Selected Tales (Penguin Popular Classics)
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Product Description
Product Description
Since their first publication in the 1830s and 1840s, Edgar Allan Poe's extraordinary Gothic tales have established themselves as classics of horror fiction and have also created many of the conventions which still dominate the genre of detective fiction. As well as being highly enjoyable, Poe's tales are works of very real intellectual exploration. Attentive to the historical and political dimensions of these very American tales, this new selection places the most popular -- `The Fall of the House of Usher', `The Masque of the Red Death', `The Murders in the Rue Morgue; and `The Purloined Letter' -- alongside less well-known travel narratives, metaphysical essays and political satires.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
13 of 16 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
In terms of this anthology in particular, all of Poe's well-known stories seem to be there, including 'The Pit & The Pendulum' and 'The Tell-Tale Heart.' However, Poe's frequent use of foreign languages in his stories can spoil enjoyment, and on at least two occasions I could not fully grasp the ending of a story because no translation to these languages was given in this edition. This is a particular concern for the opening story, 'Duc de L'Omelette'.
In terms of Poe's writing, my opinion is divided. His stories (those in this book, at least), seem to be either his famous tales of terror or more essay-type pieces. The tales of terror, especially 'The Pit & the Pendulum' and 'The Cask of Amontillado', are very well-written and I enjoyed them a lot. However, a number of his stories are more like essays and these can be hard to follow in the old-fashioned language Poe used and, if you are unaccustomed to Poe, can leave you waiting forever for the story to begin. Overall, I enjoyed Poe's writings supplied here and they grew on me as I became more used to his style, but they are not as scary nor as easy to follow as more modern tales.
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Poe's Gothic horror stories can seem dated - well they are all over a hundred years old! However, classics such as 'The Cask of Amontillado', 'The Pit and the Pendulum' and 'The Black Cat' still have the power to shock and appall readers, and this is consequently an engaging collection. I agree with a previous reviewer that there are several less accessible essays in here, but there are enough great stories to make up for it. Highly recommended for lovers of Gothic horror and not of a sensitive disposition - you may have nightmares!
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
1 review
A solid collection
14 Aug 2010
Format:Paperback
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 "Poe: Selected Tales" brings together some of his most memorable fiction here.
Poe's fiction writings include short stories and novellas, which include plenty of despair, madness, and occasionally beauty. This includes two of his Monsieur C. Auguste Dupin stories, which were the first to feature a brilliant detective solving an impossible crime, and there's also the novel "The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym," an increasingly weird tale of a boy's adventures at sea.
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, the sound of a beating heart that drives a man mad, a court jester's revenge, a woman strong enough to defy death, a demonic horse and a feud, a man haunted by a doppelganger, and more.
Don't read too many of Poe's stories 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 words seem utterly chilling ("mine own image, but with features all pale and dabbled in blood"). 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.
The only problem is that, well, this is a SELECTION of Poe's stories, so of course some brilliant material is going to be left out (including one of the Dupin stories -- we have stories #1 and #2, but not #3).
"Poe: Selected Tales" brings together some of Poe's best work, both obscure and famous. While true Poephiles will want the whole package, this is a good way of being introduced to his writing.
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 "Poe: Selected Tales" brings together some of his most memorable fiction here.
Poe's fiction writings include short stories and novellas, which include plenty of despair, madness, and occasionally beauty. This includes two of his Monsieur C. Auguste Dupin stories, which were the first to feature a brilliant detective solving an impossible crime, and there's also the novel "The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym," an increasingly weird tale of a boy's adventures at sea.
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, the sound of a beating heart that drives a man mad, a court jester's revenge, a woman strong enough to defy death, a demonic horse and a feud, a man haunted by a doppelganger, and more.
Don't read too many of Poe's stories 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 words seem utterly chilling ("mine own image, but with features all pale and dabbled in blood"). 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.
The only problem is that, well, this is a SELECTION of Poe's stories, so of course some brilliant material is going to be left out (including one of the Dupin stories -- we have stories #1 and #2, but not #3).
"Poe: Selected Tales" brings together some of Poe's best work, both obscure and famous. While true Poephiles will want the whole package, this is a good way of being introduced to his writing.
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