A Book Review of Edgar Allan Poe: The Complete Stories

Title: Edgar Allan Poe: The Complete Stories

Author: Edgar Allan Poe

Copyright: 1992

Genre: assorted

In the words of Mr. Key “IT’S EDGAR ALLAN FRICKING POE”!!!!! The master of macabre is truly a demented genius, or something of that same species. From The Angel of the Odd to Island of the Fey, Poe is a genius at writing, even if it’s in a way that seems strange to most people.

Poe seems to have a gift for picking out anomalies in everything, from the tedious regiment of everyday life to the most obscure and disturbing of the borderline insane. In stories that should seem to be grotesque, Poe’s dry humor will worm its way in like maggots into decaying flesh. Some stories that seem to be originally intended humorous do turn out to be quite serious, yet they fit almost perfectly that way. As in the story Hop Frog, Poe seems to make it a joke that the jester is abused and yet goes insane from the torment. In all of the stories, there seem to be aspects of everyday social life under scrutiny. As Poe stated in The Premature Burial, “to be buried while alive is, beyond question, the most terrific of these extremities which has ever fallen to the lot of mere mortality”. In other words, he picked this subject because he liked the fact that other people hated it.

Poe tends to write in first person as almost a narrative or in third person in the same manner. In first person the writer seems to be almost secluded from regular perception. In third person the writer seems to be almost writing from first hand accounts. Most writers in modern times tend to switch these methods and that tends to make for a slightly duller, if far more fathomable read. At times Poe seems to be, as some say, completely off his rocker. At other times, Poe seems to be a learned scholar. It is almost as if Poe wrote in different minds yet still the same person.

Rating: 8.5

However good these stories were, they are very long at times and incredibly hard to read in many instances. Poe has some very different views. He seems to deliberately try to go against the grain of society in his writing. What is generally considered to be grotesque, obscure, and taboo in ‘good society’ Poe seems to find quite entertaining.

It is very thought provoking in many ways. Firstly, you have to be able to think about vocabulary expansion and to think of where the dictionary is. Secondly, you gain a new way to look at almost everything. Thirdly, you must try very hard not to laugh at corpses and to be serious at parties after reading all of Poe’s stories. However much Poe is revered, many do still agree that he was a strange man. It’s a pity his though process hasn’t caught on as a trend.