The Essential Tales and Poems of Edgar Allan Poe

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Barnes & Noble Books, 2004 - Fiction - 642 pages
The Essential Tales and Poems of Edgar Allan Poe, by Edgar Allan Poe, is part of the Barnes & Noble Classics series, which offers quality editions at affordable prices to the student and the general reader, including new scholarship, thoughtful design, and pages of carefully crafted extras. Here are some of the remarkable features of Barnes & Noble Classics:
  • New introductions commissioned from todays top writers and scholars
  • Biographies of the authors
  • Chronologies of contemporary historical, biographical, and cultural events
  • Footnotes and endnotes
  • Selective discussions of imitations, parodies, poems, books, plays, paintings, operas, statuary, and films inspired by the work
  • Comments by other famous authors
  • Study questions to challenge the readers viewpoints and expectations
  • Bibliographies for further reading
  • Indices & Glossaries, when appropriate
All editions are beautifully designed and are printed to superior specifications; some include illustrations of historical interest. Barnes & Noble Classics pulls together a constellation of influences--biographical, historical, and literary--to enrich each readers understanding of these enduring works.

Creator of the modern detective story, innovative architect of the horror genre, and a poet of extraordinary musicality, Edgar Allan Poe remains one of America's most popular and influential writers. His tales and poems brim with psychological depth, almost painful intensity, and unexpected--and surprisingly modern--flashes of dark humor and irony.

This anthology offers an exceptionally generous selection of Poe's short stories. It includes his famed masterpieces, such as The Murders in the Rue Morgue and The Purloined Letter, featuring Poe's great detective, Dupin; his insightful studies of madness The Black Cat and The Tell-Tale Heart; The Gold-Bug, his delightful exercise in code-breaking; and important but lesser-known tales, such as Bon-Bon, The Assignation, and King Pest. Also included are some of Poe's most beloved poems, haunting lyrics of love and loss, such as Annabel Lee, nightmare phantasmagories such as The Raven, and his grand experiment in translating sound into words, The Bells.

STRONGBenjamin F. Fisher, Professor of English, University of Mississippi, is a longtime enthusiast of the works of Poe. He has published books, articles, and notes about Poe, and in American, Victorian, and Gothic studies, and serves on editorial boards for several professional journals. He has also been acclaimed for outstanding teaching.

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About the author (2004)

Edgar Allan Poe was born in Boston, Massachusetts on January 19, 1809. In 1827, he enlisted in the United States Army and his first collection of poems, Tamerlane and Other Poems, was published. In 1835, he became the editor of the Southern Literary Messenger. Over the next ten years, Poe would edit a number of literary journals including the Burton's Gentleman's Magazine and Graham's Magazine in Philadelphia and the Broadway Journal in New York City. It was during these years that he established himself as a poet, a short story writer, and an editor. His works include The Fall of the House of Usher, The Tell-Tale Heart, The Murders in the Rue Morgue, The Mystery of Marie Roget, A Descent into the Maelstrom, The Masque of the Red Death, and The Raven. He struggle with depression and alcoholism his entire life and died on October 7, 1849 at the age of 40.

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