Product Description

Edited with an Introduction by David Galloway.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #49522 in Books
• Published on: 2003-04-29
• Released on: 2003-04-29
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 544 pages

About the Author
Although dissipated in his youth and plagued by mental instability towards the end of his life, Boston-born Edgar Allan Poe (1809-49) had a variety of occupations including service in the US army and magazine editor, as well as his remarkable literary output.

From AudioFile
A fine collection of Poe's stories are selected here. Andrew Sachs does an excellent job of presenting each. He maintains the fine air of detachment at the beginning of each tale. Then, as each tale unfolds, he draws us in as Poe intended, making the full effect unsettling and in several cases chilling. Sachs speaks clearly and chooses few characterizations in the stories. There are numerous more dramatized readings of Poe's stories, but Sachs's straight-forward, intelligent presentation is an excellent choice for listeners who want unadorned narrative. R.F.W. (c)AudioFile, Portland, Maine

Customer Reviews

Indispensible edition!! A fine collection.
I've found this particular edition of Poe's (albiet incomplete) collected works to be the best and most accurate blend possible of his short fiction, poetry, and most important prose. The annotations and background information are also extremely helpful unlike some works that do not translate the Latin, for example. MOST IMPORTANTLY I've found this work to contain the most perfect editions of his poetry, as opposed to other collected works I've owned that have unusual deviances, such as "monody compels" (this ed.) vs "melody compels" of another edition. This has indeed become a faithful companion and my particular copy has become well-worn! I would suggest obtaining as a supplement a seperate edition of Poe's complete short stories and possibly also an edition of his collected prose, although this volume contains his perhaps most important work "The American Drama" anyway. Cheers, hope this helps!

Creepy fictional masterpieces of horror, poems and selected essays by the original Baltimore Raven superstar Edgar Allan Poe
Long before Alfred Hitchcock, Bram Stoker or Arthur Conan Doyle there was Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849). Born to a Boston actress; married to 13 year old Virginia Clemm and tormented by the demons of the soul this American original is the most popular worldwide American author.
In this excellent Penguin collection the editors have collected his best short stories, poems and essays in a valuable volume.
Among the masterpieces are:
The Murders in the Rue Morgue and The Purloined Letter featuring the pre-Sherlock Holmes detective skills of Auguste Dupin.
The Fall of the House of Usher in which a gothic mansion mirrors the madness, incest and horror within the soul of its demented owner.
The Pit and the Pendulum an unforgettable tale of the Spanish Inquisition where the suspense is almost tactile in its intensity.
The Masque of the Red Death in which Death is the unexpected visitor at a masqued ball.
The Gold Bug shows Poe's mathematical mind at work as a buried treasure is discovered.
In addition to other tales we find here such great poems as "The Raven"; "The Bells" and "Ligea".
A sample of Poe's literary essays are included. One essays deals with his review of the American theatre; another reviews Hawthorne's "Twice-Told Tales" and the best of the lot details the creative process the poet used to create his 108 line masterpiece "The Raven."
This is a fine edition which could be used in the classroom or for pleasure reading. Enjoy the outre world and lush writing of Edgar Allan Poe!

The TRUE king of Horror!
I got this book as a gift for my Birth Day. I loved Edgar Allan Poe, his writings, poetry, essays, everything. I first heard The Raven in my [...] class, than heard The Cask of Amontillado in my [...] class. I than fully fell-in-love with this Poet! I also went out and picked up Young Edgar Allan Poe, and read it, exploring his life from a small child in beautiful detail to his death. If you haven't read any of Edgar Allan Poe's writings yet, please do so. Now...
At first when you read some of his writings, you get washed away by the old-fashioned literature, to the insanity of his mind (which isn't so, mind you). I had to re-read The Masque of the Red Death twice before I fully comprehended just what happened. I relieved in the story: The Cask of Amontillado and The Pit and the Pendulum, struggled through The Bells, read my heart out in The Raven, raced through The Tell-Tale Heart and read curiously at The Man of the Crowd. This is truly the king of horror and insanity at it's best! Drop Stephen King for just a little while and read Poe, you won't regret it!