One of the World's greatest and most influential masters of the short story, Edgar Allan Poe has also claimed as the originator of such important styles of fiction. Poe's singular ability to probe into the caverns of the psyche and reveal, through the medium of imaginative prose and poetry, that combination of fear, guilt and obsession common to mankind has insured his permanence amoung the great writers of the world. A descent into the maelstrom -- The murders in the Rue Morgue --The purloined letter -- Some words with a mummy -- Wiliam Wilson -- The sphinx -- The pit and the pendulum -- The fall of the House of Usher -- The cask of Amontillado.