Edgar Allan Poe

Master of the Gothic and creator of the detective genre, Edgar Allan Poe is one of the most famous writers in all of American literature. Here is a carefully selected collection of his finest works, including such classics as The Pit and the Pendulum, The Tell Tale Heart, The Cask of Amontillado and many more.

Poe's character, the detective C.August Dupin and his sidekick the unnamed narrator undertake the unsolved murder of Marie Rogêt in Paris. The body of Rogêt, a perfume  shop employee, is found in the River Seine and the media take a keen interest in the mystery. Dupin remarks that the newspapers "create a sensation... rather than to further the cause of truth." Even so, he uses the newspaper reports to get into the mind of the murderer. Dupin uses...

The story follows a man named Pierre Bon-Bon, who believes himself a profound philosopher, and his encounter with the devil. The humour of the story is based on the verbal interchange between the two, which satirizes classical philosophers including Plato and  Aristotle. The devil reveals he has eaten the souls of many of these philosophers, this intrigues Bon-Bon…

The plot involves a man wrongfully accused of murdering his uncle Barnabas Shuttleworthy, whose corpse is missing. An unnamed narrator finds the body, suspects the victim's good friend Charles Goodfellow, and sets up an elaborate plot to expose him. The corpse appears to come back to life and points to the best friend, exclaiming "Thou art the man!" The title and the climactic line refer to the second Book of Samuel in the Bible.

Revenge turns deadly when the narrator, Montressor, buries his friend, Fortunato, alive as the result of a perceived insult. Like "The Black Cat" and "The Tell-Tale Heart," "The Cask of Amontillado" is remarkable for being conveyed from the murderer's perspective. A pioneer of the short story genre, Poe's stories typically captured themes of the macabre and included elements of the mysterious. His better-known stories include "The Fall of the House...

This epic poem gives an account of a Turkic ruler named Tamerlane, who conquered kingdoms to win power, while giving up that which his heart desired most. Despite the fact that his first published works were books of poetry, during his lifetime Edgar Allan Poe was recognized more for his literary criticism and prose than his poetry. However, Poe's poetic works have since become as well-known as his famous stories, and reflect similar themes of mystery...

A meditation on death and mortality, "The Conqueror Worm" describes a cryptic and ghoulish play that represents the inevitability of death. Despite the fact that his first published works were books of poetry, during his lifetime Edgar Allan Poe was recognized more for his literary criticism and prose than his poetry. However, Poe's poetic works have since become as well-known as his famous stories, and reflect similar themes of mystery and the macabre....

After an unnamed illness, the narrator sits in a coffee shop in London. Fascinated by the crowd outside the window, he considers how isolated people think they are, despite "the very denseness of the company around". He takes time to categorise the different types of people he sees. As evening falls, the narrator focuses on "a decrepit old man, some sixty-five or seventy years of age," whose face has a peculiar idiosyncrasy, and whose body "was short...

No conto "Os Crimes da Rua Morgue" ("The Murders in the Rue Morgue"), Edgar Allan Poe conta a história do assassinato brutal de duas mulheres em Paris. Envolto em mistério, o crime tornou-se um grande desafio para a polícia, sendo desvendado apenas por Auguste Dupin, um homem tão enigmático quanto os assuntos dos quais se ocupa. Publicado pela primeira vez em 1841 na "Graham's Magazine", o texto inaugurou a linhagem do conto policial moderno,...

The main plot begins when the man is wandering the streets of Venice and comes across a woman who screams because she sees her baby in the water. She is not actually trying to get the baby out of the water though instead a man from across the water jumps in, after the narrator has arrived and saves the baby. From here it becomes clear that the woman may have dropped the baby into the water by herself…