Poe, Edgar, Allan. “The Gold Bug.” The Complete Works of Edgar Allan Poe.Vol. V. New York: AMS Press, Inc., 1965.
“The Gold Bug” is a fascinating short story about a man, William Legrand, who, after being bitten by a gold beetle, appears to become mentally unstable. His man-servant, Jupiter, calls on an unnamed friend (the narrator) to visit & assess Legrand’s sanity. It’s at this point that Legrand claims he knows where the treasure of Captain Kidd is buried. Well, at least he knows how to get to it. Legrand is able to convince his servant and mystery friend to go on an adventure to find the lost treasure. Using cryptography Legrand brings his servant and this unnamed friend to the site of the treasure.
BookLust Twist: This was one of those off-hand mentions. Pearl doesn’t recommend reading The Gold Bug at all. She merely brings it up in More Book Lust in the chapter “Codes and Cyphers” (p 51) because author Leo Marks mentioned Edgar Allan Poe in his book Between Silk and Cyanide.
Confession: I have long been fascinated by E.A.P. and his writings. Of course his strange and often macabre stories held my attention first, but ever since I learned of his early demise at age 40 and the mystery surrounding his death I have been captivated by the man. How did he die? What did him in? Was it drugs, politics, or none of the above?
~*LunaSea*~ 