New Translations of Allan Poe’s Stories, Essay

Five short stories and an essay written by the famous American writer Edgar Allan Poe have been recently translated into Persian.

Titled ‘What’s Up With Mr. Poe?’, the book has been published in 116 pages by the publisher Neyestan Book in Iran, Mehr News Agency reported.

Poe (1809-1849) was a writer, editor, and literary critic. He is best known for his poetry and short stories, particularly his tales of mystery and the macabre. He was one of the country’s earliest practitioners of the short story. Poe is generally considered the inventor of the detective fiction genre and is further credited with contributing to the emerging genre of science fiction.

The short stories include ‘Ligeia’ (first published in 1838), ‘The Fall of the House of Usher’ (1839), ‘A Descent into the Maelstrom’ (1841), ‘The Purloined Letter’ (1844) and ‘The Cask of Amontillado’ (1846).

As the translator says in the introduction of the book, the stories are among Poe’s favorites and the ones he believed were his best works.

‘The Purloined Letter’ is considered to be an early forerunner of the modern detective story and ‘A Descent into the Maelstrom’ has been labeled an early form of science fiction.

The only essay in the book is ‘The Philosophy of Composition’ which was written in 1846 by Poe and elucidates a theory about how good writers write when they write well. He concludes that length, unity of effect and a logical method are important considerations for good writing.

While Poe never had financial success in his lifetime, he has become one of America’s most enduring writers. His works are as compelling today as they were more than a century ago. A bright, imaginative thinker, Poe crafted stories and poems that still shock, surprise and move modern readers.

His works have been translated into different languages, including Persian such as ‘The Black Cat’ translated by Mehdi Ghabrai, published by Markaz Publication in 1997 and ‘Edgar Allan Poe’s Sort Stories’ translated by Ziba Ganji and Parisa Soleimanzadeh, published by Negah Publication in 2013.