The strange life and mysterious death of Edgar Allan Poe. Edgar Allan Poe - Biography - current and creative path Works by E and Poe

American writer, poet and critic Edgar Allan Poe was born on January 19, 1809 in Boston (USA) into a family of actors of a traveling troupe. At the age of two, he was left an orphan, after which he was adopted by a merchant from Virginia, John Allan. He was brought up in a boarding school in England; in 1826 he entered the aristocratic University of Virginia in Charlottesville. During his student years, he was fond of gambling and took part in revelry, which provoked conflicts with his stepfather. After one of these quarrels, the future writer left the home of his adoptive parents.

In 1828, with the financial support of his adoptive parents, he returned to Boston, where he published the collections Al Aaraaf, Tamerlane and Minor Poems (1829) and Poems (1831), but these endeavors were not successful. had.

In 1830 he entered the United States Military Academy at West Point, but soon left his studies, which provoked a final break with John Allan. Left without financial support, Edgar Allan Poe again found himself on the brink of poverty.

In 1833, he made his first appearance as a prose writer with the story “A manuscript found in a bottle,” for which he received an award from the Baltimore Saturday Visitor magazine.

During the 1830s he continued to write short stories and published regularly in the Southern Literary Messenger in Richmond, where he gained a reputation as an original and witty critic. These publications later formed the famous two-volume book “Grotesques and Arabesques” (Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque, 1840).

In 1836, Edgar Poe married his cousin Virginia Eliza Clemm Poe.

In 1837, in search of better-paying work, he moved to New York, but due to the financial crisis, he was unable to find work there.

In 1838-1843 he lived with his wife and her mother in Philadelphia, worked at Burton’s Gentleman’s Magazine and Graham’s Magazine, and tried to publish his own magazine, The Stylus. He published about thirty stories and many literary critical articles.

In October 2009, 160 years after his death, Edgar Allan Poe was honored with a second funeral service. The costume ceremony took place at the writer's museum in Boston, where the coffin with a mannequin of Edgar Allan Poe was on display.

The originality of Poe's style did not find followers in America. In the European literary tradition, Poe's influence was felt by Charles Baudelaire, Stéphane Mallarmé, Maurice Maeterlinck, Oscar Wilde, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, and Robert Louis Stevenson. Russian symbolists such as Dmitry Merezhkovsky, Konstantin Balmont, Valery Bryusov were also keen on Poe’s work.

The material was prepared based on information from open sources

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    Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849) - poet, prose writer, critic, unsurpassed master of several literary genres - science fiction, adventure, detective, Gothic. The novella Descent into the Maelstrom is an incredible story about a man who was embraced death - in the abyss of the Maelstrom whirlpool. “... Almost three years ago, an incident happened to me that has never before befallen a mortal, and, in any case, I think there is no person on earth who, having gone through such an ordeal, would remain alive and could tell about him. The six hours of mortal horror I experienced broke my spirit and my strength. You think I'm a very old man, but you're wrong. In less than one day, my hair, black as pitch, became completely gray, my body became weak and my nerves were so shaken that I tremble at the slightest effort and am frightened by shadows.” (Edgar Poe. Descent into the Maelstrom) Edgar Poe's story The Plague King tells how two sailors flee without paying for a drink at a tavern. Escaping, they end up in the undertaker's shop, where King Plague the First himself sits at the table with his queen and retinue. Others would have died of fear, but the drunken sea is knee-deep...... Further

  • Edgar A. Poe (1809-1849) was a myth-maker whose work must be studied. Especially in a technological era, devoid of myth, devoid of imagination. This collection contains his only novel, The Message of Arthur Gordon Pym, and the short story, The Manuscript Found in a Bottle. These the works explore an area of ​​magical geography unknown and beyond the reach of scientific progress.... Further

  • The influence of Edgar Poe, an American poet, prose writer, journalist and critic, on world literature is very great. He is rightfully considered the founder of a new literary genre for his time - detective stories. Mysterious stories in which it is difficult to draw the line between reality and fiction, and horror suppresses all other feelings, fascinates and makes you believe in the inexplicable. The one-volume edition of the classic of world literature Edgar Allan Poe presents short stories from different years and poetic works translated by famous poets of the Silver Age.... Further

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  • The third volume of the "Detective's Golden Library" series includes stories by E. A. Poe ("Deception as an Exact Science", "The Black Cat", etc.) and G. K. Chesterton ("The Mysterious Disappearance", "The Three Mortal Instruments", “Paradise for Thieves”, etc.). ... Further

    • “Marginalia (Late Latin marginalis - “located on the edge”, from Latin margo - “edge”) - drawings and notes in the margins of books, manuscripts, letters, containing comments, interpretations, opinions regarding fragments of text or thoughts caused by them.” "In the literature of the 20th century the functional features of marginalia prompt different authors to use the term as a definition of their works - mainly lyrical, a kind of “notes in the margins” or “thoughts out loud.” Material from Wikipedia... Further

    The collection includes the most famous poems and poems of the great writer Edgar Allan Poe - “The Raven”, “Fairyland”, “To Helen”, “Annabel Lee” and others. Edgar Allan Poe is rightly considered the founder of symbolism in poetry. His poems are full of images, sometimes fantastic, the sound is very melodic, almost musical, and everyone understands the meaning of the poems in their own way. This is why translations of the poems of the mysterious hoaxer Edgar Allan Poe are so different from each other. Some of the translators tried to convey the melody and mood of Poe’s lyrics, while others tried to translate the text as close to the original as possible. In any case, poets Konstantin Balmont and Valery Bryusov brilliantly translated Poe’s poems, giving us the opportunity to look at these masterpieces from different angles. In addition, each of the translators compiled a biographical sketch of Edgar Allan Poe. These essays are also presented on the disc.... Further

  • “I had a deep, but truly strange affection for Morella, my friend. Many years ago, chance introduced us, and from the first meeting my soul burned with a flame previously unknown to it, but this flame was not lit by Eros, and bitterness tormented my spirit more and more while I gradually I was convinced that I could not control its foggy glow. But we met, and fate bound us together at the altar; and I had no words of passion, and no thoughts of love. She fled the company of people and, devoting herself to me alone, made me happy. For to think is happiness, for to dream is happiness..."... Further

  • “One evening I was standing leaning against the railing on the poop deck, and suddenly I noticed some strange, lonely cloud in the northwest. It struck me both because of its color and because it was the first we had seen since the day we sailed from Batavia. I watched him closely until just before sunset, when it suddenly spread to the east and west, encircling the entire horizon with a narrow ribbon of fog, reminiscent of a long strip of low seashore. Soon after this, my attention was attracted by the dark red color of the moon and the extraordinary appearance of the sea..."... Further

  • “...There is no doubt that in the heyday of her incomparable beauty I had no love for her. In my strange, flawed existence, my feelings never arose in my heart and all my passions were always the product of reason. In the gray half-light of early morning, in lace in the shadows of the forest at noon and in the silence of my library in the evening she appeared to my eyes and then disappeared, and I saw her not as a living Berenice of flesh and blood, but as a Berenice of sleepy dreams; not as an earthly creature, a product of the earth, but as a reason for analysis, not as an object of love, but as a topic for the most complex, albeit absent-minded thoughts ... "... Further

  • “Here, in the harsh winter... of the year, around midnight, Pierre Bon-Bon, having listened to the neighbors’ comments about his strange inclinations and escorted them out of his house - here, I repeat, Pierre Bon-Bon locked the door behind them with a curse and plunged into not in a very peaceful mood, in the embrace of a leather chair in front of bundles of brushwood blazing in the hearth. It was one of those terrible nights that happen once or twice a century. The snow fell furiously, and the whole house shook to its foundations under the streams of wind, which, breaking through the cracks in the wall and escaping from the chimney, blew up the curtains around the philosopher's bed and threw into disorder the entire household of his manuscripts and stewpans. The impressive tome of the sign swinging outside, abandoned to the fury of the storm, creaked ominously to the groaning sound of its strong oak brackets. In a mood, I repeat, not at all peaceful, the metaphysician moved his chair to his usual place by the fireplace ... "... Further

  • “...She was tall and thin, and in her last days on earth she was even emaciated. It would be in vain for me to try to describe the grandeur and calm ease of her bearing, or the incomprehensible lightness and grace of her gait. She came and went like a shadow. I noticed her presence in in my secluded office, only hearing the sweet music of her quiet, charming voice, only feeling the touch of her white marble hand on my shoulder. Not a single maiden could compare with her in the beauty of her face. It was the radiance of opium dreams - an ethereal, uplifting vision, even more phantasmagorically divine than the fantasies that hovered over the slumbering souls of the daughters of Delos ... "... Further

    • “The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket” is a fantastic story of travel to the South Seas, in which the great master of phantasmagoria and mystification Edgar Allan Poe inimitably intertwines adventures common to heroes of this genre - storms and shipwrecks, famine and endless fatigue, death and incredible salvation, meetings with wild aborigines and new discoveries, with mystical, unaccountable horrors. Beginning as an ordinary book about travel to the southern seas, this novel imperceptibly turns into an increasingly strange narrative, which is generally difficult to attribute to any specific heat. In creating this work, Poe was inspired by several unusual stories from the lives of real-life travelers, including his own experiences at sea. The author constantly keeps the reader in suspense and an irresistible desire to find out “what will happen next...”. However, the story ends unexpectedly, leaving the reader a wide field for conjecture and conjecture. The great work, which has an unusual spiral-shaped structure, did not leave many great writers indifferent - Baudelaire was one of the first to translate it into French, Jules Verne and Howard Lovecraft wrote their versions of the sequels, Umberto Eco addressed it in his work, and Jorge Luis Borges called it “Narrative ..." the best of all written by Poe.... Further

  • A poem full of riddles and codes, possessing a hypnotic effect and attractiveness, which became a symbol of American romanticism, “The Raven”, after its publication, had a stunning effect on readers and writers, and subsequently the image created by Edgar Allan Poe, was reflected in literature, music, and cinema (up to the episode in “Prisoner of the Caucasus”). This book also presents other poems by E. Poe translated by the Silver Age classic Konstantin Balmont.... Further

  • Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849) - poet, prose writer, critic, unsurpassed master of several literary genres - science fiction, adventure, detective, Gothic. “Armed with a razor and soaped up according to all the rules, the monkey sat in front of the mirror and I was going to shave in imitation of the owner, whom I had watched more than once through the keyhole. Seeing a dangerous weapon in the hands of a ferocious predator and knowing that he would be able to use it, the sailor was at a loss at first. However, he was accustomed to dealing with his prisoner and, with the help of a whip, tamed even the most violent outbursts of his rage. Now he, too, grabbed the whip. Noticing this, the orangutan rushed to the door and down the stairs, where, unfortunately, there was an open window - and then into the street.” (Edgar Poe Murder in the Rue Morgue)... Further

  • In your hands is a collection of the best prose of the founder of the mystical story and detective genre, the master of exquisite “horror stories” - Edgar Allan Poe: “The Fall of the House of Usher”, “The Well and the Pendulum”, “The Mask of the Red Death”, “King Pestilence”, “The Cask of Amontillado” ", "Morella", "Black cat". With what dazzlingly bright colors he paints in his creations the images of Mystery, Beauty, Death and Reincarnation, Horror and Love. You can listen to him, simply enjoying the language and style, abstracting from the meaning, or you can return to familiar lines again and again in search of the next interpretation; any of his stories is a special semantic space with countless dimensions and facets. His creativity is always at the limit, at the peak, beyond which words are no longer possible...... Further

    • Mysterious beasts, the Sphinx, King Pestilence and the Devil himself are his favorite heroes. But no, no, let his kind, sly smile peek through all this devilry. The Imp of Vicissitude Landor's Cottage Mask of the Red Death Mesmeric Revelations Oval Portrait Fairy Island Rendezvous The Tell-Tale Heart Descent into the Malström The Stolen Letter Von Kempelen and its Discovery... Further

    'Eureka' is the work of Edgar Allan Poe in the Non-Fiction style. It is known as a prose poem and also as 'An Essay on the Material and Spiritual Universe'. 'Eureka' represents and describes the intuitive understanding of the concept of the nature of the universe, which he intuitively uses when writing of their works. In Eureka, Poe also proposes for discussion the relationship between man and God, in which he identifies the author. ‘Eureka’ is one of Poe’s greatest non-fiction works, which many critics still evaluate ambiguously, but which reveals the hidden corners of the soul and worldview of the great writer.... Further

    Edgar Allan Poe (1809 - 1849) - poet, prose writer, critic, unsurpassed master of several literary genres - science fiction, adventure, detective, Gothic. Edgar Poe's adventure stories captivate the reader's attention, making them believe in inexplicable. The master gradually weaves mysticism into the realistic story about the travels of the heroes, and it seems to us that all these mysterious and incredible events can actually happen. Cask of Amontillado William Wilson Genius of Fantasy Long Box Metzengerstein Mr. Waldemar Morella's Hoax Letters from the Airship "Lark" Conversation between Monos and Una The Tragic Situation You are a murderer A man in whom there is not a single living place left A man of the crowd... Further

    Edgar Alan Poe is a legend of American literature. It seems that all its genres and directions grew out of his work. It is his dark, mysterious figure that runs through all the masterpieces born in the New World. His own works are full of darkness and mysticism. Mysterious dead people mysterious animals, the Sphinx, King Pestilence and the Devil himself are his favorite heroes. But no, no, may his kind, sly smile peek through all this devilry. Such is the mysterious creator of the “Black Cat”! Berenice Double Murder in the Rue Morgue The Well and the Pendulum Ligeia The Extraordinary Adventure of a Certain Hans Pfaal Shadow Black Cat The Devil in the Town Hall Edgar Allan Poe as a Psychologist... Further

  • Edgar Allan Poe is a poet, prose writer, critic, unsurpassed master of several literary genres at once - science fiction, adventure, detective, Gothic. Edgar Poe's adventure stories captivate the reader's attention, forcing them to believe in the inexplicable. IN a realistic story about the journeys of the “great and terrible” heroes, the master gradually interweaves mysticism, and it seems to us that all these mysterious and incredible events can actually happen... The unprecedented adventure of a certain Hans Pfohl Ball-of-fiction Message by Arthur Gordon Pym... Further

  • “Our table conversation yesterday turned out to be too tiring for my nerves. A headache developed and drowsiness appeared. In a word, today, instead of leaving the yard, as I had previously intended, I preferred to stay home as best I could, to have dinner a little and go to bed..."... Further

    • Edgar Alan Poe is a legend of American literature. It seems that all its genres and directions grew out of his work. It is his dark, mysterious figure that runs through all the masterpieces born in the New World. His own works are full of darkness and mysticism. Mysterious dead people mysterious animals, the Sphinx, King Pestilence and the Devil himself are his favorite heroes. But no, no, let his kind, sly smile peek through all this devilry. Such is the mysterious creator of the “Golden Bug”! The Golden Beetle The Plague King A Few Words with the Mummy The Thousand and Second Tale of Scheherazade The Stolen Letter Four Beasts in One... Further

  • Here is a collection of the most famous stories from the works of one of the greatest American writers, Edgar Allan Poe, which over time became the hallmark of his literary work. The writer's stories immerse you in an atmosphere of chilling horror and nightmare haunting again and again. These short stories stun the imagination with the vividness of their descriptions of mysterious events. The book is intended for the widest readership 1 Premature Burial 2 Conversation with the Mummy 3 Black Cat 4 Oval Portrait 5 The Fall of the House of Usher 6 The Mystery of Marie Roger 7 Bells and Bells (poem)... Further

  • Edgar Allan Poe is a famous American writer and romantic poet, a classic of short stories, and the founder of the detective genre. The work of Edgar Allan Poe contributed to the emergence of the science fiction genre. His “scary stories” received the greatest fame. The detective alloy he invented, horror and mysticism, called a thriller, has acquired exceptional popularity these days.... Further

  • “We found ourselves at the top of the highest cliff. For several minutes the old man was apparently unable to speak from exhaustion. “Not so long ago,” he finally said, “I could have led you along this path with the same ease as my youngest son...” ... Continue

  • The stories included in the collection provide an opportunity to appreciate the versatility of the talent of Edgar Allan Poe, an unsurpassed master of the adventure, science fiction, detective, and mystical genres. Like the wave of a talented conductor’s baton, the stroke of the author’s pen creates chilling stories “Berenice” and “Morella”, detective stories “The Stolen Letter” and “The Mystery of Marie Roget”, captivating into a whirlpool of unexpected events, as well as other works “pushing the boundaries of emotional and rational comprehension of reality.”... Further

  • Edgar Allan Poe needs little introduction. Prose writer, poet, literary critic, this man forever inscribed his name in the hall of fame of world literature. Creator of the modern detective form, "father of modern psychological prose", "singer of the dark sides human nature", which contributed to the formation and development of science fiction and anticipated the literature of decadence. According to researchers of his work, Poe finally completed the formation of not only American, but also world short stories, and he has more in common with cultural figures of the 21st century than with his contemporaries.... Further

  • “Oh, you viper! oh you witch! oh, you vixen,” I said to my wife the morning after the wedding, “oh, you damn doll, oh, you vile, vile creature, red-faced fiend of abomination, oh, oh, you...” - At that very moment, when I stood on my tiptoes, I grabbed my wife by the throat and, bringing his lips to her ear, I was about to reward her with some even more offensive epithet, which, if pronounced loudly enough, was supposed to definitively prove her utter insignificance - at that very moment, to my greatest horror and amazement, I suddenly discovered that my breath was taken away... »... Further

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  • The first volume of the Detective's Golden Library series includes stories by E. A. Poe (The Murders in the Rue Morgue, The Mystery of Marie Roget, The Purloined Letter) and G. K. Chesterton (The Sapphire Cross, The Eye of Apollo ", "Flying Stars", "The Hammer of the Lord", "The Honor of Israel Gau", "The Invisible Man", "Strange Steps", "The Secret Garden", "The Sins of Prince Saradin", "The Wrong Contour").... Further

  • “When, a year ago, in an article entitled “The Murders in the Rue Morgue,” I tried to describe some remarkable features of the thinking of my friend the Chevalier St. Auguste Dupin, it never occurred to me that I would ever return to this topic again. This was the description my goal, and it found its full realization in the story of the whimsical chain of incidents that allowed Dupin to reveal his special talent. I could give other examples, but they would not prove anything other than what has already been proven. However, the surprising turn of recent events unexpectedly revealed to me new details, which are clothed in the semblance of a forced confession...”... Further

  • “...For the first three or four days of our voyage the weather was fine, although the wind was head-on all the time - it blew from the north as soon as the shore disappeared behind the stern. The passengers, of course, were in excellent spirits and very sociable. The only exceptions were Wyeth and his sisters who were so dry and reserved with everyone that, in my opinion, it even bordered on impoliteness. Wyeth's behavior did not really surprise me. He was even more gloomy than usual - one might even say gloomy - but I was used to expecting eccentricities from him. For his sisters, however, I could find no excuse. They secluded themselves in their cabin almost all the time and, no matter how much I persuaded them, they flatly refused to join the ship’s society...”... Further

  • “In my life I have never known such a joker as this king. He seemed to live only for jokes. Telling a funny story, and telling it well, was the surest way to earn his favor. That is why it happened that all his seven ministers were famous as excellent jesters...” ... Continue

  • The story takes place in South Carolina. A hermit from a wealthy family, William Legrand, together with his slave Jupiter, while walking, discovers a “golden” beetle, which they wrapped in a piece of parchment found nearby. Arriving home, Legrand is completely accidentally discovers on parchment an image of a skull drawn with hidden ink, as well as encrypted text consisting of numbers and symbols...... Further

  • The first detective story in the history of world literature. The mysterious and extremely brutal murder of a widow and her daughter baffles the Paris police. Auguste Dupin, a man with unusually developed analytical skills, comes to the aid of the police. ... Further

  • The collection of the outstanding American writer, master of the short story and one of the founders of the detective fiction genre, Edgar Allan Poe, includes the stories “Rendezvous”, “The Fall of the House of Usher”, “The Stolen Letter”, etc. ... More

  • “Murder in the Rue Morgue” is a story by the famous American short story writer and author of horror stories Edgar Allan Poe (English: Edgar Allan Poe, 1809-1849). *** The Paris police are at a loss: who wanted the brutal murder on the Rue Morgue? Auguste himself comes to the rescue Dupin, whose incredible sense of smell is well known to law enforcement officers. The author is also famous for his works “Descent into Malström”, “The Fall of the House of Escher”, “Rendezvous”, “Shadow”, “Four Beasts in One”, “Fairy Island”, “Arnheim Estate” and “The Golden Bug”. Edgar Allan Poe is considered one of the most prominent representatives of American romanticism. The creator of the modern form of the mystical detective story, he won the recognition of readers for the Gothic atmosphere and psychologism of his works.... Further

  • “There are subjects that are full of exciting interest, but too terrible to serve as a legitimate subject for a literary work. The novelist must avoid them if he does not want to excite disgust or offend the reader. We can only touch on them in cases where they justifies and sanctifies the harsh majesty of truth. We read with a shudder of “painful pleasure” about the crossing of the Berezina, about the Lisbon earthquake, about the London plague, about the bloody Night of St. Bartholomew, about the death of one hundred and twenty-three prisoners in the Black Pit in Calcutta. But in these stories we are concerned with fact, reality, history. If it were a fiction, they would disgust us..."... Further

  • “My fever was strong and persistent. I tried every means that could be obtained in the wild region of the Apennines, and all without success. My servant and only assistant, with whom we found ourselves in a secluded castle, was too nervous and awkward to let me bleed, Yes, I already lost a lot of her in the battle with the bandits. I also could not send him for help. Finally, I remembered the small supply of opium that I kept along with tobacco: in Constantinople I was used to smoking tobacco with this potion. Pedro handed me the box. I found opium in it. But here a difficulty arose: I did not know how much it was supposed to be taken at one time. When smoking, the amount of opium did not matter..."... Further

  • Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849) is a unique phenomenon in the history of American literature. He is the forerunner of modern fantasy and detective literature, the creator of brilliant mysterious short stories and poems, memorable thanks to the mysterious pathos and original dark beauty. This book includes twenty of Edgar Allan Poe’s most famous mystical stories, intriguing and eerie due to their atmosphere and unique emotional coloring. The book also includes “The Tale of the Adventures of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket” - one of the largest in volume and controversial in content of symbolic adventure works from the pen of E. Poe. The reader will be presented with the deepest and inexplicable recesses of the human soul, very strange journeys, acquaintances and amazing encounters with the otherworldly that arise on the edge of a borderline situation.... Further

  • “All that day - a dull, silent autumn day - I rode on horseback through an unusually deserted area, over which leaden clouds hung low, and finally, when the evening shadows lay on the ground, I found myself in front of the sad Esher manor. I don't know why, but when I first look at her an unbearable melancholy penetrated my soul. I say unbearable because it was not softened by that sad but sweet poetic feeling that even the most terrible and gloomy pictures of nature evoke in a person. I looked at the desolate estate - at the lonely house and gloomy walls, at the gaping eye sockets of broken windows, stunted sedge, gray trunks of decrepit trees - with an oppressive feeling that I can only compare with the awakening of an opium smoker, a bitter return to everyday life when the veil falls from eyes and despicable reality is exposed in all its ugliness..."... Further

  • “The Gold Bug” is an adventure work by the classic of American literature Edgar Allan Poe (English: Edgar Allan Poe, 1809-1849). *** The hidden treasure is protected by a strong code. But one of the heroes managed to determine the location of the treasure... Edgar Allan Poe is also known as the author numerous stories. Among them are “The Cask of Amontillado”, “The Shadow”, “The Fall of the House of Escher”, “The Arnheim Estate”, “The Rendezvous”, as well as the poems “The Raven” and “Linor”. Edgar Allan Poe is considered one of the most prominent representatives of American romanticism. The creator of the modern form of the mystical detective story, he won the recognition of readers for the Gothic atmosphere and psychologism of his works.... Further

  • “All that day - a dull, silent autumn day - I rode on horseback through an unusually deserted area, over which leaden clouds hung low, and finally, when the evening shadows lay on the ground, I found myself in front of the sad Esher manor. I don't know why, but when I first look at her an unbearable melancholy penetrated my soul. I say unbearable because it was not softened by that sad but sweet poetic feeling that even the most terrible and gloomy pictures of nature evoke in a person. I looked at the desolate estate - at the lonely house and gloomy walls, at the gaping eye sockets of broken windows, stunted sedge, gray trunks of decrepit trees - with an oppressive feeling that I can only compare with the awakening of an opium smoker, a bitter return to everyday life when the veil falls from eyes and despicable reality is exposed in all its ugliness..."... Further

  • “It is well said about one German book: “er lasst sich nicht lesen” - it does not allow itself to be read. There are secrets that cannot be told. Every night people die in their beds, squeezing the hands of their confessors and looking pitifully into their eyes - they die with despair in the heart and convulsions in the throat, due to monstrous secrets that do not allow them to be revealed. From time to time, alas, the human conscience burdens itself with such a terrible weight that can only be relieved in the grave. Thus, the crime remains unexposed..."... Further

  • “Once, on a dark and stormy evening in the autumn of 18..., in Paris, I delighted my soul with reflections and a meerschaum pipe, sitting in the company of my friend S. Auguste Dupin in his tiny library - also a storage room for books...” ... More

  • “Once, on a dark and stormy evening in the autumn of 18..., in Paris, I delighted my soul with reflections and a meerschaum pipe, sitting in the company of my friend S. Auguste Dupin in his tiny library - also a storage room for books...” ... More

  • These stories make your heart skip a beat and chills go down your spine! A terrible murder took place in a locked room. Only Auguste Dupin knows where to look for who committed it (“The Murders in the Rue Morgue”). An encrypted treasure map suddenly appears on a piece of parchment. ("Golden Bug") The Inquisition doomed him to a painful death. Every moment can be the last... (“The Well and the Pendulum”). The killer constantly hears the beating of his victim’s heart... (“Heartbeat”). The owner of the house is sure that a strange and terrible power has reigned in the building... (“The Fall of the House of Usher”)... Further

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  • Classic Gothic history. Roderick Usher, the last scion of an old family, invites a friend to visit him at his family estate. But even the arrival of his comrade is unable to lift his spirits: Roderick’s sister is seriously ill, and her days are numbered. A few days after her death and after the burial, a terrible thing turns out: in fact, the sister was buried alive...... Further

  • Stories and novels full of "horror and mystery" appeared in European and American literature in the first half of the 19th century. Mysterious adventures, fantasy, ghosts and demonic personalities - all this is the central theme of these works. This collection includes the best examples of mystical stories dedicated to mysterious, supernatural and dark events associated with the other world. Two great writers - Charles Dickens and Edgar Allan Poe, two great romantics of the nineteenth century, entered the history of world literature as unsurpassed masters of “horror” and fantasy, developing the traditions of the Gothic novel in their works. Charles Dickens. Haunted House by Edgar Allan Poe. Shadow. Parable by Edgar Allan Poe.. Incident on the Rocky Shores Edgar Allan Poe. Man of the Crowd Edgar Allan Poe. Sphinx Edgar Allan Poe. Conversation with the Mummy Edgar Allan Poe. Angel of the Extraordinary translation: M. Engelhardt ©&℗ IP Vorobiev V.A. ©&℗ ID SOYUZ... Further

  • Edgar Allan Poe is deservedly considered the creator of the detective fiction genre in literature. Until now, the whole world recognizes him as one of the most brilliant and mysterious writers of the 19th century. The author received the greatest fame for his detective stories, full of mysticism, horror and countless exciting mysteries. Moreover, all the works of the greatest American writer are subject to impeccable logic, and Edgar Allan Poe himself called his stories logical stories. The book contains the author’s best works: “The Gold Bug”, “Murder in the Rue Morgue”, “The Well and the Pendulum” and others.... Further

  • “Marked by fate, a mysterious man, blinded by the brilliance of his own imagination and burned in the fire of his passionate youth! Again your image appears in my dreams! Again I see you - not as, oh, not as you are now hovering in the cold valley of shadows, but as you could to be - wasting life and indulging in luxurious dreams in this city of vague ghosts, in your native Venice - the happy Elysium of the sea - whose palaces, erected by Palladio, with deep and bitter thoughts look with wide windows into the silent mysterious waters ... "... Further

  • The proposed collection includes mystical short stories by Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849), telling about the darkest and most mysterious sides of human nature. The stories are adapted (without simplifying the original text) according to the method of Ilya Frank. The uniqueness of the method lies in the fact that memorization of words and expressions occurs due to their repetition, without memorization and the need to use a dictionary. The manual promotes effective language acquisition and can serve as an addition to the curriculum. Designed for a wide range of people learning English and interested in English culture.... Further

  • “According to the latest news received from Rotterdam, in this city representatives of scientific and philosophical thought are gripped by great excitement. There something happened there so unexpected, so new, so inconsistent with established views that in a short time - I have no doubt about it - all of Europe will be excited, naturalists will be alarmed, and confusion will begin among astronomers and naturalists, unprecedented until now ... "... Further

  • “O heartless, inhuman, stiff-necked, thick-headed, mossy, hardened, obdurate, old savage!” – I once exclaimed (mentally), turning to my uncle (in fact, he was my great-uncle) Skuperday, and (mentally) shook my fist at him..." ... Further

  • “There are subjects that are full of exciting interest, but too terrible to serve as a legitimate subject for a literary work. The novelist must avoid them if he does not want to excite disgust or offend the reader. We can only touch on them in cases where they justifies and sanctifies the harsh majesty of truth. We read with a shudder of “painful pleasure” about the crossing of the Berezina, about the Lisbon earthquake, about the London plague, about the bloody Night of St. Bartholomew, about the death of one hundred and twenty-three prisoners in the Black Pit in Calcutta. But in these stories we are concerned with fact, reality, history. If it were a fiction, they would disgust us..."... Further

Everyone is familiar with the scary stories of Edgar Allan Poe. Many can even quote the novel “The Raven”. But how well do you understand the writer's quirky humor? Let's take a look at a few facts you might not even know about the acclaimed author, who was born more than two hundred years ago.

1. He was a true master of hoaxes

In 1844, Edgar prepared one of his most famous hoaxes in the pages of the famous New York Sun magazine. The master of horror spread the news that a certain Mr. Monk Mason flew in an aircraft called "Victoria" from England to Sullivan's Island in just 75 hours. According to Poe, the balloon was able to carry even seven passengers across the ocean.

Since balloonists had never crossed the Atlantic before, the story quickly became a sensation. Fly transatlantic in just three days? So this is great! Readers stood in long lines outside the New York Sun offices to get a copy of the landmark magazine.

Poe's report on the vehicle itself contained a lot of technical details. He devoted an entire paragraph to explaining that the balloon was filled with coal gas rather than the more expensive and "inconvenient carbohydrate." He listed all the equipment of the balloon, including ropes, barometers, telescopes, barrels, water kegs, raincoats, bags and other necessary things, including a coffee heater, necessary to heat this drink with weak lime. He also included in his article “quotes” from interviews with imaginary (as it turned out) passengers.

The only catch with this whole story was that it was completely fictitious. The editors of the New York Sun realized this only two days later and wrote a retraction.

2. He tried his hand at cryptography

If you've read the story "The Gold Bug", you probably know that the writer had some knowledge of cryptography. In fact, this knowledge was more than deep.

Poe's first notable interest in declassifying codes occurred in 1839. He appealed to his readers from the pages of the Philadelphia newspaper to send him encrypted codes. Edgar puzzled over the secret messages for several hours. He published the results of his work, and they became very popular. Edgar also enjoyed publishing some of these codes for readers. They were so complex that Poe was surprised when one of the readers was able to decipher some of them.

Poe was so confident in his abilities that in 1841 he approached the Tyler administration with an offer to work for the government as a burglar. He stated that there were no codes that he could not decipher. Apparently, they could not give him this position.

3. The name Allan appeared much later

It may sound strange, but the name Allan was not originally Poe's. He was born in Boston in 1809 into a family of professional actors, and his childhood was not a joyful one. His mother died when he was very young, after which his father abandoned Edgar and his other two children. However, Edgar was raised by the family of John and Frances Allan, and although they never officially adopted the boy, he added their surname to his.

4. He had a rival

Like many writers, Poe had a rival. It was the poet, critic and editor Rufus Griswold. Although Griswold included Edgar Allan's work in his anthology Poets and Poetry of America, he had very low regard for the critic's intelligence and literary ability. Poe published an essay criticizing Griswold's selection of works for his anthology, and this is where their rivalry began.

Things escalated when Griswold began receiving a higher salary than Poe. Edgar began to publicly criticize his opponent. He went so far as to claim that Griswold was "puffing away" on a new anthology of poets.

Poe may have expressed his attitude towards Griswold, but he managed to outlive the writer. After Poe's death, Griswold wrote an obituary in which he stated that the writer's death had affected many, but few were saddened by it. In his obituary, he generally portrayed Poe as a maniac who did not understand what he was doing. In addition, Griswold convinced Edgar's aunt to make him the literary steward of the deceased writer. After that, he published a biography of Poe, in which he portrayed the writer as a drunkard and drug addict. Despite this, he profited from posthumous publications of Edgar Allan Poe.

5. His death became a mystery worthy of his best creations

In 1849, Edgar left New York to visit Richmond, something he had never done before. But instead he found himself outside the Baltimore bar, inappropriately dressed and seemingly delirious. Passers-by sent Poe to the hospital, where he died a few days later, without explaining what happened to him.

The mysticism that surrounds the writer's death has caused a lot of gossip. The cause of Poe's death was rumored to be "inflammation of the brain", or "cerebral congestion", although this is a euphemism for the diagnosis of "alcohol poisoning". Although modern scientists do not completely agree with this opinion. This characterization of Edgar appeared thanks to the efforts of Griswold. The writer's condition could have been caused by the consequences of rabies or syphilis.

Some Poe fans believe a different theory. They suggest that he was a victim of one of the political practices of the 19th century. On the eve of elections, homeless or weak men were herded together and held captive in the so-called chicken coop. On Election Day—October 3, 1849, when Poe was found, there was an election in Baltimore—the hostages were given some kind of drug or simply beaten before they had to vote at certain polling stations.

Although this story seems fantastic, it may be true. Poe's physical condition and delusions are consistent with that of the victim, and his inappropriate clothing confirms the practice of street gangs who disguised hostages so they could vote at multiple polling stations. In the absence of any evidence, Edgar's death remains one of the most mysterious mysteries in literature.

Edgar Allan Poe(English) Edgar Allan Poe; January 19, 1809 – October 7, 1849) was an American writer.

Brilliant prose writer. Brilliant poet. A tragic fate from birth to death. The very concept of genius - capacious and difficult to precisely define - was precisely for Edgar Allan Poe. His influence as a writer and poet on world literature is enormous - Charles Baudelaire and French Symbolism, almost the entire Russian Silver Age.

For more than 150 years separating us from the death of the brilliant writer, many biographies of him have been written - voluminous books and small notes, serious studies and erroneous theories. Despite their significant number, the life and death of Edgar Allan Poe continues to remain a mystery. It is difficult to imagine whether it will be solved in the future. The lack of documents (there is not even a certificate of his birth), the inconsistency of memories, and the desire of some authors to either hide the facts or adjust them to their own assumptions also have an effect.

Edgar's parents, actors David Poe Jr. and Elizabeth Arnold Hopkins, married in 1806. The eldest son - William Henry - was born in 1807, Edgar - on January 19, 1809, a year later their sister Rosalie was born. Edgar's mother died in December 1811 in Richmond (the most likely cause being pneumonia). Around the same time, their father died, having left the family shortly before. The story of the death of Edgar Poe's parents in the fire of the Richmond Theater is nothing more than a legend.

The children ended up in different families. Edgar Poe was taken in by tobacco businessman John Allan and his wife Frances. Allan Edgar received his middle name at baptism in 1812. Allan did not officially adopt him. From 1814, Edgar attended various schools in the USA and England (1815-1820).
The first (documented) work dates back to 1824. This is a two-line poem, not included in any of the collections. In 1826, Poe entered the University of Virginia, from which he was expelled for large gambling debts. John Allan refused to pay them, and subsequently did not mention Edgar in his will. There was a break between them. At the same time, his engagement to Elmira Royster, who married someone else, broke down.

Poe enlisted in the army under the name Edgar Perry. In 1827 in Boston in the amount of 50 copies. His first book, “Tamerlane and Other Poems,” was published, signed “The Bostonian.” For many years, the search for this book was unsuccessful (which allowed Rufus Wilmot Griswold - the “black demon” in the fate of Poe’s legacy - to declare that this book did not exist at all, and Poe himself was a deceitful person). In 1880, one of the copies of this book was found in the British Museum.

Having risen to the rank of artillery sergeant, Poe left the service and settled in Baltimore with his aunt Mary Poe Clemm (whose daughter Virginia later became his wife). Here he published his second collection of poems.

In 1830, Edgar entered the West Point Military Academy, but since he no longer liked his military career, he began to skip classes, and was expelled by decision of a military court. In 1831, Poe's poems were published in New York. His short stories are published in Philadelphia, although without indicating the author's name. In 1833, he received his first fee ($50) for the story “The Manuscript Found in a Bottle.” In 1836-37 Poe served as editor of the Richmond Southern Liyerary Magazine. In 1836 he married Virginia. They moved to New York, and a year later to Philadelphia.

The Philadelphia period of creativity was the most fruitful. Poe wrote poems and stories. He worked as editor of "Gentlemen's Magazine", then "Graham's Magazine". Attempts to organize his own Penn magazine ended in failure.

In April 1841, Graham's magazine presented Edgar Poe's story "Murder in the Rue Morgue" - the first detective work. A new literary genre is born.

In 1842, Poe left Graham. It seemed to him that he was not paying enough for his work, but in the future he would not be able to earn even the money that he received from Graham. In 1846 Poe moved to New York. Attempts to open a new magazine - "Stylus" - remained unfulfilled. Due to financial problems, the Broadway magazine closed in 1846, the owner of which had by that time become Edgar Allan Poe. Poe moved to Fordham. Here Virginia dies in January 1847 (currently there is a museum of the writer there). In 1848, Edgar proposed to poet Sarah Whitman, but she rejected him due to Poe's addiction to alcohol. Then he proposes to his ex-fiancee Elmira Royster Shelton, who was widowed by that time. She agrees, and Poe begins to attend the anti-alcohol society “Sons of Temperance.”

On September 28, 1849, Poe arrived in Baltimore. A few days later, he was discovered in serious condition and in someone else's clothes by a random passer-by on a city bench. Delivered to the hospital, he died there on October 7, 1849.

The death of Edgar Allan Poe is one of the most insoluble mysteries. He was discovered by Joseph Walker, who, at his request, contacted Dr. Snodgrass and the writer's uncle, Henry Herring. The doctor's first impression was that Poe was in a state of severe alcohol intoxication.

The first (and most common) version of death is alcoholic. The writer's father and older brother were chronic alcoholics. It is common knowledge that Poe drank, but his addiction was of a binge nature. He could drink for weeks (as during his wife’s illness) or go without touching alcohol for months. This version is supported by the testimony of doctors who treated Edgar and warned him about the possibility of serious consequences from alcoholism. In addition, it is difficult to explain otherwise why Edgar ended up in Baltimore again if he had left it the day before. The only reason that came to mind to many researchers was that Edgar mixed up the trains and took the return train to Baltimore.

The second version (also medical) is based on the possibility of a mental disorder. In the last years of his life, Edgar suffered from mental disorders of the brain. The third (weakest) version insisted that the writer could have become an accidental victim of gangster violence. In those days, unscrupulous politicians often hired thugs to intimidate voters. Since local elections were taking place in Baltimore in those days, Poe could have been accidentally injured, and the stranger’s clothes on him should have made identification difficult.

The latest version talks about a banal robbery. According to one account, Poe had $1,500 on him to start a new magazine, and the money was not found on him. Poe's detractors, unable to comprehend the scope of his talent, found an explanation for his imagination in alcohol and drugs. Allegations about drug addiction were based solely on the writer’s creative manner of telling the story from the first (including in those works where opium was mentioned). Thus, there was an erroneous identification of the narrator of the works with the personality of the author himself.

Poe's detective work is small in volume - a cycle of three stories about Auguste Dupin: "Murder in the Rue Morgue" (1841), "The Mystery of Marie Roger" (1842-1843), "The Stolen Letter" (1844) ; a short story “You are the man who did this” (1844) and, considered by some researchers to be one of these works, “The Golden Bug” (1843). But the writer’s creative discoveries in these several works became invaluable for the development of a new genre. This is a logical analysis used to solve a crime, a method of highlighting the unusual mental abilities of the investigating hero against the background of the presence of a close friend, acquaintance or police officer, and much more.

Poe's misadventures did not end after his death. On the day of his funeral, a slanderous obituary was published in the New York Tribune, signed "Ludwig." Behind him was the same Rufus Griswold, who, with the consent of Poe’s aunt (and mother-in-law), for many years arrogated to himself the sole right to publish the writer’s works.

In 1860, Sarah Whitman (the same one who once rejected a marriage proposal) published the book “Edgar Allan Poe and His Critics” in defense of the writer. Griswold's monopoly was ended in 1874 (by that time he had already died), and the publication of books began to be led by John Henry Ingmar, who found Poe's first book in the British Museum and wrote a two-volume biography of the writer.

In 1910, Edgar Allan Poe was inducted into the New York Hall of Fame. In 1922, the writer's museum, Old Stones, opened in Richmond, so named because it was built from blocks from Poe's house and the building of his first magazine.

In memory of the great writer, the highest award of the Crime Writers Association of America began to bear the name of Edgar Allan Poe.

A plaque placed at approximately the location in Boston where Edgar Allan Poe was born.

Having gained freedom, Edgar Poe again turned to poetry. He again visited Baltimore and met his paternal relatives there - his sister, grandmother, uncle George Poe and his son Nelson Poe. The latter could introduce Edgar to the editor of the local newspaper, William Gwin. Through Gwin, Edgar had the opportunity to contact the then prominent New York writer John Neal. The aspiring poet presented his poems to both Gwyn and Neil. The review, with all the reservations, was most favorable. The result was that at the end of 1829 a collection of Poe's poems was republished in Baltimore under his name, entitled " Al-Aaraaf, Tamerlane and short poems" This time the book arrived in stores and editorial offices, but went unnoticed.

Meanwhile, John Allan insisted that Edgar complete his education. It was decided that he would attend the Military Academy at West Point. In March 1830, at the request of Allan, Edgar was still accepted as a student, although he was not suitable in age. His adoptive father signed a pledge for him to serve in the army for five years. Edgar reluctantly went to the academy. He could not leave its walls in the normal manner. With his usual ardor, he took up the matter and managed to get him expelled in March 1831. With this, the young poet regained his freedom, but, of course, he again quarreled with John Allan.

Literary creativity

Poe began his literary career with poetry, publishing a volume of poems in Boston back in 1827 "Al-Aaraaf, Tamerlane and other poems"(“Al-Aaraaf, Tamerlane and other poems”). Poe appeared as a prose writer in 1833, writing “The Manuscript Found in a Bottle” ( “A manuscript found in a bottle”).

Poe's work was influenced by romanticism, which was already completing its path in the West. “Gloomy fantasy, which was gradually disappearing from European literature, flared up once again in an original and bright way in the “scary stories” But that was the epilogue of romanticism” (Fritsche). Poe's work was strongly influenced by the English and German romantics, especially Hoffmann (it was not for nothing that Poe was fond of German literature and idealistic philosophy); he is related to the ominously gloomy shade of Hoffmann’s fantasies, although he declared himself: “The horror of my stories is not from Germany, but from the soul.” Hoffmann’s words: “Life is a crazy nightmare that haunts us until it finally throws us into the arms of death” express the main idea of ​​Poe’s “scary stories” - an idea that, together with the peculiar style of its expression, was born in the first stories of Poe and only deepened and processed with great skill in his further artistic work.

In the poem “Ulalyum,” the hero, wandering alone with his soul Psyche through the mysterious terrain of gray skies and dry leaves, comes to the crypt where a year ago he buried his beloved Ulyalum. He recalls the “blank October night” when he brought the “dead burden” here. But the main thing in the poem is not the vague plot, but the hypnotic music, immersing the reader in a world of shadows, rustles, eternal autumn, ominous lunar flicker. And again the refrain sounds like a spell:

In "The Bells" Poe's sound writing reaches the limit of sophistication. In each of the four parts of the poem, the ringing of “silver” bells on sleigh rides, “golden” wedding bells, “copper” alarm bells, and “iron” funeral bells are melodically recreated. And each of them corresponds to some stage in a person’s life: the joy of childhood, the happiness of love, the suffering of the adult world and death. The ringing of bells symbolically embodies the tragic destiny of man. The great Russian composer S.V. Rachmaninov wrote music to the Russian text of the poem - a poem for orchestra, choir and soloists.

(V. G. Prozorov)

Life Fears

The hopeless horror of life that reigns supreme over man, the world as a kingdom of madness, death and decay as man’s lot predetermined by a cruel supreme power - this is the content of Poe’s “terrible stories.” Death as a manifestation of the supernatural (the death of a beautiful woman in a mysterious setting) is the theme of the story “Ligeia” (Ligeia), one of Poe’s best stories.

It poses the problem of overcoming death, the miraculous, mysterious resurrection of Ligeia. In the story “Berenice” (Berenice), the contemplative hermit Aegeus is imbued with a manic idea that he must have the beautiful teeth of his dying bride Berenice, and breaks them out, committing this blasphemy over a still living, still trembling body. Other stories deal with the theme of the loss of a beloved (“Eleonora”, “Morella”, etc.), which arose long before the death of Poe’s beloved wife, Virginia (d.).

The problem of the struggle between good and evil, the duality of the psyche, a person’s craving for evil is posed in the story about the double “William Wilson” (William Wilson), the same craving for crime, evil and destruction characterizes the heroes of the stories “The Imp of the perverse” (Demon of perversity, ), “Metzengerstein” (Metzengerstein), “The black cat” (Black cat), “The tell-tale heart” (Tell-tale heart), and others. Metempsychosis, the transmission of thoughts over a distance, is the theme of "The Rocky Mountain Tale" and an essential component of one of Poe's most powerful stories, "The Fall of the House of Usher." In an ancient, gloomy castle, full of some special oppressive atmosphere, lives its last owner - Roderick Escher; with a painfully nervous, sophisticated sensitivity, through the noise of a thunderstorm, he hears how his sister, buried alive in the family crypt, is trying to escape from the coffin, but is unable to go and help her - he has a manic “fear” of horror. The sister appears in a bloody shroud, horror kills her brother, they both die, and the castle of Usher falls, destroyed by a thunderstorm.

Roderick is essentially the main and only hero of Poe, repeated in different ways in other stories: he is a nervous, painfully sensitive contemplator who loves rare books, a hermit who is afraid of life; he is as conventional as Poe’s favorite heroine - a mysterious, mysteriously wise, fading beautiful woman. Poe's heroes are at the mercy of fate, which predetermined their death; they are weak-willed, they do not have the strength to protest against life, which is felt as a nightmare and evil. Each of them is a victim of some obsession; they are not living people with real feelings and passions, but abstract figures, almost diagrams, to which only the exceptional skill of the artist gives vitality.

Poe tries to overcome the lack of will of his heroes: by endowing them with the power of thought, he glorifies will. The words of Joseph Glenville: “Man would not have yielded to the angels, nor to death itself, but for the weakness of his will,” he set as the epigraph to “Ligeia.” But if the most unnatural and incomprehensible, developing with a strict logical sequence in Poe’s stories, makes the reader believe in the incredible, then here Poe’s skill did not help - his heroes remained weak-willed. Poe is inattentive to the average human character, to the psychology and life of an ordinary person, he is only interested in the unusual, the abnormal. From the very first line of the work, all elements of style - composition, choice of words, narrative logic - are aimed at achieving a certain, pre-calculated effect that amazes the reader at the climax of the story - it is not for nothing that such terrible moments are chosen as premature burial, walling up alive, etc. .

Science for Poe is only a means of manifesting the incomprehensible, helping to give this incomprehensible (a ship growing like a body, an abyss swallowing ships at the South Pole, etc.) a greater degree of probability through the use of accurate geographical data, chemical recipes, information about maritime affairs and etc. Science here plays a decorative role, since Poe strives only for scientificity and mystification of the reader, and in science fiction stories the same theme of the inevitable death of heroes unfolds. Poe, being the consummator of romanticism in “scary stories” and poetry, influenced a number of Western European writers in the field of fantasy. From “The Gold Bug” with treasure hunts and cryptograms, literature comes to Stevenson’s “Treasure Island”, from “Hans Pfall” to J. Verne’s “A Trip to the Moon”, to the geographical decorativeness of a number of novels, etc.

Poe’s penchant for speculative analysis, for a sequentially logical development of events, even incredible ones, was clearly manifested in his detective stories - “Murder in the Rue Morgue” ( The Murders in the Rue Morgue, ), “The Mystery of Marie Roger” ( The Mystery of Marie Roget, ) and “The Stolen Letter” ( The Purloined Letter, ). As in science fiction, Poe tries to give his detective stories the character of facts that took place in reality, introducing into the narrative police reports, exact dates, references to the periodical press, etc. A tangle of contradictions, opposite to each other, tangled facts is gradually untied thanks to a harmonious system of logical analysis, before which any riddles are powerless. It is characteristic that the motive of private property, which reigns supreme in the bourgeois detective genre, does not find a place in Poe’s stories. Also, he is not interested in questions of morality, the psychology of the criminal and the crime - he is only interested in the technical side of the matter (one of his stories is called “Scam as one of the exact sciences”), the plot point of the riddle and bringing the reader to the moment of solution, which serves as the climax item "scary stories". In his detective stories, Poe tried to get closer to reality, but instead it turned out to be an escape into the realm of analytical thought. His Dupin is the forerunner of Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes and Chesterton's Pastor Brown, Nero Wolfe, and Hercule Poirot.

Standing apart in Poe’s work is his “Eureka” (Eureka), in which he gave a mystical-pantheistic system, outlining the foundations of his philosophy. It is interesting to note that this poem presented the Big Bang hypothesis, which became a generally accepted theory only in the 20th century.

It is worth noting a number of critical articles by Poe, who fought against the bourgeois literature of the North - against Lowell, Longfellow and others.

Creativity assessment

The originality of Poe's style did not find followers in America. At the same time, Poe’s work was reflected in the poetry of the French symbolist Baudelaire, who translated Poe, introduced him to Europe, and from here begins Poe’s influence on the literature of decadence and symbolism - on Villiers de Lisle-Adam, Mallarmé, Maeterlinck, Wilde, Howard Phillips Lovecraft , Evers, etc., right up to the Russian symbolists.

The French poet Charles Baudelaire, a nature akin to Poe, described this situation this way: “The United States was for Poe only a huge prison, through which he rushed feverishly like a creature born to breathe in a world with cleaner air - a huge barbaric pen, illuminated by gas.” . A. J. B. Shaw put it this way: “Poe did not live in America, he died there.”

Russian decadents paid especially much attention to Poe (“The Raven,” translated by D. Merezhkovsky, in “Northern Messenger,” No. 11; “Ballads and Fantasies,” “Mysterious Stories,” translated by K. Balmont,; “The Raven,” translated by V. Bryusova, in “Questions of Life”, Ї 2). The “Crow” size was especially popular among the decadents (Balmont, Bryusov, “Althea” by V. Golikov).

  • A crater on Mercury is named after Poe.
  • Every year, on Edgar Allan Poe's birthday, a secret admirer visits his grave.
  • The Beatles song, I Am The Walrus (Magical Mystery Tour album) mentions Edgar Allan Poe.

Bibliography

  • The Virginia, ed. by J. A. Harrison, 17 vv., Boston, ;
  • E. C. Stedman a. G. E. Woodberry, 10 vv., N. Y., ;
  • Collection works., 2 vols., ed. Panteleeva, St. Petersburg, ;
  • Extraordinary stories, 2 vols., ed. Suvorin, St. Petersburg, ;
  • Mysterious stories, trans. K. D. Balmonta, M., ;
  • Collection works., 2 vols., ed. "Bulletin of Foreign Literature", St. Petersburg, ;
  • The same, transl. K. Balmont, 5 vols., ed. “Scorpio”, M., - (in the last volume there is an essay on the life of E. Poe, compiled by K. Balmont, and letters from E. Poe);
  • Poems in the best Russian translations, St. Petersburg, ;
  • Stories, 3 vols., trans. M. A. Engelhardt, ed. "World Literature", Berlin, ;
  • Stories, trans. K. D. Balmonta, Rostov-on-Don, ;
  • Complete collection of poems and poems, trans. and preface Valery Bryusov with a critical and bibliographic commentary, ed. "World Literature", M.-L., ;
  • The Last Joke, Stories, ed. "Ogonyok", M., ;
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  • Krasnoselsky Po A., In the fight against the prose of life, “Russian wealth”, XI-XII;
  • Gorlenko V.G., New work about E. Poe, in the author’s book “Reflections”, St. Petersburg, ;
  • Anichkov E.V., Baudelaire and Edgar Poe, “The Modern World”, 1909, II (reprinted in the author’s book “Forerunners and Contemporaries”, vol. I, St. Petersburg, );
  • Baudelaire S., Edgar Allan Poe, trans. L. Kogan, Odessa, 1910;
  • Brazol B.L., Critical Facets, St. Petersburg, 1910;
  • Fritsche V. M., Poetry of Nightmares and Horror, M., ;
  • Bryusov V., Edgar Allan Poe, in the book “History of Western Literature” (-), ed. prof. F. D. Batyushkova, vol. III, M., ;
  • Dynamov S., Science fiction short stories by Edgar Allan Poe, “Literature and Marxism”, , III;
  • His, Edgar Allan Poe's Novels, “30 Days”, XI-XII;
  • Himself, Edgar Allan Poe - artist of death and decay, “October”, IV.

Works of Edgar Allan Poe

Screen adaptation

The works of Edgar Poe have been filmed several times. In particular the director

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