Edgar Allan Poe

Edgar Allan Poe An Appreciation Caught from some unhappy master whom unmerciful Disaster Followed fast and followed faster till his songs one burden bore- Till the dirges of his Hope that melancholy burden bore Of "never-never more " THIS stanza from "The Raven" was recommended by James Russell Lowell as an inscription upon the Baltimore monument which marks the resting place of Edgar Allan Poe, the most interesting and original figure in American letters. And, to signify that peculiar musical quality of Poe's genius which inthralls every reader, Mr. Lowell suggested this additional verse, from the "Haunted Palace": And all with pearl and ruby glowing Was the fair palace door, Through which came flowing, flowing, flowing, And sparkling ever more, A troop of Echoes, whose sweet duty Was but to sing, In voices of surpassing beauty, The wit and wisdom of their king. Born in poverty at Boston, January 19 1809, dying under painful circumstances at Baltimore, October 7, 1849, his whole literary career of scarcely fifteen years a pitiful struggle for mere subsistence, his memory malignantly misrepresented by his earliest biographer, Griswold, how completely has truth at last routed falsehood and how magnificently has Poe come into his own, For "The Raven," first 6 published in 1845, and, within a few months, read, recited and parodied wherever the English language was spoken, the half-starved poet received $10 Less than a year later his brother poet, N. P. Willis, issued this touching appeal to the admirers of genius on behalf of the neglected author, his dying wife and her devoted mother, then living under very straitened circumstances in a little cottage at Fordham, N. Y.

Edgar Allan Poe (Boston, 19 janvier 1809 - Baltimore, 7 octobre 1849) est un po te, romancier, nouvelliste, critique litt raire, dramaturge et diteur am ricain, ainsi que l'une des principales figures du romantisme am ricain. Connu surtout pour ses contes - genre dont la bri vet lui permet de mettre en valeur sa th orie de l'effet, suivant laquelle tous les l ments du texte doivent concourir la r alisation d'un effet unique- il a donn la nouvelle ses lettres de noblesse et est consid r comme l'inventeur du roman policier. Nombre de ses r cits pr figurent les genres de la science-fiction et du fantastique. N Boston, Edgar Allan Poe perd ses parents, David Poe Jr. et Elizabeth Arnold, dans sa petite enfance; il est recueilli par John et Frances Allan de Richmond, en Virginie, o il passe l'essentiel de ses jeunes ann es, si l'on excepte un s jour en Angleterre et en cosse, dans une aisance relative. Apr s un bref passage l'Universit de Virginie et des tentatives de carri re militaire, Poe quitte les Allan. Sa carri re litt raire d bute humblement par la publication anonyme d'un recueil de po mes intitul s Tamerlan et autres po mes (1827), sign s seulement par un Bostonien . Poe s'installe Baltimore, o il vit aupr s de sa famille paternelle et abandonne quelque peu la po sie pour la prose. En juillet 1835, il devient r dacteur-assistant au Southern Literary Messenger de Richmond, o il contribue augmenter les abonnements et commence d velopper son propre style de critique litt raire. La m me ann e, vingt-six ans, il pouse sa cousine germaine Virginia Clemm, alors g e de 13 ans. Apr s l' chec de son roman Les Aventures d'Arthur Gordon Pym, Poe r alise son premier recueil d'histoires, les Contes du Grotesque et de l'Arabesque, en 1839. La m me ann e, il devient r dacteur au Burton's Gentleman's Magazine, puis au Graham's Magazine Philadelphie. C'est Philadelphie que nombre de ses oeuvres parmi les plus connues ont t publi es. Dans cette ville, Poe a galement projet la cr ation de son propre journal, The Penn (plus tard rebaptis The Stylus), qui ne verra jamais le jour. En f vrier 1844, il d m nage New York, o il travaille au Broadway Journal, un magazine dont il devient finalement l'unique propri taire. R sum Double assassinat dans la rue Morgue met en sc ne le d tective Dupin et l'un de ses amis, qui joue le r le de narrateur. L'histoire se d roule Paris, au XIXe si cle. Cependant, la plupart des lieux cit s dans la nouvelle, dont la rue Morgue, n'existent pas. Le d but de la nouvelle est une r flexion sur l'importance qu'on donne l'analyse dans l'esprit humain. La suite est un exemple qui d crit l'incroyable capacit d'analyse de Dupin, qui devine quoi pense son ami juste en observant ses mouvements en marchant dans la rue. Dupin et le narrateur apprennent alors qu'un meurtre d route les policiers fran ais: on a retrouv les cadavres de deux femmes de la famille Espanaye, une m re et sa fille, vivant en vieilles filles dans un immeuble de la rue Morgue. Le corps de la fille pr sente des marques de strangulation et tait violemment encastr dans le conduit de chemin e. Celui de la m re avait la gorge tranch e net, et se trouvait moiti d membr sur les pav s de la cour derri re l'immeuble. Or, il n'y a ni mobile pour le crime, ni m me une explication plausible. Les fen tres sont ferm es et bloqu es de l'int rieur mais personne n'a pu s'enfuir par la porte puisque des gens, entendant les cris, s'y sont pr cipit s. Tous les t moins (les voisins ayant entendu une partie de la sc ne) s'accordent dire qu'il y avait deux voix, bien distinctes, dont une grave, parlant fran ais. Cependant, personne ne peut s'accorder sur la deuxi me qui para t trang re tous les t moins. Ceux-ci sont pourtant de nationalit s diverses et vari es.

Moins connus que les Histoires extraordinaires ou les Histoires grotesques, ces textes int resseront tous les amateurs de Poe...

The story follows a man of "a noble descent" who calls himself William Wilson because, although denouncing his profligate past, he does not accept blame dubious - discuss]for his actions, saying that "man was never thus ...] tempted before". After several paragraphs, the narration then segues into a description of Wilson's boyhood, which was spent in a school "in a misty-looking village of England". William meets another boy in his school who shared the same name, who had roughly the same appearance, and who was even born on exactly the same date (January 19, Poe's own birthday). William's name (he asserts that his actual name is only similar to "William Wilson") embarrasses him because it sounds "plebeian" or common, and he is irked that he must hear the name twice as much on account of the other William. The boy also dresses like William, walks like him, and even looks like him, but he could only speak in a whisper, he imitates that whisper exactly. He begins to give orders to William of an unspecified nature, which he refuses to obey, resenting the boy's "arrogance". One night he stole into the other William's bedroom and saw that the boy's face had suddenly become different. Upon seeing this, William left the academy immediately in horror, and in the same week, the other boy followed him. William eventually attends Eton and Oxford, gradually becoming more debauched and performing what he terms "mischief". For example, he stole from a man by cheating at cards. The other William appeared, his face covered, whispered a few words sufficient to alert others to William's behavior, and leaves with no others seeing his face. In his latest caper, he tries to seduce a married woman but the other William stops him at a ball in Rome; the enraged William drags his "unresisting" double-who was wearing identical clothes-into an antechamber, and stabs him fatally. After William does this, a large mirror suddenly seems to appear. Reflected at him, he sees "mine own image, but with features all pale and dabbled in blood": apparently the dead double, "but he spoke no longer in a whisper". The narrator feels as if he is pronouncing the words: "In me didst thou exist-and in my death, see ...] how utterly thou hast murdered thyself."

La historia comienza con el narrador que se hace llamar William Wilson, denunciando su pasado derrochador, aunque ste no se siente culpable, pues entiende que ning n otro hombre ha sido tentado de igual manera antes. Narra la infancia y juventud de William en un colegio isabelino. Relata que all conoci a otro chico con su mismo nombre, parecido a l y nacido el mismo d a, el 19 de enero, fecha de cumplea os del mismo autor. Compite con este muchacho, pero l le supera f cilmente, de manera que lo considera prueba de su aut ntica superioridad. Este chico comienza a imitar la forma de vestir, la manera de andar e incluso la forma de hablar del protagonista (aunque tiene un defecto en el habla que solo le permite hablar susurrando), y llega un momento en que William descubre que ste tiene exactamente su misma cara. Al ver esto, William abandona inmediatamente la academia, s lo para descubrir que su doble se ha marchado el mismo d a. William con el tiempo estudia en Eton y Oxford, haci ndose cada vez m s depravado y ganando enormes cantidades de dinero mediante enga os al jugar a las cartas con un pobre noble y la seducci n de una mujer casada. En esta etapa aparece su doble de nuevo, con la cara siempre cubierta, susurrando unas pocas palabras que alertan a otros sobre el comportamiento de William. En el ltimo de estos incidentes, en un baile en Roma, William arrastra a su doble a una antec mara y lo apu ala. Tras la acci n de William, aparece un enorme espejo en el que ste ve el rostro del fallecido, momento en el que el narrador siente que est pronunciando las palabras: en m exist as, y en mi muerte, ve cu n profundamente te has asesinado a ti mismo.

La Carta Robada, es un cuento de g nero policial, su historia transcurre en Par s en los a os 1800. Un prefecto de la polic a recurre al detective Dupin y a su amigo, el narrador, con el objetivo de resolver el caso de una carta robada en las c maras reales, la cual, el ladr n usa para obtener poder sobre l con fines pol ticos. El ladr n, es el Ministro D***, el cual fue visto por la v ctima y un tercero, robando la carta. Dupin se niega a tomar el caso, dando consejos al Prefecto de c mo revisar la propiedad del ladr n, a efectos de hallar la carta en cuesti n, ya que han sido infructuosas las cuantiosas b squedas efectuadas. El prefecto procede a realizar una serie de allanamientos en la mansi n del ministro D***, inspeccionando con microscopio cada rinc n, mueble y objeto posible de la casa, donde la carta podr a haber sido escondida, pero sus intentos, tal como la primera vez, fueron en vano. Sin saber qu m s hacer o d nde buscar, el Prefecto vuelve por la ayuda de Dupin, ofreci ndole una gran recompensa por resolver el caso. Dupin acepta, para entregarle la carta que l ya hab a recuperado por sus propios medios, utilizando procedimientos m s simples que los del prefecto. Dupin se puso en lugar del ladr n, lo analiz , y dedujo que ste no ser a capaz de esconderla en lugares donde posiblemente la polic a podr a revisar, sino en el sitio m s simple y visible, donde, por la naturaleza expuesta del lugar, la carta no ser a buscada ni sospechada. Encontr la carta en un tarjetero, muy manchada y arrugada, se hallaba rota, casi en dos, por el medio, como si una primera intenci n de hacerla pedazos por su nulo valor hubiera sido cambiado y detenido. Dupin rob la carta y la reemplaz f cilmente por otra que hab a preparado cuidadosamente en casa, imitando el monograma de D***, con mucha facilidad, por medio de un sello de miga de pan... Seh

En este cuento de terror, relatado en primera persona, el autor describe de qu manera la relaci n de un hombre con su mascota y un odio inexplicable hacia ella, termina por convertir su vida en un infierno. Un verdadero cl sico del g nero.

Edgar Allan Poe is perhaps America’s most famous writer. Adapted many times to the stage and screen and an inspiration to countless illustrators, graphic novelists, and musicians, his tales and poems remain a singular presence in popular culture. (His most famous poem inspired the name of the NFL’s Baltimore Ravens.) And then there is the matter of Poe’s literary influence. “How many things come out of Poe?” Jorge Luis Borges once asked. And yet Poe remains misunderstood, his works easily confused with the legend of a troubled genius. Now, in this annotated edition of selected tales and poems, Kevin J. Hayes debunks the Poe myth, enables a larger appreciation of Poe’s career and varied achievements, and investigates his weird afterlives. With color illustrations and photographs throughout, The Annotated Poe contains in-depth notes placed conveniently alongside the tales and poems to elucidate Poe’s sources, obscure words and passages, and literary, biographical, and historical allusions. Like Poe’s own marginalia, Hayes’s marginal notes accommodate “multitudinous opinion”: he explains his own views and interpretations as well as those of other writers and critics, including Poe himself. In his Foreword, William Giraldi provides a spirited introduction to the writer who produced such indelible masterpieces as “The Fall of the House of Usher,” “The Murders in the Rue Morgue,” and “The Black Cat.” The Annotated Poe offers much for both the professional and the general reader—but it will be especially prized by those who think of themselves as Poe aficionados.

Curl up by the fire with this chilling collection of tales from one of the original masters of mystery and the macabre.

3 short horror fiction stories brought to you by your friends at the Caller House Press. Edgar Allan Poe, Ambrose Bierce and Theophile Gautier provide the chills in this collection of classical horror shorts.