1. Tales of Mystery and Imagination Edgar Allan Poe

2. 19.2.1809 Boston – 7.10.1849 Baltimore An author, poet, editor Short stories writer- the most imaginative in American literature The master of horror, father of detective story 1845 produced The Raven and Other Poems 1836 – he married his cousin Virginia (13 years old) 3 childrens, problems with alcohol and drugs

4. Plot – The Gold-Bug The narrator, friend of William Legrand comes visit him at his home in South Carolina and William told him, that he found the gold bug. A month later they go on an expedition with the gold bug. They find a tree, his servant climbs on him, finds a skull, drops the bug through one of the eye and where the bug falls, there they start dig. They find treasure with a million and half dollars. William explains how he knew about the tresure´s location – everything happened after the discavery of the gold bug.

5. My opinions Positive Quite fast course of events There aren´t long describing of the nature or the characters Author concentrates on the incident Some of the tales were very dramatic and thrilling The language was quite easy and simply and there weren´t lots of new words Negative Complicated plot of some tales (William Wilson) The plot is usually concentrated only on one character and the others are in the backround In some tales were too little direct speech

6. New words Supper – slavnostní večeře Skull – lebka Spade – rýč Trembling – třesoucí se Possession - majetek

7. Film adaptations – The Raven as a black comedy with two famous actors – Boris Karloff and Jack Nicolson Lots of writers write a detective stories on his theme, for example Charles Boudelaire, Angela Carter or our writer Josef Škvorecký Philip Glass composed an opera on his text of the story The Fall of the House of Usher