravesite, a place that is always surrounded by a sense of sadness.

Poe was a tormented genius who died young, under mysterious circumstances, and at the time of his death he wasn't deservingly popular. Certainly his work was not cute romances for the masses -- he explored the darkness of the human heart, love, satire, and the earliest whodunnit stories. And "Complete Stories and Poems of Edgar Allan Poe" brings together all of his poetry and writings in one book.

Poe's fiction writings include short stories and novellas, which tend to be rather weird -- a treasure-hunt and a golden insect, a ship caught in a whirlpool, a hypnotized man talks about the universe, and stories of despair, madness, and occasionally beauty. There is also his trilogy of Monsieur C. Auguste Dupin stories, which were the first to feature a brilliant detective solving an impossible crime.

Most people know about "The Raven" (which even has the Baltimore Ravens named after it) but Poe actually wrote a lot of poetry, most of which readers never heard of. Sometimes dark, or whimsical, or even both. "By a route obscure and lonely/Haunted by ill angels only/Where an Eidolon, named NIGHT/On a black throne reigns upright..."

And, of course, the horror. This is what Poe is best known for, including such well-known stories as "The Fall Of The House Of Usher." But there are also lesser-known gems -- tales of a plague invading a party, being buried alive, a portrait that siphoned the life out of its subject, and a nightly visit to an Italian crypt leading to madness.

Don't read "Complete Stories and Poems" all at once. It's too intense. It's better to soak it in a little at a time, so that you can get a better feel for the different kinds of writing that Poe did, and how he excelled at pretty much everything he put down on paper. Most great writers can't boast of that much.

Poe's writing is what makes even his least story or poem come alive -- he brought a gothic, misty vibrancy to his stories, and could make his quiet dialogue seem utterly chilling (" "I have no name in the regions which I inhabit. I was mortal, but am fiend..."). It's not hard to see why he was an influence on authors such as Fyodor Dostoevsky, Oscar Wilde, Arthur Conan Doyle and Franz Kafka.

"Complete Stories and Poems of Edgar Allan Poe" is a must-have for anyone with an appreciation for great literature and beautiful, dark writing.

Meditations On Horror In "Terrible Ascendancy"
'Horror,' as it is broadly understood, is defined by two essential elements: the active presence of decay, some 'abnormal' manifestation of nature, or a combination of both.

One hundred and fifty-seven years after his early death, Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849), who made horror the dominant theme of his creative work, remains the American master of the weird tale. Poe's work has had enormous worldwide influence: French poet Charles Baudelaire was an early champion and translator, Poe's 'William Wilson' (1839) haunts the pages of Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray (1890), and several stories look presciently ahead to work of Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung.

The Collected Tales and Poems of Edgar Allen Poe (1992), which also includes humorous pieces ('The Devil in the Belfry' is a hilarious tribute to the father of American literature, Washington Irving), detective fiction (Irving's 1838 story-cycle 'The Money-Diggers' stirs fluidly beneath 'The Gold Bug'), and early examples of what would come to be known as science fiction, brings together most of the author's important work.

Two general narrator (or protagonist/character) types emerge. The first is meticulously rational, calm, and 'objective'--like Dupin, the amateur sleuth who coolly solves the mystery of 'The Murders in the Rue Morgue.' The second, best represented by Roderick Usher in 'The Fall of the House of Usher,' is psychically haunted, deeply subjective, acutely sensitive in every pore, and barely able to repress the hysteria--at best--simmering just beneath the surface of his consciousness.

Both general types are isolated and obsessive in their own way--the first perhaps imagines he has found salvation by holding the world at a kind of hard cerebral remove, while the second surrenders his will in increments and sinks obliquely into emotional, spiritual, psychic, and physical fragmentation. The second type (found in 'The Fall of the House of Usher,' 'Berenice,' 'The Black Cat,' 'The Pit and the Pendulum,' and 'William Wilson,' among others) dominates and defines Poe's work.

Poe occasionally offers readers a combination of both types, as in 'The Imp of the Perverse,' in which the narrator, after a lengthy, meditative, and 'objective' discourse on the self-destructive aspects of human nature, briefly tells his own story: compelled to commit a pointless murder, he then finds himself equally compelled to publicly confess it.

Fatalism and perdition are key characteristics of the author's work: death may await everyone, but, in Poe, death impatiently reaches forward into men's lives, sickening, exhausting, and corrupting them, thus hastening fragile humanity's end. Poe's protagonists are once healthy, now dire, everymen surrounded on every side by hostile, malevolent, and destructive forces which dominate every plateau, division, and category of existence that man has methodically--and rather naively--mapped out. Human instinct proves to be 'red in tooth and claw'; the senses betray; the mind collapses; the borders and boundaries of civilization are violently breached; the natural world reveals a harsh, predatory, and incomprehensible face; physical laws prove unreliable; loving relationships sicken and fester; all agents of stability prove false and slip away.

Most of Poe's work suggests that there is no escape for anyone (--"dead to the World, to Heaven, and to Hope!"), and, as several of the tales underscore, including 'The Fall of the House of Usher' and 'Ms. Found in a Bottle,' even the cessation of life may bring no solace for some. However, reprieves are possible: the narrator barbarically tortured by the Spanish Inquisition is freed by the arriving French army at the conclusion of 'The Pit and the Pendulum,' the sailor who experiences 'A Descent Into the Maelstrom' survives to tell of his ordeal, and the vengeful dwarves in 'Hop Frog' apparently escape at that story's conclusion.

Remarkably, because of the skill with which he illustrates his view of man's utter lack of genuine choice or ability for self-determination, Poe manages to make most of his characters likeably human, despite their illnesses, eccentricities, and perversions. Though the tales team with toxic bloodlines, incestuous relationships, premature burials, rioting lunatics, marauding plagues, 'tormenting' doppelgangers, parasitic spirits of the dead, animated corpses, "ghoul-haunted woodlands," and a fair variety of additional supernatural tableaus, Poe remains is a remarkably rational, balanced, and economic storyteller, since the ultimate horror lies not in the external threat, but in the narrator's realization that what he is experiencing is the genuine nature of life itself.

Poe's tales suggest that, if all of mankind lives within a perpetually collapsing, cannibalizing universe, the most one can hope for is that, in the present, it is collapsing on someone else.

Fantastic Poe!
Poe is one of the best horror writers ever to have lived. I have read all of his works. Some of his best stories are The Fall of the House of Usher, The Masque of Red Death, The Black Cat, The Cask of Amontaiado, The Pit and the Pendelum, and The Tell-Tale Heart. His great poems include-The Raven and The Bells. Poe is a fantastic author, and his creepy tales of the dark side of life should be read over and over.

Tales from the Master
Poe is one of the world's finest writers and this collection of stories is what he's all about.This book contains the best of his tales, with many others for you to explore on your own.It has his poems and short stores. Its contents is very close to being unabridged except, for it missing a fewpoems and stories that aren't very good anyway.

Poe's tales contain allthe excitement of a novel, in around 10 pages.I recommend this collectionbecause it offers hours of enjoyment.The only thing you might need is alarge vocabulary because he tends to have an advanced word choice. Get thisbook and have fun! ... Read more

Product Description
Thirteen stories of horror, suspense and the supernatural. 'The Pit and the Pendulum', 'The Fall of the House of Usher' and 'The Black Cat' are just three of Edgar Allan Poe's most famous tales in this chilling collection. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

Building a classic library for a granddaughter
I bought this for my 12-year old granddaughter as part of an effort to build a classics library for her -- the schools don't seem to require that they be read any more --she read it through, so I guess that the effort was worthwhile.

Tales of Mystery and Terror
***This book is a worderful book full of suspense and wonder.Edgar Allen Poe is a literary genius!!! His work in this book is amazing, but in some parts I could not understand.In this book there is not just one story; there is TWELVE!!!Twelve tales of mystery and suspense.This book is a chilling adevture for more mature audiences.I do reccomend this book highly; but BEWARE!!! (>':'<)***

Many Good Stories In One
Mystery, terror, suspense... it's all here. Just look at all the classic stories in this one volume: The Fall of the House of Usher, The Tell-Tell Heart, The Cask of Amontillado, and his masterpiece the Gold Bug. This isrequired reading for any fan of Poe, or classic writings in general.

This book is thrilling and bone chilling
This is a very good book to read at night or while camping. This is my favorite book because it has lots of stories in it and it keeps you from buying all the books seperately.And if you have a report to do and you needillistrations this has one on everypage.

This book is thrilling and bone chilling
This is a very good book to read at night or while camping. This is my favorite book because it has lots of stories in it and it keeps you from buying all the books seperately.And if you have a report to do and you needillistrations this has one on everypage. ... Read more

Product Description

Customer Reviews (4)

Good Graphic Adaptation!
I am a fan of Edgar Allan Poe and I loved this graphic novel. It really brought to life the creepiness of his stories.

An Uneven Collection
I will admit to begin with that I did not realize, when I picked this book up in the library, that the stories in it were meant to be reworked versions of Poe's tales rather than simply graphic versions of the tales themselves, and that colored my expectations. However, that excuses nothing: there is no indication on either the front or back cover of the book that it is anything other than what I expected. The back flap has more specific descriptions of the stories, but I didn't bother to read that--I was already sure I would like it, seeing as it had to do with Poe.

The title of my review refers to unevenness in two areas. One, fairly objective, is the amount of reworking done by the writers and artists--each tale had a different amount of each. The other, naturally more subjective, is the quality of the adaptations. I felt that some were quite strong, others fairly weak, and other in between.

"The Raven" is one that is minimally reworked. In fact, it uses the poem word-for-word in almost its entirety. This may not have been the best choice, since any time the narrator spoke, the dialogue tags were dropped in favor of speech bubbles, causing the lines to lose their scansion. The art updates the story, indicating that the narrator is a wealthy tycoon who has recently lost his wife.

The version of "The Pit and the Pendulum" was very jarring, especially considering my expectations for the collection (which had been mostly reinforced by "The Raven"). It tells a tale of incredible torture for unknown crimes in a futuristic, totalitarian society reminiscent of "Brave New World" and "1984." Looking back, I think this was a good choice for a retelling of the story, but the fact that it had almost nothing in common with Poe's original story made it a disappointment.

"The Facts in the Case of Mr. Valdemar" is one of the stronger stories in the collection, in my opinion. It preserves the original Poe story very well, but brings it comfortably into the modern era. The art showing Mr. Valdemar's body heightens the creepiness.

"The Murders in the Rue Morgue" is another tale that was changed significantly. The main ideas of the original story are there, but it is brought into a science-fiction setting; Dupin's assistant is a robot, and the orangutan has had a man's brain imprinted onto it, giving it very fresh twists. I felt that the explanation for an orangutan murdering women was much more satisfying than in Poe's original tale. However, almost all sense of Dupin's eccentric genius was lost.

"The Fall of the House of Usher" is a stronger one. Again, the tale is much the same, but brought into the modern era, with Roderick Usher a former rock star and the narrator an old musician friend. The art is composed of blocks of black and white, with irregularly sized and shaped panels. I thought these artistic choices were effective in helping to convey the bleakness and chaos of the Usher house, but unfortunately it also made the panels difficult to follow.

"The Black Cat" seemed to have promise at first. It is set in a failing circus, with the titular cat a tame panther, and follows the original tale fairly well. However, it contains almost no sense of the panic and paranoia from Poe's version, and the ending (lacking my favorite part from the original, the discovery of the cat boarded up in the wall) is poorly contrived.

"The Oval Portrait," while far from my favorite of Poe's tales, is without a doubt my favorite of this collection. Perhaps because the original story is so simple, the author and artist brought it quite seamlessly into the modern era, positioning the artist and his subject as a college photographer and fellow student. In addition, it ends with an even more horrifying twist--something I would not have thought could be done with Poe.

"The Tell-Tale Heart" is another fairly well-done version. Its most unique aspect is that the narrator is a blind woman, so she would be unable to see the horrible blue eye, but of course, her heightened senses would allow her to hear a heart. The art is also particularly well done, showing the narrator mostly surrounded by darkness.

Finally, "The Masque of the Red Death" is an entertaining version of Poe's tale. It is set at a comic convention in a world in which a virulent disease has forced quarantine. The story is well updated, but left me unsatisfied--I was never convinced, as I was in Poe's tale, that the revelers deserved their awful fate.

Edgar Allen Poe- Re-Imagined
Poe lends himself well to adaptation.His particular style of psychological horror is such that it can be twisted, lengthened, almost completely re-worked and yet still retain that precious core that can be recognized as Edgar Allan Poe.

Previous comic adaptations of Poe, such as Classics Illustrated and the modern and excellent Graphic Classics, have taken a more faithful approach.Although still allowing creativity in the adaptations, they have mainly attempted to stay true to the original works.This volume, "Nevermore" by Sterling Press, goes in the opposite direction and encourage the artists to "re-imagine" Poe's stories.

C. Auguste Dupin, with a robot servant, investigating a murder involving a brain-transplanted orangutan? Check.Roderick Usher as a fading, Ozzy Osborne-style burnt-out rock star? Check. "The Oval Portrait" featuring a fashion model, and an obsessed photographer who wants to capture her perfect beauty? Check. Prospero as the host of an end-of-the-world comic book and costume convention, into which comes someone cosplaying as The Red Death? Check.

Some of the adaptations work better than others."The Raven" is almost wholly preserved, just updated to a guy in his apartment but otherwise the same."The Pit and The Pendulum" works great as a 1984-style oppressive future. "The Tell-Tale Heart" featuring a blind woman who volunteers at a Center for the Blind is surprisingly effective.Some of them stray too far from the point, keeping little of Poe's original language or intent. "The Masque of the Red Death" didn't thrill me, nor did "The Facts in the Case of Mr. Valdemar" which had the post-death Valdemar being marketed and sold for the media.

"Nevermore" certainly has its share of talent.A few seasoned comic book professionals (John McCrea from Hitman.Jamie Delano and Steve Pugh from Animal Man) show their stuff here, and weaknesses in the adaptations aside most of the art looks great.Everything is black-and-white, and the art-styles vary from German impressionistic to standard comic book to cartoony.

Creative visual adaptations of Poe's classic stories!
"Nevermore" may be a thin volume but it is packed with well-imagined graphic adaptations of Edgar Allan Poe's short stories. The team of writers and illustrators ably capture the essence of Poe's stories - be it the macabre factor, the gothic imagery or the portrayal of man's nature in its many forms - this graphic novel succeeds on all levels.

Th stories adapted here are "The Raven", "The Pit and the Pendulum", "The Facts in the Case of Mr Valdemar", "The Murders in the Rue Morgue", "The Fall of the House of Usher", "The Black Cat", "The Oval Portrait", "The Tell-tale Heart", and "The Masque of the Red Death". Each story is preceded by a brief introduction and there is also an illustrated biography of Poe at the end of the novel.

The cast of talent involved in this novel is impressive and i would highly recommend this to all fans of Poe as well as those who appreciate a well put-together graphic novel. ... Read more

Product Description
Who can forget haunting tales like "The Oblong Box," "Murders in the Rue Morgue," "The Pit and the Pendulum," and "Torture Garden"? This is a critical filmography of the 81 features from 13 countries that have adapted the literary works of Edgar Allan Poe. Each entry includes the title of the work, year of release, studio, full cast and credits, running time, and a detailed plot synopsis. Production and marketing notes first examine the degree to which the film is faithful to Poe’s original work. Pertinent career information for the primary actors and filmmakers, anecdotes and perspectives from the principals, and an overview of the marketing of the movie are next provided. A thorough critical analysis, including contemporary reviews of the film, completes each entry. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

excellent made book about the films of Edgar Allan Poe
Since 1908 there have been more than 85 films from more than 13 countries based on the work of Poe - this book covers them all. It's excellent researched and good writen - the author has viewedmost of them personally. There is also a included list of poe-inspired films, poe-films by country of origin, poe titles and films adapted from them and a bibliography. In one word: a reference source book. The only negative point is perhaps the only small amount of pictures. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Free SF Reader
A Horror Fiction Story

Dupin deduces something orange.


4 out of 5

Dupin and Holmes = One in the same.
"The Murders in the Rue Morgue" is the short story I read, but it was not from this edition.I have the Barnes & Noble Penguin 60s Classics edition, which contains only this story.While short, this story clearly has a climax, resolution, and all other fundamentals that would be expected within a novel.The two main characters are clearly fashioned like Sherlock Holmes and his deductive investigating methods (Dupin) and his at times duped companion Watson (the unnamed narrator at times).While I found the first 6 pages humdrum, since it only explained the analytical method of thinking (Dupin's way of thinking), and then Dupin's tedious soliloquies about how the murder may have been committed rather drably, the actual explanation of the crime is what caught my attention.I did expect more morbid images, since this is, in fact, Poe.An entertaining short story.I recommend.

Pioneering but surpassed
Poe is rightly acknowledged as the granddaddy of detective fiction and collected here is the proof. In these stories he gave us the basic devices of an entire genre: the genius detective and his sidekick, the locked room mystery, cyphers, royal spies, and the rigorous logic of arm-chair detection. However, the problem with pioneering a genre is that, forever after, your pioneering work is going to look rather amateurish. And this, unfortunately, is the case with Poe: his Auguste Dupin stories may well have given birth to modern detective fiction, but alongside the works they inspired they are little more than historically interesting artifacts - and ultimately rather dull ('The Murders in the Rue Morgue' excepted). It is simply not possible for us to experience these stories today with anything like the freshness they would have had for their original readers. So if you're looking for really great stories, look elsewhere. But if, on the other hand, you're seeking the historical origins of detective fiction, then your mystery has just been solved.

Inspiration to Conan Doyle
"The murders in the Rue Morgue" is the first of three Poe's stories featuring his famous detective, C. Auguste Dupin. The setting is Paris, and the story goes on mainly at night and in Dupin's apartments. This leaves the reader with a sense of darkness and a little claustrophobia, adding to Poe's great style.

Dupin is able to solve the murders of two women by just visiting the crime scene once and thinking a lot. After reading lots of books by Conan Doyle, Maurice Leblanc, Agatha Christie and P.D. James the fact of the murders itself and the kind of solution given to them may seem a little simple, but we have to remember that this may be considered one of the first "detective stories" of all times. Conan Doyle was obviously inspired in some parts of Dupin's character and reasoning to create Sherlock Holmes.

And the noir atmosphere is, as always, great. This is, appearently, not a story to be seen as "horror", but proves that Poe is one of the great authors of all time.

Grade 8.6/10

Thrilling story which under estimates the power of the beast
It was a breathe taking story which shows that even the most common person is capeable of discovering the truth behind a mysterious case.The story was the best I've read in years and should be one of the most populare storiesPoe has ever writen.Not only does he leave the person reading the bookamaized but, he leaves them terrified about the horrible things that lifehas to offer us.It just comes to show you never under estimate the power ofthe beast you don't of what might come.And by reading my reveiw you'll knowthat Poe has left another person amaised by what can happen to one whenthey least expect it . ... Read more

Product Description
Edgar Allan Poe was driven by demons.A poet and a storyteller, he was haunted by dark moods and darker thoughts, resulting in disturbing stories of high complexity, supernatural terror and exquisite mental turmoil. But were the demons that drove him real?That possibility is explored in the 96-page VERTIGO hardcover IN THE SHADOW OF EDGAR ALLAN POE #151; written by award-winning novelist Jonathan Scott Fuqua (The Reappearance of Sam Webber) and featuring photographic art by Stephen John Phillips (VEILS, I, PAPARAZZI) Steve Parke (I, PAPARAZZI).When a lost diary purported to be written by Poe falls into the hands of Sterling Tuttle, the Poe scholar uncovers a side of the writer that few people ever suspected. In the diary, the voice of the long-dead author reaches out from beyond the grave to give a chilling account of his tortured life. Haunted by the ghosts of his tragic past and the burden of relentless alcoholism, Poe soon finds that his creativity may depend on actual demons who have an unsavory agenda of their own#133;Based on someof Poe's published works, IN THE SHADOW combines actual events in the writer's life with Fuqua and Parke's speculation on the nature of his muse, creating a mysterious drama wherein tragedy and fate intersect. With chilling photographs that invoke the fear that Poe wrestled with, Park Phillips break the traditional boundaries of framed panels and create a graphic novel that explodes with original, unforgettable visuals. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (12)

Sick, sick, sick, sick, sick, sick and wrong
Disgusting, libelous twaddle that drags Poe's name through the mud. Useful as an emetic, perhaps.

A treat for Poe fans!
This book is a wonderful idea for a small book - A diary found that belonged to Edgar Allan Poe. The illustrations are fantastic, and lead to the character of the book. Follows the sad story of Poe. And the writing - it's a WOW - giving that Poe had his demons, (we knew that) but they were ACTUAL DEMONS)
For Poe fans especially - or those who want to see a great illustrated book for adults.

Totally hip
Okay, if you want to see the demise of intelligence in America, the sectional thinking, the special interests with their idiotic little hyper-concerns, read some of the reviews below. Just some. I mean, a few people seem to think that this is actually supposed to be a scholarly bio on Poe. Come on! They seem to think that the diary that's been found is somehow real and that the authors are doing Poe a great injustice, that they're arguing that Poe's enemy of the time probably cranked the thing out. So I have to ask, "What's going on in your heads?" This is a graphic novel boys and girls. It's a piece of fiction. Don't go writing your masters disertation and rely on this story, because you'll look foolish. And if you do, fellas, you should.
So here's my take. This is a full-throttle bit of fantasy writing combined with great, cinemagraphic art (manipulated photography that is absolutely cool) that is a miraculous little bundle of creepiness, literary deevolution, and gripping story telling, and you should buy it for no other reason than that. Don't go getting it if what you're looking for is a history text, buy it for the entertainment value. Don't go getting it and feel like it's some sideways dig at Poe and Poe's ability, because you'll look foolish. Get it cause it's good and entertaining as all get out. Don't go special-intresting this thing with your little nitch-Poe-hobby. You're missing the point. Instead, let Fuqua's perfect-pitch writing entertain, Phillips' photography work blow your mind, and Parke's magic rope it all together. Enjoy the thing in an easy chair with a lot of cushion. You'll read to the end and back again.

Very expensive printing and lots of drivel
I was drawn to In the Shadow of Edgar Allan Poe by the nice cover art and nice printing.These held out, and the entire book is very nicely manufactured and printed.And for me the very nice manufacturing (and hefty price to match) was the only thing I got from this book.

The story concerns a scholar who has been loaned a memoir which may or may not have been written by Poe just prior to his death.This memoir starts with Poe agreeing with several demons that they may accompany him through his life.From there on Poe's talents and relationships are stolen or corrupted and destroyed by the demons.He starts off talented in his own right but ends up drinking and not doing much else.Really, the story could be about a fictitious author of the past.It isn't about Poe, so why title it Poe except to drop a name.

The graphics inside were very nicely printed.Pictures were photographed and models were named in the credits section similar to a movie.The art itself didn't appeal to me.It was more of the same when I turned a page and not breath taking.Nothing really grabbed me, and art matters in a graphic novel.The photography thing is more a conceptual thing that could work than something that works here.

I wouldn't recommend buying this or even reading it.High quality printing would be better used on just about any other type of graphics - from art boks to a different comic book - and the high quality printing is the only memorable thing about this book.

Truly Breathtaking
I have two simple words for this book... MIND BLOWING! ... Read more

Product Description
Poetry. Collection of poems by Edgar Allan Poe, including The Raven, The Bells, Eldorado, An Enigma, The Sleeper, Bridal Ballad, A Dream, The Happiest Day, The Philosophy of Composition, Old English Poetry, The Poetic Principle, The Fall of the House of Usher etc. ... Read more