The Best of Poe: The Tell-Tale Heart, The Raven, The Cask of Amontillado, and 30 Others (Prestwick House Literary Touchstone Classics Series)

by Edgar Allan Poe

Overview

Edgar Allan Poe--his name conjures up thoughts of hearts beating long after their owners are dead, of disease and plague amid wealth, of love that extends beyond the grave, and of black ravens who utter only one word. The richness of Poe’s writing, however, includes much more than horror, loss, and death.

Alive with hypnotic sounds and mesmerizing rhythms, his poetry captures both the splendor and devastation of love, life, and death. His stories teem with irony and black humor, in addition to plot twists and surprise endings. Living by their own rules and charged with passion, Poe’s characters are instantly recognizable even though we may be appalled by their actions, we understand their motivations.

The thirty-three selections in The Best of Poe highlight his unique qualities. Discover for yourself the mysterious allure and genius of Edgar Allan Poe, who remains one of America’s most popular and important authors, even more than 150 years after his death.

This Prestwick House Literary Touchstone Classic includes a glossary and reader’s notes to help the modern reader contend with Poe’s allusions and complicated vocabulary.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781580493871
Publisher:	Prestwick House, Incorporated
Publication date:	01/01/2006
Series:	Prestwick House Literary Touchstone Classics
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	228
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849) was orphaned at the age of three and adopted by a wealthy Virginia family with whom he had a troubled relationship. He excelled in his studies of language and literature at school, and self-published his first book, Tamerlane and Other Poems, in 1827. In 1830, Poe embarked on a career as a writer and began contributing reviews and essays to popular periodicals. He also wrote sketches and short fiction, and in 1833 published his only completed novel, The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket. Over the next five years he established himself as a master of the short story form through the publication of "The Fall of the House of Usher," "The Masque of the Red Death," "The Tell-Tale Heart," and other well–known works. In 1841, he wrote "The Murders in the Rue Morgue," generally considered the first modern detective story. The publication of The Raven and Other Poems in 1845 brought him additional fame as a poet.