Selected Tales

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Edited with an Introduction and Notes by David Van Leer Since their first publication in the 1830s and 1840s, Edgar Allan Poe's extraordinary Gothic tales have established many of the conventions which still dominate the genre of horror and detective fiction. As well as being highly enjoyable, Poe's tales are works of very real intellectual exploration. Using the Gothic to question the integrity of human existence, Poe is less interested in moral retribution than in exposing the misconceptions that make things seem 'mysterious' in the first place. Attentive to the historical and political dimensions of these very American tales, this new critical edition selects twenty-four tales and places the most popular — 'The Fall of the House of Usher', 'The Masque of the Red Death', 'The Murders in the Rue Morgue', and 'The Purloined Letter ' — alongside less well-known travel narratives, metaphysical essays, and political satires. • INTRODUCTION • TEXTUAL NOTE • BIBLIOGRAPHY • CHRONOLOGY • EXPLANATORY NOTES --back cover