The Gold Bug
On Sullivan’s Island in Charleston Harbor, William Legrand is—literally and figuratively—bitten by a gold bug and, thereafter, he becomes fixated on the idea of lost treasure. With his servant, Jupiter, a mysterious cipher, and the gold bug itself tied to a bit of string, Legrand sets out to find the buried loot of Captain Kidd. A pioneer of the short story genre, Edgar Allan Poe’s stories typically captured themes of the macabre and included elements of the mysterious.
His better-known stories include “The Fall of the House of Usher”, “The Pit and the Pendulum”, “The Murders in the Rue Morgue”, “The Masque of the Red Death” and “The Tell-Tale Heart”. HarperPerennial Classics brings great works of literature to life in digital format, upholding the highest standards in ebook production and celebrating reading in all its forms. Look for more titles in the HarperPerennial Classics collection to build your digital library.
Shelved by 1 Litcadian
Reviews
Started September 4, 2026 · Finished September 4, 2026
This was a perfectly average short story with all the makings of adventure, though I enjoyed Stevenson’s “Treasure Island” a lot more. The treasure-hunt aspect was interesting, though I did find myself skipping over the recap of how the cipher worked—it just felt very much like an “A-ha! Got you!” moment. Overall, not one of my favorite Poe works.