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Edgar Allan Poe's works caught my fancy a couple of years back when I was introduced to horror writing. I had listened to the audio version of 'The Black Cat' rendered by Diamanda Galas from the album 'Closed on Account of Rabies'. The weird murder story as well as its rendition was nothing like what I had listened to ever before. The tale itself had such a eerie feel to it that it gave me the creeps. I listened to and recommended many friends to listen to all the audio versions of Poe's horror stories which were available online. Soon, I even read almost all the horror tales by Poe. I was immensely impressed by his narrative style and decided to read everything written by him.
The book gives us an insight into the mind of Edgar Allan Poe. It is not an easy read as it is full of short stories and poems, many of which are extremely weird. After reading the book, it is easy to understand why Poe is regarded as a genius by some and a psycho by others. Though he is widely recognized as a horror and mystery writer, there are many stories that belong to Satire and Comedy genres. Beware though. Poe's sense of humour is nothing like ordinary and there is a good deal of gore in many of them too.
Poe is considered to be the pioneer of murder mystery story-writing. The book begins with 'Murders in the Rue Morgue' in which we are introduced to C. Auguste Dupin, who is not a professional detective but is blessed with supreme deductive abilities. The stories are inspired by true events in Europe and Poe's attempts at solving the mysteries sitting in USA going just by newspaper reports. It is said that Dupin was the influence behind Sherlock Holmes.
Among the comedy stories, 'The Spectacles' is the funniest. The protagonist falls in love with a stranger whom he sees at the opera. When the two finally meet and the protagonist wears his spectacles, he realizes that the lady is his great grandmother. Besides this, I remember 'The Predicament' as a story that's more morbid than funny.
Other than horror, mysteries and comedies, there is a 'Flights and Fantasies' section which reads like science-fiction. Poe is clearly smitten by the Hot-air balloon. The most notable among the sci-fi stories is 'The Unparalleled Adventure of One Hans Pfaall' in which the protagonist takes a balloon trip around the earth but ends up leaving for the moon by the end of it. 'The Balloon Hoax' though cleverly written, is tiring to read owing to its details about the balloon's construction and the trip.
I'm not too big a fan of poetry and struggled to go through the huge collection. I particularly loved the poem - The Conqueror Worm. It talks about the inevitability of human mortality. Poe's conception of death as a worm and more importantly that of humans playing actors in the theater of life is nothing short of extraordinary.
I'd recommend the book to someone who wants to study Poe. Otherwise, it's better to stick to the popular collection.
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