World Famous Comics: The Gold-Bug and Other Tales (Dover Thrift Editions)
The Gold-Bug and Other Tales (Dover Thrift Editions)
By: Edgar Allan Poe Publisher: Dover Publications Average Rating: Binding: Paperback Label: Dover Publications Number of Items: 1 Number of Pages: 128 Publication Date: June 01, 1991 Reading Level: Young Adult
Nine gripping tales of psychological terror and the supernatural, by the undisputed master of the American Gothic horror story: "The Murders in the Rue Morgue," "The Fall of the House of Usher," "The Masque of the Red Death," "The Tell-Tale Heart," "The Pit and the Pendulum" and 4 others.
How can you go wrong?? So it is hard to go wrong with any Poe books, and especially for one this cheap. These Dover Thrift editions do not have the most amazing print quality or anything, but have some great writings in cheap, easy to own packages.
Really though, if you can spare it, spent the 15 bucks or whatever and pick up one of the many complete collections of Poe if you can.
Free SF Reader This includes:
Ligeia The Fall of the House of Usher The Murders in the Rue Morgue The Masque of the Red Death The Pit and the Pendulum The Tell-Tale Heart The Gold-Bug The Black Cat The Cask of Amontillado
The usual suspects are here, and a bit of variety like The Masque of the Red Death. So, another fine collection from Dover.
Nine Great Tales by the Master of the Macabre America was a young country; its age was measured in decades. America had few established colleges and had produced few writers, artists, and musicians. It is ironic that Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849), living in poverty and suffering from alcohol and opium abuse, would be one of America's greatest writers, and one of the key creators of two genre of fiction - the deductive mystery and the horror story.
This inexpensive Dover Thrift edition - The Gold Bug and Other Tales - contains nine unabridged short stories arranged in chronological order. Two are classic mystery stories. Seven are superb horror stories.
The Murders in the Rue Morgue (1841) was not only innovative, but had lasting influence on later writers. Some fifty years later Conan Doyle closely patterned Sherlock Holmes on Poe's amateur detective, Monsieur C. Auguste Dupin, and Dr. Watson on Poe's unnamed narrator that had so much difficulty keeping pace with the brilliant deductions of Dupin. Would we have had Holmes without Dupin?
The Gold-Bug (1843) is the other deductive mystery story in this Dover edition. I still remember reading it for the first time years ago. I was a young, intense entomologist at that time; after reading this intriguing tale, I carefully reinspected every beetle in my collection. I will say nothing about the plot as it is best savored as a surprise.
Six of the horror stories - The Cask Of Amontillado (1846), The Black Cat (1843), The Tell-Tale Heart (1843), The Pit and the Pendulum (1842), The Masque of the Red Death (1842), and The Fall of the House of Usher (1839) - are among Poe's best known tales. They have all been adapted to films, often with considerable license on the part of the screen writer. Ligeia (1838), the earliest story in this collection, may be unfamiliar. These tales are usually told in narrative form, sometimes from the perspective of one not entirely sane.
Many years ago a teacher, Mr. McLeod, loaned me a thick, heavy book containing the complete stories and poetry of Edgar Allan Poe. I read it cover to cover. Poe remains one of my favorite authors.
Great Stories That Could Use Some Footnotes First of all, I think it goes without saying that the stories collected here are wonderful. "The Cask Of Amontillado", "The Tell-Tale Heart", "The Fall Of The House Of Usher" - it doesn't get much better (or more horrifying) than this. The price is also nice. A dollar fifty? What can you buy for a dollar fifty these days?
My sole complaint regards the absence of footnotes. Take "Cask Of Amontillado", for example. It's hardly essential to know that "motley" is the garb of a jester or a clown (or that a "pipe" is a wine cask) in order to enjoy the story, but that information would have been nice to have nonetheless.
In conclusion, this collection is a wonderful bargain, but if you have a little more money you may want to invest in an annotated collection of these tales.
Edgar Edgar Allan Poe is a master of words, wisdom and the English language in general. He sits high up with the greats of English literature and reading this book, you will know why. He is master of his words and moulds them with such love that leads the reader into thinking they are one with the author. Lead me on...
Anything Goes Trivia
Megaton Man
Tailipoe
Trevor
