Excerpt from Great Short Stories, Vol. 1 This and the two stories that follow it constitute a trilogy of stories with related methods of construction. They were the first detective stories, and are still considered the most famous models of their kind. Written by a poor struggling, underpaid hack journalist at a time when literary inspiration was derived principally from abroad, they were first published 1841-5. Soon afterward The Murders in the Rue Morgue was translated into French and appeared in several French journals, tably the Charivari. This constitutes Poe's introduction to a French audience, and it won for him a warmer and a more general recognition than he has ever had in this country. Judged by the extent of his influence on writers of short stories both here and abroad, Poe is the most important figure in American literature. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art techlogy to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.