The Works of Edgar Allan Poe - Volume 1: contains: The Unparalled Adventures of One Hans Pfall; The Gold Bug; Four Beasts in One; The Murders in the ... MS. Found in a Bottle; The Oval Portrait

The Works of Edgar Allan Poe - Volume 1 By Edgar Allan PoeEdgar Allan Poe (January 19 1809 - October 7 1849) was an American writer poet 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 countrys earliest practitioners of the short story. He is also generally considered the inventor of the detective fiction genre and is further credited with contributing to the emerging genre of science fiction. Poe was the first well-known American writer to earn a living through writing alone resulting in a financially difficult life and career.Poe was born in Boston the second child of actors David and Elizabeth Eliza Poe. His father abandoned the family in 1810 and his mother died the following year. Thus orphaned the child was taken in by John and Frances Allan of Richmond Virginia. They never formally adopted him but he was with them well into young adulthood. Tension developed later as Poe and John Allan repeatedly clashed over debts including those incurred by gambling and the cost of Poes education. Poe attended the University of Virginia but left after a year due to lack of money. He quarreled with Allan over the funds for his education and enlisted in the United States Army in 1827 under an assumed name. It was at this time that his publishing career began with the anonymous collection Tamerlane and Other Poems (1827) credited only to a Bostonian. Poe and Allan reached a temporary rapprochement after the death of Allans wife in 1829. Poe later failed as an officer cadet at West Point declaring a firm wish to be a poet and writer and he ultimately parted ways with Allan.Poe switched his focus to prose and spent the next several years working for literary journals and periodicals becoming known for his own style of literary criticism. His work forced him to move among several cities including Baltimore Philadelphia and New York City. He married his 13-year-old cousin Virginia Clemm in 1836 but Virginia died of tuberculosis in 1847. In January 1845 Poe published his poem The Raven to instant success. He planned for years to produce his own journal The Penn (later renamed The Stylus) but before it could be produced he died in Baltimore on October 7 1849 at age 40. The cause of his death is unknown and has been variously attributed to disease alcoholism substance abuse suicide and other causes.