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The Gold Bug cover art

The Gold Bug

By: Edgar Allan Poe
Narrated by: Walter Covell
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Editor reviews

First published in the Philadelphia Dollar Newspaper in June 1843, "The Gold Bug" won its author, Edgar Allan Poe, a sum of 100 dollars and was during his lifetime the author’s most popular work. Performed in a stentorian and agile voice by Walter Covell, "The Gold Bug" features a treasure-seeker who is rendered possibly insane by the bite of a golden bug, his black servant (spoken in a dialect that may offend sensitive ears), the swampy locale of an island in South Carolina, buried treasure, and one of the most famous cryptograms in all of literature. A perennial delight, "The Gold Bug" was also the inspiration for that other tale of buried treasure, Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island.

Summary

Edgar Allan Poe, American poet and master of the horror tale, is also credited by many with inventing the American mystery story. "The Gold Bug" is one of his most famous stories. It was first published in the Philadelphia Dollar Newspaper in June 1843, after Poe had won a competition held by the paper and received a prize of $100.
Public Domain (P)1984 Jimcin Recordings
Anthologies Short Stories Classics Mystery
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Profile Image for Adam

Nothing special

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

Yes, but mostly as a reminder of how formal Poe's writing style is.

Has The Gold Bug put you off other books in this genre?

No, it has the nostalgic atmosphere of certain old movies.

What do you think the narrator could have done better?

His impersonation of a black man was as borderline racist as the old story seems to demand; I was close to laughing many times though not necessarily for the right reasons.

If this book were a film would you go see it?

No, it is an inconsequential little story mostly concerned with one character's desire to show how clever he is at the decryption of cyphers, though it is interesting in that regard.

Any additional comments?

One lengthy passage is concerned with the details of an encoded message. It would have been a detail glanced at on paper but the narrator reads out every character. It is astonishing how long this takes. At least two minutes of reading out gibberish.

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