»A Descent into the Maelström« is a short story by Edgar Allan Poe, originally published in 1841. EDGAR ALLAN POE was born in Boston in 1809. After brief stints in academia and the military, he began working as a literary critic and author. He made his debut with the novel The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket in 1838, but it was in his short stories that Poe's peculiar style truly flourished. He died in Baltimore in 1849.

The ways of God in Nature, as in Providence, are not as our ways; nor are the models that we frame any way commensurate to the vastness, profundity, and unsearchableness of His works, which have a depth in them greater than the well of Democritus.

When Poe takes us to sea, we get sucked in. In "A Descent into the Maelstrom" (1841) Poe’s narrator recounts his horrific experience when he and his brother’s boat get sucked down in the world’s fastest moving current of water, the tumultuous maelstrom known as Moskenesstraumen. Constructed as a story within a story, "A Descent into the Maelström" is a beautiful and gripping tale about the rough life on the seven seas told in the manner of Coleridge’s "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner." In 1980, the legendary American composer Philip Glass composed a much-praised 66-minute piece based on the short story. Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849) was an American poet, author, and literary critic. Most famous for his poetry, short stories, and tales of the supernatural, mysterious, and macabre, he is also regarded as the inventor of the detective genre and a contributor to the emergence of science fiction, dark romanticism, and weird fiction. His most famous works include "The Raven" (1945), "The Black Cat" (1943), and "The Gold-Bug" (1843).

Edgar Allan Poe's "The Descent into the Maelström" is a tale that explores themes of survival and cunning in the face of imposing natural forces. Narrated by a man facing a colossal whirlpool, the story distils the tension between fear and reason, highlighting the human capacity to use intelligence to face seemingly insurmountable challenges.

Ten tales by the master of the macabre.

In the short story "A Descent into the Maelstr�m" a man recounts how he got shipwrecked and survived in a gigantic whirlpool - driven by a supernatural hurricane. Inspired by the ›Moskstraumen‹, the tale is couched as a story within a story, told at the summit of a mountain climb in Norway. The review is told by an old fisherman who reveals that he only appears old ... The tale has been grouped with Poe's stories of ratiocination and is also labeled as an early form of science fiction.