Harper Collins is proud to present its new range of best-loved essential classics. ' Yet I am not more sure that my soul lives than I am that perverseness is one of the primitive impulses of the human heart
- one of the indivisible primary faculties or sentiments which gives direction to the character of Man.' Including Poe's most terrifying grotesque & haunting short stories Tales of Mystery & Imagination is the ultimate collection of the infamous author's macabre works. Considered to be one of the earliest American writers to encapsulate the genre of detective-fiction the collection features some of his most popular tales.' The Gold-Bug' is the only tale that was popular in his lifetime whereas ' The Black Cat' ' The Pit & the Pendulum' & ' The Murders in the Rue Morgue' became more widely read after his death. Focussing on the internal conflict of individuals the power of the dead over the living & psychological explorations of darker human emotion that appear to anticipate Sigmund Freud's later theories on the psyche Poe's Gothic terror stories are considered masterpieces the world over.