Tales and Sketches, vol. 2: 1843-1849

by Edgar Allan Poe, Thomas Ollive Mabbott, Eleanor D Kewer, Maureen C Mabbott

Overview

Esteemed as a literary critic and poet, Edgar Allan Poe was most highly acclaimed for his tales and sketches. He transformed the short story from anecdote to art, virtually created the detective story, and perfected the psychological thriller. This volume is the second of two, edited by the consummate Poe scholar Thomas Ollive Mabbott, collecting all the tales of this master of the uncanny, the unnerving, and the terrifying.
 
Poe's stories reflect his professed method of "writing as if the author were firmly impressed with the truth, yet astonished at the immensity of the wonders he related." Marrying grotesque inventiveness with superb plot construction, Poe's strikingly original tales often use only one main character and one main incident. In many of them, horror and suspense, revenge and torture, are laced with hilarious satire. Each volume is enriched with Mabbott's detailed and authoritative notes on sources, the history and collation of all known texts authorized by Poe, and variants of Poe's "final" version.
 
Volume 2 contains stories written between 1843 and Poe's death, including "The Tell-Tale Heart," "The Purloined Letter," and "The Cask of Amontillado."
 
Promising spine-tingling delights and sleepless nights, this annotated edition of Tales and Sketches is a treasure trove for scholars and general readers alike, confirming Poe's status as one of literary art's "most brilliant but erratic stars."
 
 
 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780252069239
Publisher:	University of Illinois Press
Publication date:	08/31/2000
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	760
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.25(h) x 2.00(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.

Editorial Reviews

This annotated edition establishes itself as the definitive text and record. . . . Specialists will relish the rich headnotes, the complete rescension (including variorum footnotes) of the text, and the illuminating notes; the general reader will welcome the critical introductions, the readable page and attractive format, and the incisive commentary.

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