The Tell-Tale Heart and Other Stories (AmazonClassics Edition) - Softcover

Edgar Allan Poe elevated the gothic story, developed the unreliable narrator, recast psychological terror, and reveled in both the horror and the supernal beauty of death. From Poe’s rich, unrivaled imagination comes a collection of his most masterful works, including “The Black Cat,” “The Fall of the House of Usher,” and, of course, “The Tell-Tale Heart.” Each story explores morbid themes of grief, greed, fear, and guilt, and together they embody Poe’s grotesque obsessions...even the dread of being buried alive.

At the beating heart of each of these eighteen tales—and his tour de force in verse, “The Raven”—is proof that Poe can still surprise, shock, unsettle, and hold readers in thrall after more than a century.

AmazonClassics brings you timeless works from the masters of storytelling. Ideal for anyone who wants to read a great work for the first time or rediscover an old favorite, these new editions open the door to literature’s most unforgettable characters and beloved worlds.

Revised edition: Previously published as The Tell-Tale Heart and Other Stories, this edition of The Tell-Tale Heart and Other Stories (AmazonClassics Edition) includes editorial revisions.

Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849) was an American writer who captured readers’ imaginations with stories and poems that explored the dark side of the human mind. Often told by the most unreliable of narrators, Poe’s intensely compelling short stories explored themes of death, loss, insanity, and evil. Poe’s career began with a book of poetry self-published in 1827. Before long, the Saturday Evening Post published his first haunting short story, “The Black Cat,” which launched his successful literary career.

Poe’s personal life, however, contained much grief—tuberculosis took the lives of his mother, his first wife, and his foster mother. Later struggles included expulsion from West Point, a break with his foster father, and a period of bleak poverty. He kept writing all the while, though, publishing his most famous poem, “The Raven,” just a few years before his death. Poe’s demise has been variously attributed to alcoholism, epilepsy, and carbon monoxide poisoning. The exact cause of death remains, appropriately, a mystery.