The Jungle Upton Sinclair http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3384 en 1906 Novels Politics The Jungle is a 1906 novel written by author and socialist journalist Upton Sinclair. It was written about the corruption of the American meatpacking industry during the early 20th century. The novel depicts in harsh tones the poverty, absence of social programs, unpleasant living and working conditions, and hopelessness prevalent among the "have-nots", which is contrasted with the deeply rooted corruption on the part of the "haves". The sad state of turn-of-the-century labor is placed front and center for the American public to see, suggesting that something needed to be changed to get rid of American "wage slavery". The novel is also an important example of the "muckraking" tradition begun by journalists such as Jacob Riis. Sinclair wanted to persuade his readers that the mainstream American political parties offered little means for progressive change. Upton Sinclair came to Chicago with the intent of writing The Jungle; he had been given a stipend by the socialist newspaper The Appeal to Reason. Upon his arrival in the lobby of the Chicago Transit House, a hotel near the stockyards, he was quoted as saying, "Hello! I'm Upton Sinclair, and I'm here to write the Uncle Tom's Cabin of the Labor Movement!" (Arthur, 43). He rented living quarters and immediately immersed himself in the city by walking its streets, talking to its people, and taking pictures. One Sunday afternoon, he worked his way into a group of Asian immigrants getting together for a wedding party – "Behold, there was the opening scene of my story, a gift from the gods". He was welcomed to the festivities and stayed until two o'clock in the morning. The novel was first published in serial form in 1906 by The Appeal to Reason. "After five rejections", its first edition as a novel was published by Doubleday, Page & Company on February 28, 1906, and it became an immediate bestseller. It has been in print ever since. Source: Wikipedia This work was published before 1923 and is in the public domain in the USA only. http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3384.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3384.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3384.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3384.mobi Lilith George MacDonald http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3414 en 1895 Novels Fantasy Lilith is a fantasy novel written by Scottish writer George MacDonald and first published in 1895. Its importance was recognized in its later revival in paperback by Ballantine Books as the fifth volume of the celebrated Ballantine Adult Fantasy series in September 1969. Lilith is considered among the darkest of MacDonald's works, and among the most profound. It is a story concerning the nature of life, death and salvation. Many believe MacDonald is arguing for Christian universalism, or the idea that all will eventually be saved. Mr. Vane, the protagonist of Lilith, owns a library that seems to be haunted by the former librarian, who looks much like a raven from the brief glimpses he catches of the wraith. After finally encountering the supposed ghost, the mysterious Mr. Raven, Vane learns that Raven had known his father; indeed, Vane's father had visited the strange parallel universe from which Raven comes and goes and now resides therein. Vane follows Raven into the world through a mirror (this symbolistic realm is described as "the region of the seven dimensions", a term taken from Jacob Boehme). Source: Wikipedia http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3414.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3414.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3414.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3414.mobi Ulysses James Joyce http://www.feedbooks.com/book/1232 urn:isbn:0141182806 en 1922 Novels Sexuality Ulysses is a novel by James Joyce, first serialized in parts in the American journal The Little Review from March 1918 to December 1920, then published in its entirety by Sylvia Beach on February 2, 1922, in Paris. It is considered one of the most important works of Modernist literature. Ulysses chronicles the passage through Dublin by its main character, Leopold Bloom, during an ordinary day, June 16, 1904. The title alludes to the hero of Homer's Odyssey (Latinised into Ulysses), and there are many parallels, both implicit and explicit, between the two works (e.g., the correspondences between Leopold Bloom and Odysseus, Molly Bloom and Penelope, and Stephen Dedalus and Telemachus). This work is available for countries where copyright is Life+50 or in the USA (published before 1923). http://www.feedbooks.com/book/1232.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/1232.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/1232.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/1232.mobi The Wonderful Wizard of Oz Lyman Frank Baum http://www.feedbooks.com/book/197 urn:isbn:0688166776 en 1900 Novels Young Readers Fantasy Dorothy is a young girl who lives on a Kansas farm with her Uncle Henry, Aunt Em, and little dog Toto. One day the farmhouse, with Dorothy inside, is caught up in a tornado and deposited in a field in the country of the Munchkins. The falling house kills the Wicked Witch of the East. This work is available for countries where copyright is Life+70 and in the USA. http://www.feedbooks.com/book/197.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/197.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/197.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/197.mobi The Adventures of Tom Sawyer Mark Twain http://www.feedbooks.com/book/72 urn:isbn:0520235754 en 1876 Novels Adventure The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, by Mark Twain, is a popular 1876 novel about a young boy growing up in the antebellum South on the Mississippi River in the fictional town of St. Petersburg, Missouri. This work is available for countries where copyright is Life+70 and in the USA. http://www.feedbooks.com/book/72.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/72.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/72.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/72.mobi Vanity Fair William Makepeace Thackeray http://www.feedbooks.com/book/1469 urn:isbn:1593083653 en 1848 Novels “I think I could be a good woman, if I had five thousand a year,” observes beautiful and clever Becky Sharp, one of the wickedest—and most appealing—women in all of literature. Becky is just one of the many fascinating figures that populate William Makepeace Thackeray’s novel Vanity Fair, a wonderfully satirical panorama of upper-middle-class life and manners in London at the beginning of the nineteenth century. Scorned for her lack of money and breeding, Becky must use all her wit, charm and considerable sex appeal to escape her drab destiny as a governess. From London’s ballrooms to the battlefields of Waterloo, the bewitching Becky works her wiles on a gallery of memorable characters, including her lecherous employer, Sir Pitt, his rich sister, Miss Crawley, and Pitt’s dashing son, Rawdon, the first of Becky’s misguided sexual entanglements. Filled with hilarious dialogue and superb characterizations, Vanity Fair is a richly entertaining comedy that asks the reader, “Which of us is happy in this world? Which of us has his desire? or, having it, is satisfied?” http://www.feedbooks.com/book/1469.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/1469.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/1469.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/1469.mobi Fanny Hill: Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure John Cleland http://www.feedbooks.com/book/84 urn:isbn:1840224177 en 1749 Novels Sexuality Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure, popularly known as Fanny Hill, is a novel by John Cleland. Written in 1748 while Cleland was in debtor's prison in London, it is considered the first modern "erotic novel" in English, and has become a byword for the battle of censorship of erotica. http://www.feedbooks.com/book/84.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/84.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/84.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/84.mobi The Casebook of Sherlock Holmes Arthur Conan Doyle http://www.feedbooks.com/book/66 urn:isbn:1905432585 en 1923 Short Fiction Crime/Mystery Collections The last twelve stories written about Holmes and Watson, these tales reflect the disillusioned world of the 1920s in which they were written. Some of the sharpest turns of wit in English literature are contrasted by dark images of psychological tragedy, suicide, and incest in a collection of tales that have haunted generations of readers. This work is available for countries where copyright is Life+70 and in the USA. http://www.feedbooks.com/book/66.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/66.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/66.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/66.mobi The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes Arthur Conan Doyle http://www.feedbooks.com/book/58 urn:isbn:0517174960 en 1893 Short Fiction Crime/Mystery Collections The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes is a collection of Sherlock Holmes stories, originally published in 1894, by Arthur Conan Doyle. This work is available for countries where copyright is Life+70 and in the USA. http://www.feedbooks.com/book/58.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/58.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/58.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/58.mobi Nostromo: A Tale of the Seaboard Joseph Conrad http://www.feedbooks.com/book/31 urn:isbn:014018371X en 1904 Novels Set in the imaginary South American republic of Costaguana, this work is an illustration of the impact of foreign exploitation on a developing nation. As Sulaco, site of an English/American controlled silver mine establishes its independence, its ideals are inevitably compromised. This work is available for countries where copyright is Life+70 and in the USA. http://www.feedbooks.com/book/31.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/31.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/31.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/31.mobi The Secret Agent Joseph Conrad http://www.feedbooks.com/book/721 urn:isbn:0192801694 en 1907 Novels Mr Verloc, the secret agent, keeps a shop in London's Soho where he lives with his wife Winnie, her infirm mother, and her idiot brother, Stevie. When Verloc is reluctantly involved in an anarchist plot to blow up the Greenwich Observatory things go disastrously wrong, and what appears to be 'a simple tale' proves to involve politicians, policemen, foreign diplomats and London's fashionable society in the darkest and most surprising interrelations. This work is available for countries where copyright is Life+70 and in the USA. http://www.feedbooks.com/book/721.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/721.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/721.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/721.mobi Heart of Darkness Joseph Conrad http://www.feedbooks.com/book/15 urn:isbn:0486264645 en 1902 Novels Heart of Darkness is a novella written by Polish-born writer Joseph Conrad (born Józef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski). Before its 1902 publication, it appeared as a three-part series (1899) in Blackwood's Magazine. It is widely regarded as a significant work of English literature and part of the Western canon. This highly symbolic story is actually a story within a story, or frame narrative. It follows Marlow as he recounts, from dusk through to late night, his adventure into the Congo to a group of men aboard a ship anchored in the Thames Estuary. The story details an incident when Marlow, an Englishman, took a foreign assignment as a ferry-boat captain, employed by a Belgian trading company. Although the river is never specifically named, readers may assume it is the Congo River, in the Congo Free State, a private colony of King Leopold II. Marlow is employed to transport ivory downriver; however, his more pressing assignment is to return Kurtz, another ivory trader, to civilization in a cover up. Kurtz has a reputation throughout the region. This work is available for countries where copyright is Life+70 and in the USA. http://www.feedbooks.com/book/15.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/15.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/15.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/15.mobi Ethan Frome Edith Wharton http://www.feedbooks.com/book/170 urn:isbn:0735101191 en 1911 Novels Set against the bleak winter landscape of New England, Ethan Frome is the story of a poor farmer, lonely and downtrodden, his wife Zeena, and her cousin, the enchanting Mattie Silver. In the playing out of this short novel's powerful and engrossing drama, Edith Wharton constructed her least characteristic and most celebrated book. This work is available for countries where copyright is Life+70 and in the USA. http://www.feedbooks.com/book/170.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/170.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/170.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/170.mobi The Trial Franz Kafka http://www.feedbooks.com/book/9 urn:isbn:0805210407 en 1925 Novels Horror Fantasy The Trial (German: Der Process) is a novel by Franz Kafka about a character named Josef K., who awakens one morning and, for reasons never revealed, is arrested and prosecuted for an unspecified crime. According to Kafka's friend Max Brod, the author never finished the novel and wrote in his will that it was to be destroyed. After his death, Brod went against Kafka's wishes and edited The Trial into what he felt was a coherent novel and had it published in 1925. This work is available for countries where copyright is Life+70. http://www.feedbooks.com/book/9.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/9.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/9.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/9.mobi The Case of Charles Dexter Ward Howard Phillips Lovecraft http://www.feedbooks.com/book/24 urn:isbn:0345354907 en 1927 Novels Horror Incantations of black magic unearthed unspeakable horrors in a quiet town near Providence, Rhode Island. Evil spirits are being resurrected from beyond the grave, a supernatural force so twisted that it kills without offering the mercy of death! This work is available for countries where copyright is Life+70. http://www.feedbooks.com/book/24.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/24.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/24.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/24.mobi The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath Howard Phillips Lovecraft http://www.feedbooks.com/book/247 urn:isbn:0345337794 en 1943 Short Fiction Horror Randolph Carter dreams three times of a majestic sunset city, but each time he is abruptly snatched away before he can see it up close. When he prays to the gods of dream to reveal the whereabouts of the phantasmal city, they do not answer, and his dreams of the city stop altogether. Undaunted, Carter resolves to go to Kadath, where the gods live, to beseech them in person. However, no one has ever been to Kadath and none even knows how to get there. In dream, Randolph Carter descends "the seventy steps to the cavern of flame" and speaks of his plan to the priests Nasht and Kaman-Thah, whose temple borders the Dreamlands. The priests warn Carter of the great danger of his quest and suggest that the gods withdrew his vision of the city on purpose. This work is available for countries where copyright is Life+70. http://www.feedbooks.com/book/247.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/247.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/247.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/247.mobi The Lurking Fear Howard Phillips Lovecraft http://www.feedbooks.com/book/267 en 1923 Short Fiction Horror This work is available for countries where copyright is Life+70 and in the USA. http://www.feedbooks.com/book/267.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/267.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/267.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/267.mobi The Dunwich Horror Howard Phillips Lovecraft http://www.feedbooks.com/book/20 urn:isbn:0447745026 en 1928 Short Fiction Horror In H.P. Lovecraft’s, "The Dunwich Horror", we are told the story of Wilbur Whateley, the son of a deformed albino mother and an unknown father (alluded to in passing by the mad Old Whateley as "Yog-Sothoth"), and the strange events surrounding his birth and precocious development. Wilbur matures at an abnormal rate, reaching manhood within a decade. All the while, his sorcerer grandfather indoctrinates him into certain dark rituals and the study of witchcraft. This work is available for countries where copyright is Life+70. http://www.feedbooks.com/book/20.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/20.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/20.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/20.mobi The Colour Out of Space Howard Phillips Lovecraft http://www.feedbooks.com/book/19 urn:isbn:1590170261 en 1927 Short Fiction Horror "The Colour Out of Space" is a first-person narrative written from the perspective of an unnamed surveyor from Boston. In order to prepare for the construction of a new reservoir in Massachusetts, he surveys a rural area that is to be flooded near Lovecraft's fictional town of Arkham. He comes across a mysterious patch of land, an abandoned five-acre farmstead, which is completely devoid of all life. This work is available for countries where copyright is Life+70. http://www.feedbooks.com/book/19.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/19.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/19.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/19.mobi At the Mountains of Madness Howard Phillips Lovecraft http://www.feedbooks.com/book/26 urn:isbn:0345329457 en 1931 Novels Horror At the Mountains of Madness is a novella by horror writer H. P. Lovecraft, written in February/March 1931 and originally serialized in the February, March and April 1936 issues of Astounding Stories. It has been reproduced in numerous collections since Lovecraft's death. Lovecraft scholar S. T. Joshi describes the novella as representing the decisive "demythology" of the Cthulhu Mythos by reinterpreting Lovecraft's earlier supernatural stories in a science fiction paradigm. This work is available for countries where copyright is Life+70. http://www.feedbooks.com/book/26.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/26.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/26.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/26.mobi Siddhartha Hermann Hesse http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3374 urn:isbn:0553208845 en 1922 Novels Philosophy Religion Siddhartha is an allegorical novel by Hermann Hesse which deals with the spiritual journey of an Indian boy called Siddhartha during the time of the Buddha. The book, Hesse's ninth novel, was written in German, in a simple, yet powerful and lyrical, style. It was first published in 1922, after Hesse had spent some time in India in the 1910s. It was published in the U.S. in 1951 and became influential during the 1960s. The word Siddhartha is made up of two words in the Sanskrit language, siddha (gotten) + artha (meaning or wealth). The two words together mean "one who has found meaning (of existence)" or "he who has attained his goals". The Buddha's name, before his renunciation, was Prince Siddhartha Gautama, later the Buddha. In this book, the Buddha is referred to as "Gotama". Source: Wikipedia This work was published before 1923 and is in the public domain in the USA only. http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3374.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3374.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3374.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3374.mobi The Thirty-Nine Steps John Buchan http://www.feedbooks.com/book/41 urn:isbn:0879238712 en 1915 Novels Thriller The Thirty-Nine Steps shows...an attractive man, not too young...and not too old, since he must have the knowledge of maturity and substantial experience on which he will draw while being able to respond to the physical rigors of chase and pursuit. Let the hero, who appears at first to be relatively ordinary, and who thinks of himself as commonplace, be drawn against his best judgment into a mystery he only vaguely comprehends, so that he and the reader may share the growing tension together. Set him a task to perform...Place obstacles in his path the enemy, best left as ill-defined as possible, so that our hero cannot be certain who he might trust. See to it that he cannot turn to established authority to help, indeed that the police, the military, the establishment will be actively working against him. Then set a clock ticking... This work is available for countries where copyright is Life+50 or in the USA (published before 1923). http://www.feedbooks.com/book/41.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/41.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/41.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/41.mobi Ivanhoe Sir Walter Scott http://www.feedbooks.com/book/203 urn:isbn:0486436772 en 1820 Novels War Ivanhoe is the story of one of the remaining Saxon noble families at a time when the English nobility was overwhelmingly Norman. It follows the Saxon protagonist, Wilfrid of Ivanhoe, who is out of favour with his father owing to his courting the Lady Rowena and for his allegiance to the Norman king Richard I of England. The story is set in 1194, after the end of the Third Crusade, when many of the Crusaders were still returning to Europe. King Richard, having been captured by the Duke of Saxony, on his way back, was still supposed to be in the arms of his captors. The legendary Robin Hood, initially under the name of Locksley, is also a character in the story, as are his 'merry men,' including Friar Tuck and, less so, Alan-a-Dale. (Little John is merely mentioned.) The character that Scott gave to Robin Hood in Ivanhoe helped shape the modern notion of this figure as a cheery noble outlaw. Other major characters include Ivanhoe's intractable Saxon father Cedric, a descendant of the Saxon King Harold Godwinson; various Knights Templar and churchmen; the loyal serfs Gurth the swineherd and the jester Wamba, whose observations punctuate much of the action; and the Jewish moneylender, Isaac of York, equally passionate of money and his daughter, Rebecca. The book was written and published during a period of increasing struggle for Emancipation of the Jews in England, and there are frequent references to injustice against them. http://www.feedbooks.com/book/203.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/203.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/203.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/203.mobi The Hunchback of Notre Dame Victor Hugo http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3580 urn:isbn:0451527887 en 1831 Novels History Romance The Hunchback of Notre Dame (French: Notre-Dame de Paris) is an 1831 French novel written by Victor Hugo. It is set in 1482 in Paris, in and around the cathedral of Notre Dame de Paris. The book tells the story of a poor barefoot Gypsy girl (La Esmeralda) and a misshapen bell-ringer (Quasimodo) who was raised by the Archdeacon (Claude Frollo). The book was written as a statement to preserve the Notre Dame cathedral and not to 'modernize' it, as Hugo was thoroughly against this. The story begins during the Renaissance in 1482, the day of the Festival of Fools in Paris. Quasimodo, the deformed bell ringer, is introduced by his crowning as Pope of Fools. Esméralda, a beautiful 16-year-old gypsy with a kind and generous heart, captures the hearts of many men but especially Quasimodo’s adopted father, Claude Frollo. Frollo is torn between his lust and the rules of the church. He orders Quasimodo to get her. Quasimodo is caught and whipped and ordered to be tied down in the heat. Esméralda seeing his thirst, offers him water. It saves her, for she captures the heart of the hunchback. http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3580.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3580.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3580.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3580.mobi The Masque of the Red Death Edgar Allan Poe http://www.feedbooks.com/book/789 en 1842 Short Fiction Horror "The Masque of the Red Death", originally published as "The Mask of the Red Death", is a short story written by Edgar Allan Poe and first published in 1842. The story follows Prince Prospero's attempts to avoid a dangerous plague known as the Red Death by hiding in his abbey. He, along with many other wealthy nobles, has a masquerade ball within seven rooms of his abbey, each decorated with a different color. In the midst of their revelry, a mysterious figure enters and makes his way through each of the rooms. When Prospero confronts this stranger, he falls dead. The story follows many traditions of Gothic fiction and is often analyzed as an allegory about the inevitability of death, though some critics advise against an allegorical reading. Many different interpretations have been presented, as well as attempts to identify the true nature of the disease of the "Red Death." http://www.feedbooks.com/book/789.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/789.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/789.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/789.mobi The Tell-Tale Heart Edgar Allan Poe http://www.feedbooks.com/book/814 urn:isbn:0553212281 en 1843 Short Fiction Horror Gothic "The Tell-Tale Heart" is a short story by Edgar Allan Poe first published in 1843. It follows an unnamed narrator who insists on his sanity after murdering an old man with a "vulture eye". The murder is carefully calculated, and the murderer hides the body by cutting it into pieces and hiding it under the floorboards. Ultimately the narrator's guilt manifests itself in the hallucination that the man's heart is still beating under the floorboards. It is unclear what relationship, if any, the old man and his murderer share. It has been suggested that the old man is a father figure or, perhaps, that his vulture eye represents some sort of veiled secret. The ambiguity and lack of details about the two main characters stand in stark contrast to the specific plot details leading up to the murder. The story was first published in James Russell Lowell's The Pioneer in January 1843. "The Tell-Tale Heart" is widely considered a classic of the Gothic fiction genre and one of Poe's most famous short stories. http://www.feedbooks.com/book/814.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/814.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/814.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/814.mobi The Purloined Letter Edgar Allan Poe http://www.feedbooks.com/book/805 urn:isbn:0801832934 en 1844 Short Fiction "The Purloined Letter" is a short story by American author Edgar Allan Poe. It is the third of his three detective stories featuring the fictional C. Auguste Dupin, the other two being "The Murders in the Rue Morgue" and "The Mystery of Marie Rogêt". These stories are considered to be important early forerunners of the modern detective story. It first appeared in The Gift for 1845 (1844) and was soon reprinted in numerous journals and newspapers. http://www.feedbooks.com/book/805.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/805.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/805.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/805.mobi The Pit and the Pendulum Edgar Allan Poe http://www.feedbooks.com/book/801 en 1842 Short Fiction Horror "The Pit and the Pendulum" is a short story written by Edgar Allan Poe and first published in 1842. The story is about the torments endured by a prisoner of the Spanish Inquisition, though Poe skews historical facts. The narrator of the story is deemed guilty for an unnamed crime and put into a completely dark room. He passes out while trying to determine the size of the room. When he wakes up, he realizes there is a large, deep pit in the middle of the room. He loses consciousness again and awakens strapped on his back, unable to move more than his head. He soon realizes there is a large blade-like pendulum hanging above him, slowly getting closer to cutting through his chest. He finds a way to escape but the walls of his prison start to move and close in on him, pushing him closer and closer to falling into the pit. The story is especially effective at inspiring fear in the reader because of its heavy focus on the senses, such as sound, emphasizing its reality, unlike many of Poe's stories which are aided by the supernatural. The traditional elements established in popular horror tales at the time are followed but critical reception has been mixed. http://www.feedbooks.com/book/801.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/801.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/801.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/801.mobi