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Product Description
Product Description
The Portable Poe compiles Poe's greatest writings: tales of fantasy, terror, death, revenge, murder, and mystery, including "The Pit and the Pendulum," "The Fall of the House of Usher," "The Cask of Amontillado," and "The Murders in the Rue Morgue," the world's first detective story. In addition, this volume offers letters, articles, criticism, visionary poetry, and a selection of random "opinions" on fancy and the imagination, music and poetry, intuition and sundry other topics.
About the Author
Edgar Allan Poe (1809 – 49), was born in Boston, USA.
Inside This Book
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First Sentence
Poe considered the domain of the short prose tale less "elevated" than that of the poem but more extensive and thus more conducive to innovation. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
Poe considered the domain of the short prose tale less "elevated" than that of the poem but more extensive and thus more conducive to innovation. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
The singular genius of Edgar Allan Poe is suitably represented in this competitively priced compendium of his works. The literary genius of the man was all encompasing, poems and essays, reviews and scientific speculation-but above all his short stories. Ligeia is possibly one of the most brilliant stories ever penned (Bernard Shaw deemed it "unapproachable"). It is sensual, learned, intriguing and strangely comforting. The precursor of the Sherlock Holmes genre can be found here in the three Dupin mysteries and most edifying they prove too. I would urge most strongly, however, the reader to pay special attention to the fragments from "Marginalia", "The Poetic Principle" and "Eureka" found towards the end of the book. These establish Poe far above that of a mere story teller and give one a hint of the formidable intellect behind the works. Poe grappled with the mysteries of existence and the genesis of the universe during his all too short life and drew some profound conclusions, leaving future generations much too muse upon.On a personal level, I find his comment that poetry exists to put one in direct contact with beauty in the form of language. If one reads these before the short stories, the themes contained therein take on a new significance-particularly that of Ligeia. This book cannot be recommended strongly enough.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
11 reviews
18 of 18 people found the following review helpful
Ahh Poe. . .
23 July 2000
Format:Mass Market Paperback
Of all the writers you were forced to read in High School, Poe may be the most contemporary. After all, where would today's Alternative Goth culture be without the influence of Poe.
In this volume, fans of the strange genius are given a rare treat. Editor Philip Van Doren Stern has collected not only the all-time greats (e.g. "The Tell-Tale Heart" "The Pit and the Pendulum" "The Raven" etc.), but also some eccentric choices like "The Man of the Crowd". In addition, the book gives several non-fiction articles and literary reviews written by Poe showing that he was not without a practical side.
But perhaps the most fascinating thing is a section of letters Poe wrote, to among other people, his stepfather, his wife, his mother-in-law, and various members of the literary community. These paint a colorful picture of his often desperate existence. After reading these letters, you may think Poe tragic, pathetic, pretentious or maybe even egotistical, but you wll never think of him in quite the same way you previously did.
Read this book for a fresh look at one of American literature's greatest geniuses.
14 of 14 people found the following review helpful
All the Poe You'll Ever Need
20 Sep 2001
Format:Mass Market Paperback
Unless you're a collector or completist, this volume compiles all the Poe you could possibly ask for. All the classic stories are here, and you can clearly see how Poe broke new ground and influenced all creative fiction that came after him. While most people are wary of "classics" that everybody talks about, but nobody seems to really like, Poe's classics will give you a true appreciation for his genius. You will truly be enthralled by such well-known tales like "The Pit and the Pendulum", "The Tell-Tale Heart", "The Murders in the Rue Morgue" (in which Poe invents the detective story), and especially the immortal "The Raven".
The editor has included many of the surviving letters that Poe wrote to the various women he unsuccessfully tried to court, and especially to his cruel stepfather, which provide great insight into Poe's inner demons. If you ever wonder why most of Poe's stories are based on death and/or madness, these letters will show you why. The only problem with this particular book is that it is a little too exhaustive, and includes many items that are more of historical interest than they are readable. This is true of most of the entries in the Articles, Criticism, and Opinions sections of the book.
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Great Work, Poorly Organized Kindle Book
22 Mar 2011
Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase
This review is intended as a review of the book, not of the work of Edgar Allan Poe. As a Poe fan, I purchased this book just for the pure fun of reading Poe on my Kindle. However, the book is so poorly organized that finding a particular tale or poem is a real pain and takes a lot of the fun out of it. While there is a table of contents, the individual works are not list there; rather there are groupings of the works so you have to know (or guess) to which group the work you may be looking for belongs. Alas, there is also no index. This is an electronic book: I should be able to toggle down a table of contents to a particular work, select it, and be taken there, but it doesn't happen that way. Not recommended for Kindle readers!
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