Edgar Allan Poe Society of Baltimore - Works - Tales

Narrator (unnamed) - The narrator in this story is also the protagonist. In declaring that he is not mad, he instills in the reader the sense that he might indeed be mad, and confirms it as the story proceeds. Although his gender is not specifically identified, it is generally presumed as male.

The old man (unnamed) - A few commentators have suggested that the old man is the father of the narrator, some going so far as to hint at a connection to the difficult relationship between Poe and his foster father, John Allan. This suggestion, however, is not directly supported by a close reading of the tale and an understanding of the context in which it was written, and is, perhaps, too inclined towards psycho-biographical readings to be taken very seriously.

Police officers - Three officers who come in at the end of the story

Text-01 — "The Tell-Tale Heart" — about November 1842, no original manuscript or fragments are known to exist (but this version is presumably recorded in Text 02)

Text-02 — "The Tell-Tale Heart" — January 1843 — Pioneer — (Mabbott text A)

Text-03 — "The Tell-Tale Heart" — 1843-1845 — speculated revised copy of the Pioneer (Text-02), perhaps in anticipation of publication as Text-04. (These revisions are presumably recorded in Text-04. The changes between Text-02 and Text-04 are slight enough that a new manuscript is unlikely, but not so minor that they would reasonably have been made during typesetting or in correcting proofs for Text-04.)

Text-04 — "The Tell-Tale Heart" — August 23, 1845 — Broadway Journal — (Mabbott text B)

Text-05 — "The Tell-Tale Heart" — 1845-1849 — speculated revised copy of the Broadway Journal (Text-04), perhaps in anticipation of a new edition of Poe's tales. (These revisions are presumably recorded in Text-06. The changes are slight enough that a new manuscript is highly unlikely, but not so minro that they would reasonably have been made during typesetting or in correcting proofs for Text-06. At least some of these changes are significant enough that they suggest the hand of the author rather than of Griswold as editor.)

Text-06 — "The Tell-Tale Heart" — 1850 — WORKS — (Mabbott text C) (This is Mabbott's copy-text)

"The Tell-Tale Heart" — January 25, 1843 — Dollar Newspaper

"The Tell-Tale Heart" — August 27, 1845 — Spirit of the Times

"The Tell-Tale Heart" — September 1, 1845 — Boston Daily Mail (This reprint noted by K. Ljungquist, 1997, p. 195n24.)

"The Tell-Tale Heart" — December 20, 1845 — Boston Weekly Bee, pp. 1-2 (This reprint noted by K. Ljungquist, 1997, p. 195n24.)

“The Tell-Tale Heart” — 1894-1895 — The Works of Edgar Allan Poe, vol. 2: Tales, ed. G. E. Woodberry and E. C. Stedman, Chicago: Stone and Kimball (2:55-61)

“The Tell-Tale Heart” — 1902 — The Complete Works of Edgar Allan Poe, vol. 5: Tales IV, ed. J. A. Harrison, New York: T. Y. Crowell (5:88-94, and 5:319-320)

“The Tell-Tale Heart” — 1978 — The Collected Works of Edgar Allan Poe, vol. 3: Tales & Sketches II, ed. T. O. Mabbott, Cambridge: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press (3:789-799)

"Le coeur accusateur" — April 30, 1854 — Chronique de France (French translation by Paul Roger)

"Das klopfende Herz" — Oct. 23, 1855 — Bremer Sonntagsblatt, 38:300-302 (German translation by A. Malz, acknowledged as "Nach dem Englishchen des Poe von.")

"[The Tell-Tale Heart]" — 1855 — Fortaellinger [Tales] (Copenhagen) (Danish translation, noted by Anderson, p. 14)

“Le coeur révélateur” — (French translation by Charles Baudelaire)

“Le coeur révélateur” — February 4, 1853 — Paris-Journal
“Le Plaidoyer d'un fou” — July 29, 1854 — Le Pays
“Le coeur révélateur” — 1857 — Nouvelles histoires par Edgar Poe, Paris: Michel Lévy frères

"Et Hjertes Banken" — September 15, 1867 — Figaro (Danish translation by Robert Watt, noted by Anderson, p. 15)

"[The Tell-Tale Heart]" — 1868 — Phantastiske Fortaellinger [Fantastic Tales], Copenhagen) (Danish translation by Robert Watt, noted by Anderson, p. 15)

Le coeur mort qui bat" — 1880 — Le Désert, Limoges: Charles Barbou (French translation by de Roul Bourdier) (This is the only translation of a tale by Poe in this book. Otherwise, the book translates a work by Captain Mayne Reid.)

“The Tell-Tale Heart” — Fall 1952 — Fantastic, vol. 1, no. 2 (a pulp science fiction quarterly, with illustrations)

"Het Verraderlijke Hart" — about 1930 — Fantastische Vertellingen van Edgar Allan Poe, Haarlem: H. D. Tjeenk Willink & Zoon (Dutch translation by Machiel Elias Barentz, with elaborate illustrations by Albert Hahn, somewhat reminiscent of those by Harry Clarke)

"The Tell-Tale Heart" — March 29, 1936 — a radio show broadcast on the Terror by Night show. (As was often the case with dramatic presentations of Poe's works, the story has been modified.)

“The Tell-Tale Heart” — July 11, 1937 — a radio show broadcast on the CBS Columbia Workshop show. (As was often the case with dramatic presentations of Poe's works, the story has been modified.)

“The Tell-Tale Heart” — November 5, 1937 — a radio show broadcast on the Black Night show. This was a local show on WBAP, originating in Fort Worth, Texas (1937-1939). It starred Nelson Olmsted, who later achieved some fame for this spoken word recordings.

“The Tell-Tale Heart” — August 3, 1941 — a radio show broadcast on the Inner Sanctum show, starring Boris Karloff. (This episode is available on CD as part of a 6-CD set of "Smithsonian Legendary Performers," issued in 2004. As was often the case with dramatic presentations of Poe's works, the story has been modified.)

"The Tell-Tale Heart" — January 30, 1944 — a radio show broadcast on the Weird Circle show. (As was often the case with dramatic presentations of Poe's works, the story has been modified.)

"The Tell-Tale Heart" — August 23, 1946 — a radio show broadcast on The Mercury Theater of the Air show, with Orson Welles.

"The Tell-Tale Heart" — January 14, 1950 — a radio show broadcast on The Hall of Fantasy show, introduced as "dedicated to the supernatural, the unusual and the unknown." (As was often the case with dramatic presentations of Poe's works, the story has been modified.) (This show as apparently rebroadcast on June 5, 1950.)

"The Tell-Tale Heart" — June 1951 — Classics Illustrated (number 84) (a comic-book)

"The Tell-Tale Heart" — June 1, 1953 — a radio show broadcast on The Hall of Fantasy show, introduced as "dedicated to the supernatural, the unusual and the unknown." (As was often the case with dramatic presentations of Poe's works, the story has been modified.) Performers include Eloise Kummer. This show was rebroadcast on November 9, 1953.

"The Tell-Tale Heart" — 1956 — a reading by Nelson Olmsted on Edgar Allan Poe: Tales of Terror, issued on the Vanguard label (VRS-9007)

“The Tell-Tale Heart” — August 1, 1980 — a radio show broadcast produced for CBC (Toronto), with Henry Ramer as host. (As was often the case with dramatic presentations of Poe's works, the story has been modified.) (The show was rebroadcast on March 7, 1982)

“The Tell-Tale Heart” — September 29, 1998 — a radio show broadcast on the NPR Playhouse show, for the Radio Tales series. (As was often the case with dramatic presentations of Poe's works, the story has been modified.) The show was produced by Winnie Waldron and Winifred Phillips. It debuted on XM Satellite Radio on December 27, 2003.

Anderson, Carl L., Poe in Northlight: The Scandanavian Response to His Life and Work, Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1973.

Canario, John W., "The Dream in 'Tell-Tale Heart'," English Language Notes, March 1970, 7:194-197

Del Vecchio, Rosa Maria, "Into that Material Nihility": Poe's Criminal Persona as God-Peer, PhD disseration, Case Western University, 1994

Gargano, James W., "The Theme of Time in "Tell-Tale Heart'," Studies in Short Fiction, Summer 1968, 5:378-382

Heartman, Charles F. and James R. Canny, A Bibliography of First Printings of the Writings of Edgar Allan Poe, Hattiesburg, MS: The Book Farm, 1943.

Krappe, E. S., "A Possible Source for Poe's 'Tell-Tale Heart' and 'The Black Cat'," American Literature (March 1940), 12:84-88

Ljungquist, Kent P., "Some Unrecorded Reprints of Poe's Works," ANQ, Winter 1995, vol. 8, no. 1, pp. 20-22.

Ljungquist, Kent. P., " 'Valdemar' and the 'Frogpondians': The Aftermath of Poe's Boston Lyceum Appearance," in Emersonian Circles: Essays in Honor of Joel Myerson, ed. Wesley T. Mott, Rochester: University of Rochester Press, 1997, pp. 181-206.
Mabbott, Thomas Ollive, ed., The Collected Works of Edgar Allan Poe (Vols 2-3 Tales and Sketches), Cambridge, Mass.: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1978.

Pollin, Burton R., "Bulwer Lytton and 'Tell-Tale Heart'," American Notes & Queries, September 1965, 4:7-8

Reilly, John E., "The Lesser Death-Watch and 'The Tell-Tale Heart'," American Transcendental Quarterly, 2nd Quarter 1969, 2:3-9

Robinson, E. Arthur, "Poe's 'Tell-Tale Heart'," Nineteenth Century Fiction, March 1965, 19:369-378

Robinson, E. Arthur, "Thoreau and the Deathwatch in Poe's 'Tell-Tale Heart'," Poe Studies, June 1971, 4:14-16

Senelick, Laurence, "Charles Dickens and 'Tell Tale-Heart'," Poe Studies, June 1973, 6:12-14

Solomont, Susan and Ritchie Darling, Four Stories by Poe, Norwich, VT: Green Knight Press, 1965

Weber, Jean-Paul, "Edgar Poe on the Theme of the Clock," La Nouvelle Revue Francais (August-September 1958), 68:301-311 and 69:498-508.

Wyllie, John Cooke, "A List of the Texts of Poe's Tales," Humanistic Studies in Honor of John Calvin Metcalf, Charlottesville: University of Virginia, 1941, pp. 322-338.