Edgar Allan Poe is one of the most enigmatic and controversial writers of American literature. Poe’s works continue to engage and baffle readers more than a century after they broke new ground in American letters. This book presents a meticulously edited and annotated selection of Poe’s tales and critical writings. The detailed introduction offers a critical survey of Poe’s oeuvre, while employing contemporary critical perspectives to contextualize and analyze key texts and thematic concerns. Supplemented with erudite critical studies by Dawn Keetley and James M. Hutchisson, this collection brings the writer and his contexts closer to the reader.
Sathyaraj Venkatesan is Assistant Professor of English at the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, National Institute of Technology (NIT), Tiruchirappalli, Tamil Nadu.
Introduction Edgar Allan Poe: His Life Poe’s Literary Output Poe and Transcendentalism Poe’s Science Fictions Detective Fictions and the Theory of Ratiocination Poe and the Gothic Tradition Poe and the Victorian Cult of Death Poe’s Theory of Composition and Critical Praxis Critical Reception of Poe’s Work Tales 1. The Purloined Letter 2. The Murders in the Rue Morgue 3. The Tell-Tale Heart 4. The Cask of Amontillado 5. The Fall of the House of Usher 6. The Black Cat 7. The Masque of the Red Death 8. The Pit and the Pendulum 9. The Imp of the Perverse 10. The Oval Portrait 11. A Descent into the Maelstrom Critical Writings 1. Letter to Mr. B— 2. Twice-Told Tales: A Review 3. The Philosophy of Composition 4. The Poetic Principle Notes and Annotations Critical Essays Pregnant Women and Envious Men in “Morella,” “Berenice,” “Ligeia,” and “The Fall of the House of Usher” Dawn Keetley The Permanence of Poe James M. Hutchisson Selected Bibliograph