Name: Ligeia
SKU: 59160702
Price: 19.87 EUR
Availability: InStock
Author: Edgar Allan Poe

Type

Physical Book

Author

Edgar Allan Poe

Publisher

Createspace

Language

English

Pages

Format

Paperback

Dimensions

22.9x15.2x0.2 cm

Weight

0.06 kg.

ISBN13

9781515226475

Synopsis "Ligeia"

The unnamed narrator describes the qualities of Ligeia, a beautiful, passionate and intellectual woman, raven-haired and dark-eyed, that he thinks he remembers meeting "in some large, old decaying city near the Rhine." He is unable to recall anything about the history of Ligeia, including her family's name, but remembers her beautiful appearance. Her beauty, however, is not conventional. He describes her as emaciated, with some "strangeness." He describes her face in detail, from her "faultless" forehead to the "divine orbs" of her eyes. They marry, and Ligeia impresses her husband with her immense knowledge of physical and mathematical science, and her proficiency in classical languages. She begins to show her husband her knowledge of metaphysical and "forbidden" wisdom. After an unspecified length of time Ligeia becomes ill, struggles internally with human mortality, and ultimately dies. The narrator, grief-stricken, buys and refurbishes an abbey in England. He soon enters into a loveless marriage with "the fair-haired and blue-eyed Lady Rowena Trevanion, of Tremaine." In the second month of the marriage, Rowena begins to suffer from worsening fever and anxiety. One night, when she is about to faint, the narrator pours her a goblet of wine. Drugged with opium, he sees (or thinks he sees) drops of "a brilliant and ruby colored fluid" fall into the goblet. Her condition rapidly worsens, and a few days later she dies and her body is wrapped for burial. As the narrator keeps vigil overnight, he notices a brief return of color to Rowena's cheeks. She repeatedly shows signs of reviving, before relapsing into apparent death. As he attempts resuscitation, the revivals become progressively stronger, but the relapses more final. As dawn breaks, and the narrator is sitting emotionally exhausted from the night's struggle, the shrouded body revives once more, stands and walks into the middle of the room. When he touches the figure, its head bandages fall away to reveal masses of raven hair and dark eyes: Rowena has transformed into Ligeia.

Edgar Allan Poe

(Author)

View Author's Page

Edgar Allan Poe (Boston, United States, 1809-1849) was a celebrated American writer, considered a master of the short story and a renovator of Gothic narrative. His work, marked by mystery and terror, includes iconic titles such as The Raven (1845), which immortalized him, and innovative poems and stories that influenced genres like detective fiction and science fiction. In addition to his literary output, Poe stood out as a critic and theorist, especially with his essay The Philosophy of Composition (1846). His legacy remains alive and has inspired literature, cinema, music, and art to this day.

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