Edgar Allan Poe born Edgar Poe; January 19, 1809 - October 7, 1849) was an American writer, editor, and literary critic. Poe is best known for his poetry and short stories, particularly his tales of mystery and the macabre. He is widely regarded as a central figure of Romanticism in the United States and American literature as a whole, and 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. He was the CONTENTS. The Gold-Bug1 The Black Cat37 Mesmeric Revelation47 Lionizing58 The Fall of the House of Usher64 A Descent into the Maelstr m83 The Colloquy of Monos and Una100 The Conversation of Eiros and Charmion110 The Murders in the Rue Morgue119 The Mystery of Marie Roget151 The Purloined Letter200 The Man in the Crowd219