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The Collected Tales And Poems Of Edgar Allan Poe (1992)

The Collected Tales and Poems of Edgar Allan Poe (1992)

Book Info

Rating
4.38 of 5 Votes: 4
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ISBN
0679600078 (ISBN13: 9780679600077)
Language
English
Publisher
modern library

About book The Collected Tales And Poems Of Edgar Allan Poe (1992)

I haven't read this whole book, but I did finally get around to reading "The Fall of the House of Usher" and "The Pit and the Pendulum" this past week. This is part of my half-hearted and slow-going effort to read some of the things I would have read in high school, had I stayed in high school rather than dropping out early to start community college. My reactions: (1) Wow. That is some F---ed Up S--t. Who knew? (Actually, anyone who attended all four years of high school, but anyway.)(2) The man certainly knew how to set a mood. A bad mood.(3) I can see why overly dramatic and morbid teenagers would enjoy these.(4) This is not a good choice of reading when you are having a cruddy week.This definitely expanded my 19th century literature horizons and shed some light on the tales of Nathaniel Hawthorne, Arthur Conan Doyle, Robert Louis Stevenson, and Wilkie Collins - that is to say, I began to see that these authors (and others, I'm sure), like Poe, were developing the whole concept of "genre fiction" ... I wish I had something smart to say about that, but that's as far as that little inkling went, sorry.So anyway, these two stories are completely overwrought, as you would expect from the person who basically invented the genre of horror-writing. You could learn how to write horror just from reading these two stories, I think.

The book "The Collected Tales and Poems of Edgar Allan Poe" was absolutely amazing. I would recommend it to anyone who is a fan of Poe, or likes disturbing stories. Since there are so many short stories and poems in this particular book, I will just tell you about my favorite one, "The Black Cat."In "The Black Cat" you met a man who has a very strong bond with animals. After getting married and adopting many pets--including one black cat--he begins to have many anger problems and becomes abusive. His cat, named Pluto, loves the man and follows him all throughout the house. As time goes on the man finds it harder and harder not to abuse the cat and in the end he finally snaps. The man ends up taking the cats eye out with a pocket knife. After time passed, the man lost his mind a thought that the only way to escape the guilt of stabbing the cat's eye out was kill the cat, so he took the cat outside and hung it. That very night the house catches on fire and the whole house is burned except one wall. That wall had a black imprint of cat with a noose around its neck on it. If you want to figure out the mystery of "The Black Cat" and read many more spine-chilling stories you will have to read the book.

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Poe is my favorite author of his era, and one of my favorites of all time. He obviously had a spark of genius in him (the poetry he wrote in his teens is better than what many so-called poets produce in their prime), but what greatness he achieved was, by all accounts, the result of considerable effort and struggle.On balance I liked the poetry a bit more than the stories, though he created some excellent examples of each.The only negative thing I can say about it is that if you've only read a handful of Poe's most famous works, you may be a little disappointed that the rest of his oeuvre often fails to reach the same level of greatness. Not to say that it's mediocre...almost everything he wrote, in my opinion, is at least "good," with the notable exceptions of his only novel (The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym) and his unfinished play (Politian). And even his lesser achievements are imbued with a sense of imagination that few other authors can achieve.Highly recommended for fans of literary fiction and poetry, as well as fans of the horror/macabre, mystery, science fiction, and dark fantasy genres. Admittedly, some will prefer "Best of Poe" collections, rather than the complete works.
—Scott

Edgar Allan Poe is one of my favorite authors. I love the complex diction and syntax of his writing style. And most of all I love the dark nature of his subject matter. For some reason I always find myself drawn to literature that is a little more heavy and dark. I find that I am drawn to stories that make me think; I want to feel something, be moved by what I am reading, and that isn't something you typically find in happy literature. And when it comes to dark literature, Poe fits the bill perfectly. He had a tough life in which pretty much every woman he was ever close to died, and the men in his life had very few, if any, redeeming qualities. So it is no wonder that his writing is dark and seemingly always focused on death. It really is a shame that he could not be recognized in his own lifetime as the literary genius that he was.
—Leslie

Poe (1809-1849) was a seriously brilliant author. In the last few decades a number of television shows (such as CSI) and book series (by authors Patricia Cornwell, Jefferson Bass, etal) which focus on the tiniest of clues found in DNA and the decomposition patterns of a deceased body in order to solve a crime have fascinated legions of fans. Poe was way ahead of the game and it is so impressive that he knew of these issues. The crimes are serious and even shocking, but not described especially gruesomely as some novels do. Systematically the physical clues in the crime as well as the psychological motivations are examined analytically, each leading the crime solver closer to the true nature of the misdeed. Original crimes and intelligent atmospheric writing are a winning combination, establishing Poe as an early master of the horror genre. -GDPlace a hold on The Collected Tales and Poems of Edgar Allan Poe.Another important author in the horror genre is H.P. Lovecraft. Read atmospheric tales in The Best of H.P. Lovecraft.
—Oswego Public Library District

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