Tales Of Mystery And Imagination

Master of the macabre! Edgar Allan Poe, one of America's most gifted writers, whose work has had a worldwide influence on literature, was born in Boston in 1809 to traveling actors both of whom died before he was three. Though taken into the home of John Allan, a wealthy Richmond merchant, Poe belonged only to his art. As poet, short story writer, journalist, and literary critic, Poe was an original. Hailed in France as the founder of modern poetry, he is equally credited with having originated the detective story and psychological thriller. In America, he shares with Nathaniel Hawthorne credit for transforming the short story from anecdote to art. Poe first published when he was 18. At 22, he married his 13-year-old cousin. But his drinking and gambling kept him from completing college and, later, from holding a job. His health failed rapidly and he died at 40, two years after his wife's death. Poe wrote many stories in the Gothic tradition. Poe gave these the name 'arabesque.' They couple the imaginative with the fantastic. The Fall of the House of Usher, perhaps his most famous story, is an example of such a tale.