Edgar Allan Poe, The Black Cat

Slobodan Sucur (University of Alberta)

Ed. by Stephen E. Meats, Pittsburg State University
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 3.2.2: American (US) Writing and Culture: The Nineteenth Century, 1783-1900.
Vol. editors: Emory Elliott (University of California, Riverside), Stephen E. Meats (Pittsburg State University)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1843

Places

United States (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Gothic & Ghosts
Story

Resources

“The Black Cat” (1843), a classic tale of terror by Poe, has been described as combining “several themes that fascinated” the author, including “perversity”, “retribution”, and “reincarnation” (Poe 3:847). It was first published in the Philadelphian Saturday Evening Post (known briefly at that time as the United States Saturday Post) in August of 1843; reprints followed a few years later in Boston’s Pictorial National Library in November of 1848, with a French translation done by Isabelle Meunier appearing in January of 1847 in La Démocratie pacifique, and even a parody being published already in early 1844, written by Thomas Dunn English and called “The Ghost of a Grey Tadpole�…

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3894 words

Citation: Sucur, Slobodan. "The Black Cat". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 07 January 2014 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=1445, accessed 21 November 2024.]

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