The Complete Tales of Edgar Allan Poe by Edgar Allan Poe

His most successful and most widely read prose during his lifetime was ' The Gold-Bug', which earned him a $100 prize, the most money he received for a single work.

In December 1829, Poe released Al Aaraaf, Tamerlane, and Minor Poems in Baltimore before delving into short stories for the first time with ' Metzengerstein' in 1832. Poe's literary career began in 1827 with the release of 50 copies of Tamerlane and Other Poems credited only to 'a Bostonian', a collection of early poems that received virtually no attention. Though known as a masterly practitioner of Gothic fiction, Poe did not invent the genre he was following a long-standing popular tradition. His most recurring themes deal with questions of death, including its physical signs, the effects of decomposition, concerns of premature burial, the reanimation of the dead, and mourning. He often included elements of popular pseudosciences such as phrenology and physiognomy. Poe pursued originality in his works, and disliked proverbs. Meaning in literature, he said in his criticism, should be an undercurrent just beneath the surface works whose meanings are too obvious cease to be art. Poe's writing reflects his literary theories: he disagreed with didacticism and allegory.

These works are generally considered part of the Dark romanticism movement, a literary reaction to Transcendentalism. His fiction spans multiple genres, including horror fiction, adventure, science fiction, and detective fiction, a genre he is credited with inventing. The works of American author Edgar Allan Poe (January 19, 1809 – October 7, 1849) include many poems, short stories, and one novel.

The Complete Tales of Edgar Allan Poe by Edgar Allan Poe