The Annotated Poe

Edgar Allan Poe

Harvard University Press, Oct 26, 2015 - Fiction - 410 pages

Edgar Allan Poe is perhaps America’s most famous writer. Adapted many times to the stage and screen and an inspiration to countless illustrators, graphic novelists, and musicians, his tales and poems remain a singular presence in popular culture. (His most famous poem inspired the name of the NFL’s Baltimore Ravens.) And then there is the matter of Poe’s literary influence. “How many things come out of Poe?” Jorge Luis Borges once asked. And yet Poe remains misunderstood, his works easily confused with the legend of a troubled genius. Now, in this annotated edition of selected tales and poems, Kevin J. Hayes debunks the Poe myth, enables a larger appreciation of Poe’s career and varied achievements, and investigates his weird afterlives.

With color illustrations and photographs throughout, The Annotated Poe contains in-depth notes placed conveniently alongside the tales and poems to elucidate Poe’s sources, obscure words and passages, and literary, biographical, and historical allusions. Like Poe’s own marginalia, Hayes’s marginal notes accommodate “multitudinous opinion”: he explains his own views and interpretations as well as those of other writers and critics, including Poe himself. In his Foreword, William Giraldi provides a spirited introduction to the writer who produced such indelible masterpieces as “The Fall of the House of Usher,” “The Murders in the Rue Morgue,” and “The Black Cat.”

The Annotated Poe offers much for both the professional and the general reader—but it will be especially prized by those who think of themselves as Poe aficionados.

Contents

• Introduction: 1
• Chapter 1 Metzengerstein: 25
• Chapter 2 Manuscript Found in a Bottle: 36
• A Tale: 49
• Chapter 4 Morella: 59
• Chapter 5 Ligeia: 65
• A Tale of the Late Bugaboo and Kickapoo Campaign: 83
• Chapter 7 The Fall of the House of Usher: 95
• Chapter 8 William Wilson: 117
• Chapter 9 Why the Little Frenchman Wears His Hand in a Sling: 138
• Chapter 10 The Business Man: 145
• Chapter 11 The Philosophy of Furniture: 155
• Chapter 12 The Man of the Crowd: 163
• Chapter 13 The Murders in the Rue Morgue: 175
• Chapter 14 A Descent into the Maelström: 210
• Chapter 15 The Oval Portrait: 229
• Chapter 16 The Masque of the Red Death: 233
• Chapter 17 The Pit and the Pendulum: 241
• Chapter 18 The TellTale Heart: 259
• Chapter 19 The GoldBug: 266
• Chapter 20 The Black Cat: 306
• Chapter 21 The Purloined Letter: 318
• Chapter 22 The Facts in the Case of M Valdemar: 337
• Chapter 23 The Cask of Amontillado: 350
• Chapter 24 HopFrog: 359
• Chapter 25 To Helen: 370
• Chapter 26 To One in Paradise: 372
• Chapter 27 The Raven: 374
• A Ballad: 385
• Chapter 29 Eldorado: 390
• Chapter 30 Annabel Lee: 393
• First Printings Reprints and Translations Published during Poes Lifetime: 397
• Further Reading: 403
• Illustration Credits: 405
• Acknowledgments: 411

About the author

Kevin J. Hayes is Professor Emeritus of English at the University of Central Oklahoma. William Giraldi is the author of the novels Busy Monsters and Hold the Dark.

Bibliographic information

• Title: The Annotated Poe
• Author: Edgar Allan Poe
• Editor: Kevin J. Hayes
• Contributor: William Giraldi
• Edition: illustrated, annotated
• Publisher: Harvard University Press, 2015
• ISBN: 0674055292, 9780674055292
• Length: 410 pages
• Subjects: Fiction / Horror; Fiction / Literary; Fiction / Mystery & Detective / Collections & Anthologies; Language Arts & Disciplines / Reference; Literary Collections / General; Literary Criticism / American / General; Literary Criticism / General; Poetry / Anthologies (multiple authors)