Tales of Mystery and Imagination

Having never read Edgar Allen Poe I was quite pleased with his writing. One of my favorite stories out of the plethera of choices was the Gold Bug. At first I was relucant to continue with the book. It was going slow and was hard to interpret. Then in the middle of the story it picked up pace and had some mystery and magic in it. I became fixed with reading it and figuring out how they found the treasure and how it was all possible. The process of the way the treasure was found was fantastic. This book has many of Poe's greatest writings. And that is what made it great. You didn't have to get a lot of books to read many of his stories, you could simply just get one and read many. This book contained many great short stories. It is a must read.

Having never written a full novel, Poe is sometimes forgotten when the great fiction writers of American history are listed. The power of Poe's dark vision, though, is virtually unprecedented in world literature. The manifestation of such deep, intuitive symbols and archetypes, ones of such clarity, prophesy and terror that even his incredible craftsmanship in language becomes transparant, is a gift given to only the most blessed and tormented of writers.

Poe's stories travel through time and rap ceaselessy on the window of your conscious thoughts. An ominous pall of expectation and retribution permeates all of his work. To pick up Poe is really never to put it down.