Edgar Allan Poe is my family more because of horror stories, we discover something new and fascinating in every reading. Beetle volume of gold and other stories (recently appeared in the collection of Top 10 +) brings together works more or less known, offers a wider perspective on ideas developed by Poe (find, among others, humor, fantasy, grotesque, terror , mystery).
Beetle of gold (The Gold-Bug) is the kind of story you expect something, only to discover that is treated completely different topic. Scarab who is said to be gold (and who is mentioned in the footnotes that the insect is imaginary), is a pretext for a description of treasure hunters led by William Legrand, but presented through the eyes of a narrator-in Like many other stories of Poe, remain unnamed. Superstitions they invoke Jupiter (old black former slave, whose attitude amused) prove to be unfounded. As readers we expected you to something supernatural, especially given the similarity beetle with a human skull and the apparent link between insect bite and Legrand's strange behavior. The most interesting part I found cryptograms used and describe how it can be deciphered based on letter frequency. By substituting symbols, you get the message that shows the way to treasure (unfortunately, the translation index contains some errors easily identified on the original version you watch).
Mystery of Marie Roget (The Mystery of Marie Roget - A Sequel to The Murders in the Rue Morgue) and stolen letter (The Purloined Letter) are detective stories. In both detective C. Auguste Dupin is present. The first starting point is a real crime (murder of Mary Cecilia Rogers, spent in New York); report fiction and reality is constantly supported by footnotes. They try deciphering a puzzle by analyzing the evidence presented by police, but the information (sometimes contradictory) collected from newspapers. Dupin's murder mystery untie Marie Roget, Poe pretext used to analyze the facts. In Letter stolen emphasis is mainly on the relationship between French and Dupin polistii. It's described nothing violent ideas are discussed by the narrator and detective. Dupin underscores the importance of ability to think like your opponent. In this case, he solved the mystery of the stolen letter as re how the minister thought (the one who took his letter).
Balloon hoax (The Balloon-Hoax), recognize, not remember my attention for long. Is presented in only three days crossing the Atlantic by Monck Mason, in the balloon. As if to give more credibility to the story, the balloon is described in detail. Provides information about the storm that made possible the journey and on vessels seen on the ocean. The news appeared in media and irony feels that newspaper readers are treated just looking sensational.
A one thousand and two story Scheherazade (The Thousand-and-Second Tale of Scheherazade) wants to be a continuation of the 1001 nights. Scheherazade did not want to end their stories and their boring husband, who ordered to be killed. No shortage of irony and humor, all things and acts described it in a way that often amazes, but does not seem plausible, are explained in footnotes (which are real stories, books, modern inventions, etc.).
Taut Mellonta hiding behind humor (and a certain indifference) image of a future not too rosy. The letter (dated April 1, 2848) found a bottle floating in the sea are given clues futurienilor society, in which matter masses, not the individual: "We live in an age so enlightened, not even conceive that there what we call individual "(p 171). And such an attitude is perfectly normal for futurienii not understand how their predecessors thought of "antiquity" (Poe's contemporary). Narrative tone is very naturally and does not change even to the end (un) happy.
The story of rugged mountains (A Tale of the Ragged Mountains) are treated topics as mesmerism, occultism, hypnosis, transmigration. The story is ambiguous and can not know if Bedloe's adventure really happened. He had hallucinations Bedloe the consumption of morphine or had a vision of a past life? The story of Dr. Temple, and the similarities with his fate Oldeb, increase the mystery.
Buried alive (The Premature Burial) is a horror story, the author uses the fear that people could be buried alive, fear widespread in the nineteenth century. The story starts with some real cases that come to support the idea that terror that he mastered the narrator's self. It suffers from catalepsy and is obsessed with death, which does not allow to live a normal life. It all culminates when it seems that indeed was buried alive. The atmosphere is more than gloomy, gruesome images, suspense keep readers tense ... only to discover that the narrator finds himself in a boat, not in danger and his reactions are satirized. Shock it back to life practically, out of a "grave" in which one is buried. Escaped the terror, he begins to really live.
As in heart and says that the mystery (which, unfortunately, missing from this volume), and if black cat story (The Black Cat) we are probably dealing with a mad narrator, lacking credibility, who reveal one murder. Here, the narrator-character blame alcohol for moral decay and actions. The whole story is a confession (do not know to whom) they can not know for sure how true and how it is fantasy. Black cat image is the central symbol, there is superstition (invoked by the narrator's wife) that they are actually witches. The first cat is called Pluto (Roman god of the underworld), although it was his favorite animal, her narrator an eye out in a huff. Everything was better in master dies, loses control and becomes violent. Then, the cat is hanged, but remains as a testament to the cruelty animal narrator printed image on the wall burned. Even the fire, which acts as purifier, can not erase mistakes character that does nothing to get rid of perversity and hatred.
Do not miss the fantastic, Tzvetan Todorov defined as any event occurring in our world and appears to be supernatural, requires someone who knows only hesitation natural laws, faced with an apparently supernatural event. Elements thus appear both in rational and the irrational. We can not fully explain the presence of the second cat (too similar to Pluto), nor how it came to be built with the body and remain in the wall without the narrator to have realized. He often tries to find logical explanations for everything that happens around him, but this attempt seems to be the product of mind of a man is seized with madness, do not feel guilty because he killed his wife. Finally, the atmosphere of mystery remains intact, no answers, only more questions than it.