Edgar Allan Poe

The Premature Burial: (Low Cost). Limited Edition Edgar Allan Poe

Publisher Marketing: In "The Premature Burial," the first-person unnamed narrator describes his struggle with things such as "attacks of the singular disorder which physicians have agreed to term catalepsy," a condition where he randomly falls into a death-like trance. This leads to his fear of being buried alive ("The true wretchedness," he says, is "to be buried while alive."). He emphasizes his fear by mentioning several people who have been buried alive. In the first case, the tragic accident was only discovered much later, when the victim's crypt was reopened. In others, victims revived and were able to draw attention to themselves in time to be freed from their ghastly prisons. The narrator reviews these examples in order to provide context for his nearly crippling phobia of being buried alive. As he explains, his condition made him prone to slipping into a trance state of unconsciousness, a disease that grew progressively worse over time. He became obsessed with the idea that he would fall into such a state while away from home, and that his state would be mistaken for death. He extracts promises from his friends that they will not bury him prematurely, refuses to leave his home, and builds an elaborate tomb with equipment allowing him to signal for help in case he should awaken after "death." Contributor Bio:  Poe, Edgar Allan A. Sanchez es ilustrador y escritor. Ha escrito, entre otras obras, Cuentos y Leyendas del Orinoco; Jimmy, el Angel en la cima del Diablo; La leyenda del Cararampio y otros cuentos amazonicos; y La rebelion de Lope de Aguirre, todos ellos dentro de la Coleccion de Relatos amazonicos y del Orinoco. Tambien es autor de Howard Pyle, el rey de los ilustradores, una antologia sobre el legendario pintor norteamericano. Ha ilustrado ediciones de El Lazarillo de Tormes y de Edgar Allan Poe y editado el libro de ilustraciones Palabras del Agua.