Edgar Allan Poe (1809 - 1849) was an American writer, editor, and literary critic. Poe is best known for his poetry and short stories, particularly his tales of mystery and the macabre. He is widely regarded as a central figure of Romanticism in the United States and of American literature as a whole, and he was one of the country's earliest practitioners of the short story. He is generally considered the inventor of the detective fiction genre and is further credited with contributing to the emerging genre of science fiction. He was the first well-known American writer to earn a living through writing alone, resulting in a financially difficult life and career.The literary output of Poe, though not great in volume, limited in range, and very unequal in merit, bears the stamp of an genius. In his poetry he sometimes aims at a musical effect to which the sense is sacrificed, but at times he has a charm and a magic melody all his own. His better tales are remarkable for their originality and ingenuity of construction, and in the best of them he rises to a high level of imagination, as in The House of Usher, while The Gold Beetle or Golden Bug is one of the first examples of the cryptogram story; and in The Purloined Letters, The Mystery of Marie Roget, and The Murders in the Rue Morgue he is the pioneer of the modern detective story. Contents: William Wilson The Gold-Bug The Fall of the House of Usher The Masque of the Red Death The Cask of Amontillado A Descent into the Maelstrom The Pit and the Pendulum The Purloined Letter Metzengerstein The Murders in the Rue Morgue The Tell-Tale Heart The Black Cat The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar Ligeia Hop-Frog or the Eight Chained Ourang-Outangs The Imp of the Perverse The Oval Portrait<b