Edgar Allan Poe, The Black Cat

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“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” (

Poe

3:849). Poe’s tale is an anonymous narrator’s recounting, from a…

3894 words

Citation: Sucur, Slobodan. "The Black Cat". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 07 January 2014 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=1445, accessed 19 March 2024.]

1445 The Black Cat 3 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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