It goes without saying, Edgar Allan Poe is one of the most culturally significant writers the world has ever produced. His gothic tales were shocking, melodramatic as well as revolutionary; Poe essentially pioneered the first detective story. And subsequently, this work has stretched into the world of TV and film, from influencing the likes of Tim Burton and Barry Sonnenfeld, via the 1960s Roger Corman adaptations of Poe’s stories starring Vincent Price, to The Simpsons’ much remembered adaptation of “The Raven”. Oxford has compiled a selection of Poe’s tales into one compilation for old and new fans alike.
This compilation offers readers a mixture of Poe’s short works. This includes the eponymous title story, in which an unnamed narrator is brought to trial during the Spanish Inquisition, and ultimately comes face to face with the pendulum, which is still one of the tensest sequences ever written. Also, we have The Murders In The Rue Morgue, which pioneered the detective story, and still has one of the most unique murderers in fiction. Amongst some of the more famous tales, we have lesser known titles which sit in the reader’s mind. These include Morella, in which another unnamed narrator explores the connection between the death of a woman in child-birth and the daughter that is left behind, The Imp Of The Perverse follows the acts of a murderer and his ultimate undoing, and Hop-Frog in which a person with dwarfism takes revenge on the king that had him kidnapped and used as a court jester.
As eluded to earlier, this is a nice compilation for old and new fans of Poe alike. It contains some of his most famous works, you see a narrative development in his work that has clearly influenced every writer after him from Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes through to the likes of Roald Dahl’s Tales of The Unexpected. However, this collection has missed a trick in not including The Premature Burial which amongst his most famous works. Also, readers must appreciate that some of these tales are close to 200 years old, so some people may need to be patient with some archaic language. But rest assured, this collection of tales is worth investing in for any fan of the gothic, the mysterious and the horrifying.
THE PIT AND THE PENDULUM AND OTHER TALES / AUTHOR: EDGAR ALLAN POE / PUBLISHER: OXFORD / RELEASE DATE: AUGUST 23RD 2018
