The Tell-Tale Heart
Edgar Allan Poe
埃德加愛倫坡(Edgar Allan Poe) 十九世紀美國詩人、小說家和文學評論家，在世時長期擔任報刊編輯工作。其作品是在任何時代都是“獨一無二”的風格。語言和形式精致、優美，內容多樣。偵探小說鼻祖、科幻小說先驅之一、恐怖小說大師、短篇哥特小說巔峰、象征主義先驅之一，唯美主義者。受到過愛倫坡影響的主要人物有：柯南道爾、波德萊爾、斯特芳馬拉美、儒勒凡爾納、羅伯特路易斯斯蒂文森、希區柯克、蒂姆伯頓、江戶川亂步等。愛倫坡最著名的文藝理論是“效果論”。坡力圖在自己的作品中先確立某種效果，再為追求這種效果而思考創作。他在《怪異故事集》序中稱“自己的作品絕大部分都是深思熟慮的苦心經營”。
他一向主張“為藝術而藝術”。他的藝術主張幾乎貫穿于他的所有作品中，包括詩歌、短篇小說和論文。在這些作品中，他聲稱“一切藝術的目的是娛樂，不是真理” 。他認為“在詩歌中只有創造美——超凡絕塵的美才是引起樂趣的正當途徑。音樂是詩歌不可缺少的成分，對詩人力求表現超凡絕塵的美尤其重要。而在故事寫作方面，藝術家就不妨力圖制造驚險、恐怖和強烈情感的效果。而且每篇作品都應該收到一種效果”。
TRUE! nervous, very, very dreadfully nervous I had been and am; but why WILL you say that I am mad? The disease had sharpened my senses, not destroyed, not dulled them. Above all was the sense of hearing acute. I heard all things in the heaven and in the earth. I heard many things in hell. How then am I mad? Hearken! and observe how healthily, how calmly, I can tell you the whole story.
It is impossible to say how first the idea entered my brain, but, once conceived, it haunted me day and night. Object there was none. Passion there was none. I loved the old man. He had never wronged me. He had never given me insult. For his gold I had no desire. I think it was his eye! Yes, it was this! One of his eyes resembled that of a vulture -- a pale blue eye with a film over it. Whenever it fell upon me my blood ran cold, and so by degrees, very gradually, I made up my mind to take the life of the old man, and thus rid myself of the eye for ever.
Now this is the point. You fancy me mad. Madmen know nothing. But you should have seen me. You should have seen how wisely I proceeded -- with what caution -- with what foresight, with what dissimulation, I went to work! I was never kinder to the old man than during the whole week before I killed him. And every night about midnight I turned the latch of his door and opened it oh, so gently! And then, when I had made an opening sufficient for my head, I put in a dark lantern all closed, closed so that no light shone out, and then I thrust in my head. Oh, you would have laughed to see how cunningly I thrust it in! I moved it slowly, very, very slowly, so that I might not disturb the old man’s sleep. It took me an hour to place my whole head within the opening so far that I could see him as he lay upon his bed. Ha! Would a madman have been so wise as this? And then when my head was well in the room I undid the lantern cautiously -- oh, so cautiously -- cautiously (for the hinges creaked), I undid it just so much that a single thin ray fell upon the vulture eye. And this I did for seven long nights, every night just at midnight, but I found the eye always closed, and so it was impossible to do the work, for it was not the old man who vexed me but his Evil Eye. And every morning, when the day broke, I went boldly into the chamber and spoke courageously to him, calling him by name in a hearty tone, and inquiring how he had passed the night. So you see he would have been a very profound old man, indeed, to suspect that every night, just at twelve, I looked in upon him while he slept.
