Tales of Mystery and Imagination first published byĨB East Street, Ware, Hertfordshire SG12 9HJĪll rights reserved. TALES OF MYSTERY AND IMAGINATION Edgar Allan Poe Introduction and Notes by John S. This is a good selection that will give you a good idea whether to pursue more Poe or not. And also seemingly normal incidents are suddenly turned upside down with fantasy and the grotesque. OK, it's not my favorite genre - (and definitely not my favorite cover) but Poe has an ability to describe the sense of madness and horror when people are facing death or the fate of their foul deeds. Missing are his three detective stories (fx the famous The Murders in the Rue Morgue) - I will read them later in a separate collection. Pit and the Pendulum - The House of Usher - A Tell-Tale Heart, The Black Cat are among them. This selection has 13 of his best known tales. One in a dungeon facing severe torture that but from what source?, a haunted house in 'Usher', a ship heading for a horrible sci-fi-like fate - and even a rather humorous tale with the title 'Words with a Mummy'. Another driven to madness by a black cat. A murderer haunted by the heartbeat of his victim. A lot of the tales have a storyteller who are on the brink of insanity, if he has not altogether lost it.

The title words reveal the grotesque imaginations of a genius writer. Focussing on the internal conflict of individuals, the power of the dead over the living, and psychological explorations of darker human emotion that appear to anticipate Sigmund Freud's later theories on the psyche, Poe's Gothic terror stories are considered masterpieces the world over.Terror and mystery. Considered to be one of the earliest American writers to encapsulate the genre of detective-fiction, the collection features some of his most popular tales.'The Gold-Bug' is the only tale that was popular in his lifetime, whereas 'The Black Cat', 'The Pit and the Pendulum' and 'The Murders in the Rue Morgue' became more widely read after his death.

'Yet I am not more sure that my soul lives, than I am that perverseness is one of the primitive impulses of the human heart - one of the indivisible primary faculties, or sentiments, which gives direction to the character of Man.' Including Poe's most terrifying, grotesque and haunting short stories, Tales of Mystery and Imagination is the ultimate collection of the infamous author's macabre works. HarperCollins is proud to present its new range of best-loved, essential classics.

Tales of mystery and imagination book