Edgar Allan Poe

Born in Boston, Massachusetts, Edgar Allan Poe was a 19th century poet, novelist and short story writer. He also worked as a literary critic and editor but was more successful as an author.

Poe's curious and often nightmarish work greatly influenced the horror and fantasy genres. He is also credited with having been the principal initiator of the genre of detective fiction with his three stories about Auguste Dupin[?], the most famous of which is "The Murders in the Rue Morgue".

Poe was the author of "The Raven", widely considered to be the most famous American poem.

Poe's life was fraught with sorrow and he died in a pitiful state in Baltimore, Maryland.

Poe's literary reputation was greater abroad than it was in the United States. Rufus Griswold[?] became his literary executor; in fact, Griswold was a rival and an enemy. In the U.S.A., Griswold circulated a "Memoir of the Author" which portrayed Poe as a drunkard and opium addict. These defamatory reminisicences did little to commend Poe to U.S. literary society.

In France, where he is commonly known as "Edgar Poe," Charles Baudelaire translated his stories and several of the poems into French. Baudelaire was the right man for this job, and his excellent translations meant that Poe enjoyed a vogue among avant-garde writers in France while being ignored in his native land. From France, writers like Algernon Charles Swinburne caught the Poe-bug, and Swinburne's musical verse owes much to Poe's technique. Poe was much admired, also, by the school of Symbolism, and Stephane Mallarmé dedicated several poems to him.

Well-known poems

"The Raven"

"Annabel Lee[?]"

"The Bells[?]"

"Lenore[?]"

"Ulalume[?]"

Well-known stories

Auguste Dupin:

"The Murders in the Rue Morgue"

"The Balloon-Hoax"

"The Purloined Letter"

"The Mystery of Marie Roget[?]"

Others:

"The Devil in the Belfry"

"The Fall of the House of Usher[?]"

"The Pit and the Pendulum"

"The Black Cat"

"The Tell-Tale Heart"

"The Masque of the Red Death"

"A Descent into the Maelstrom"

"The Gold Bug[?]"

"The Facts in the Case of M. Valdimar[?]"

"The Cask of Amontillado[?]" (see Crime fiction for a discussion)

Novels

The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket[?]

Several of his works were made into movies, starring Vincent Price. In 2003, Lou Reed released a double-CD set based on Poe's writings.

External Links

• The Angel Of The Odd (http://www.abacci.com/books/book.asp?bookID=160)
• An Appreciation (http://www.abacci.com/books/book.asp?bookID=175)
• The Assignation (http://www.abacci.com/books/book.asp?bookID=195)
• The Balloon Hoax (http://www.abacci.com/books/book.asp?bookID=222)
• Berenice (http://www.abacci.com/books/book.asp?bookID=253)
• The Black Cat (http://www.abacci.com/books/book.asp?bookID=266)
• The Business Man (http://www.abacci.com/books/book.asp?bookID=310)
• The Cask Of Amontillado (http://www.abacci.com/books/book.asp?bookID=333) (see Crime fiction)
• A Descent Into The Maelstrvm (http://www.abacci.com/books/book.asp?bookID=501)
• The Devil In The Belfry (http://www.abacci.com/books/book.asp?bookID=507)
• The Domain Of Arnheim (http://www.abacci.com/books/book.asp?bookID=533)
• Eleonora (http://www.abacci.com/books/book.asp?bookID=584)
• The Facts In The Case Of M. Valdemar (http://www.abacci.com/books/book.asp?bookID=658)
• Fall of the House of Usher (http://www.abacci.com/books/book.asp?bookID=2657)
• The Fall Of The House Of Usher (http://www.abacci.com/books/book.asp?bookID=662)
• Four Beasts In One (http://www.abacci.com/books/book.asp?bookID=715)
• The Gold Bug (http://www.abacci.com/books/book.asp?bookID=775)
• Hop Frog (http://www.abacci.com/books/book.asp?bookID=923)
• How To Write A Blackwood Article (http://www.abacci.com/books/book.asp?bookID=941)
• The Imp Of The Perverse (http://www.abacci.com/books/book.asp?bookID=969)
• The Island Of The Fay (http://www.abacci.com/books/book.asp?bookID=1012)
• King Pest (http://www.abacci.com/books/book.asp?bookID=1074)
• The Landscape Garden (http://www.abacci.com/books/book.asp?bookID=1096)
• Loss Of Breath (http://www.abacci.com/books/book.asp?bookID=1196)
• The Man Of The Crowd (http://www.abacci.com/books/book.asp?bookID=1254)
• The Man That Was Used Up (http://www.abacci.com/books/book.asp?bookID=1257)
• The Masque Of The Red Death (http://www.abacci.com/books/book.asp?bookID=1290)
• Metzengerstein (http://www.abacci.com/books/book.asp?bookID=1336)
• Morella (http://www.abacci.com/books/book.asp?bookID=1379)
• The Murders In The Rue Morgue (http://www.abacci.com/books/book.asp?bookID=1396)
• The Mystery of Marie Roget (http://www.abacci.com/books/book.asp?bookID=1416)
• Mystification (http://www.abacci.com/books/book.asp?bookID=1418)
• Narrative of A. Gordon Pym (http://www.abacci.com/books/book.asp?bookID=1421)
• Never Bet the Devil Your Head (http://www.abacci.com/books/book.asp?bookID=1430)
• The Oblong Box (http://www.abacci.com/books/book.asp?bookID=1472)
• The Oval Portrait (http://www.abacci.com/books/book.asp?bookID=1580)
• Philosophy of Furniture (http://www.abacci.com/books/book.asp?bookID=1700)
• The Pit and the Pendulum (http://www.abacci.com/books/book.asp?bookID=1742)
• The Poetic Principle (http://www.abacci.com/books/book.asp?bookID=1791)
• The Power of Words (http://www.abacci.com/books/book.asp?bookID=1827)
• A Predicament (http://www.abacci.com/books/book.asp?bookID=1829)
• The Premature Burial (http://www.abacci.com/books/book.asp?bookID=1831)
• The Purloined Letter (http://www.abacci.com/books/book.asp?bookID=1893)
• The Raven (http://www.abacci.com/books/book.asp?bookID=1937)
• Shadow (http://www.abacci.com/books/book.asp?bookID=2191)
• Silence (http://www.abacci.com/books/book.asp?bookID=2242)
• Some words with a Mummy (http://www.abacci.com/books/book.asp?bookID=2121)
• The Spectacles (http://www.abacci.com/books/book.asp?bookID=2203)
• The Sphinx (http://www.abacci.com/books/book.asp?bookID=2210)
• A Tale Of Jerusalem (http://www.abacci.com/books/book.asp?bookID=2166)
• A Tale Of The Ragged Mountains (http://www.abacci.com/books/book.asp?bookID=2170)
• The Tell-Tale Heart (http://www.abacci.com/books/book.asp?bookID=2285)
• Thou Art the Man (http://www.abacci.com/books/book.asp?bookID=2336)
• The Thousand-and-Second Tale of Scheherezade (http://www.abacci.com/books/book.asp?bookID=2338)
• Three Sundays in a Week (http://www.abacci.com/books/book.asp?bookID=2349)
• Why the Little Frenchman Wears his Hand in a Sling (http://www.abacci.com/books/book.asp?bookID=1796)
• William Wilson (http://www.abacci.com/books/book.asp?bookID=1836)

Other links:

Information about Poe from The Edgar Allan Poe Society of Baltimore (http://www.eapoe.org/index.htm)