The Tell-Tale Heart and Other Stories

by Edgar Allan Poe, Gris Grimly (Illustrator)

Overview

Stories of lost love, lost ways…and lost minds! Gris Grimly’s mysterious, morbid, macabre illustrations capture four Poe classics with an unmatchable ghoulish charm. A companion to Edgar Allan Poe’s Tales of Mystery and Madness, this second installment of illustrated Poe includes the perennial favorite The Tell-Tale Heart as well as The System of Dr. Tarr and Professor Fether, The Oblong Box, and The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar . Brought to life with an abundance of full-color art, these slightly trimmed stories have never looked better—or more frightening! Tighten your straitjackets….

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781416950264
Publisher:	Atheneum Books for Young Readers
Publication date:	08/30/2011
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	144
Product dimensions:	7.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.40(d)
Age Range:	11 - 15 Years

About the Author

Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849) was an American writer, poet, and critic. Best known for his macabre prose work, including the short story “The Tell-Tale Heart,” his writing has influenced literature in the United States and around the world.

Mr. Gris Grimly is as mysterious as Poe himself. What is known is that his own particular brand of creative brilliance was first seen in many books, including Monster Museum, The Cockatrice Boys, Pinocchio, Creature Carnival, Boris and Bella, and Gris Grimly's Wicked Nursery Rhymes. Then he found himself under the spell of Edgar Allan Poe, and, for years and years, was compelled to give a visual representation of Mr. Poe's ghoulish genius. This book is the result of his mania.

Editorial Reviews

Dark humor reverberates throughout this wickedly astute tribute to Poe, presenting Grimly's visual interpretation of four abridged stories, including "The Tell-Tale Heart," "The System of Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether," "The Oblong Box," and "The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar." In the first selection, the straight-jacketed narrator explains his bizarre actions, emphasizing why he felt compelled to kill the old man with whom he roomed. The naive storyteller in the second tale describes his visit to a French insane asylum, Maison de Sante, and absurd encounters with physicians and patients. A traveler ponders in the third story what artist Cornelius Wyatt transports in a mysterious oblong box when the men sail on a ship heading to New York from South Carolina. A mesmerist in the concluding tale chronicles his experiment delaying the death of his terminally ill friend. Grimly's imagery graphically enlivens Poe's words, spilling and splashing motifs of creatures, bones, and body parts across pages like the frequent spattering of blood and carnage in Poe's stories. Illustrations pull readers into scenes as narrators guide them into terror, divulging truths and revealing secrets which are foundations for horrifying twists. Innovative artwork provides new perspectives for readers familiar with these works. Pair with Edgar Allan Poe's Tales of Mystery and Madness (2004), also illustrated by Grimly. Consult Dawn B. Sova's Edgar Allan Poe A to Z: The Essential Reference to His Life and Work (2001) for analysis of these stories. Compare these versions with original texts in The Complete Tales and Poems of Edgar Allan Poe (2006). Reviewer: Elizabeth D. Schafer

Children's Literature - Elizabeth D. Schafer