This collection of Poe's short stories is full of quintessential examples of the gothic horror short story genre. Gothic literature developed in the 18th century, originating with Horace Walpole’s 1764 novel The Castle of Otranto and spreading swiftly across Europe. The genre is characterized by a general sense of terror that permeates the given narrative, along with certain common elements such as gloomy settings, dysfunctional families, death, madness, and feelings of intense dread and suspense.
Poe brought gothic horror into the Victorian age, building a reputation for stories with haunting (and haunted!) castles and manors, morbid romance, crazed characters, and gruesome violence. The 11 stories in this collection are full of horror and foreboding. The reader enters each tale on edge, with anticipation already primed for a heightened sense of fear.
Poe is particularly good at using the architecture of his settings to create a heady atmosphere of gloom and mystery. Another characteristic element of these stories includes the fine line between manifestations of mental illness and psychological horror and the occurrence of supernatural events—often, Poe leaves readers to determine which phenomenon is most likely to have occurred. In these stories, Poe incorporates many elements for which his writing is most well-known: a slow-building, overwhelming sense of terror; isolated settings; stomach-turning gore; the psychological exploration of his central character; and experimentation with the line between life and death.
