The Masque of the Red Death : Edgar Allan Poe
Narrated by Stuart Summers
Why Listen to This Audiobook?
Poe wrote this in 1842 and it still feels like a trap closing around you.
- Great if you want: dense gothic atmosphere in a very short runtime
- Listening experience: tightly wound and suffocating — dread builds with each room
- Narration: Stuart Summers brings measured, theatrical weight to Poe's prose
- Skip if: you prefer plot over mood and allegory
Listen to The Masque of the Red Death : Edgar Allan Poe on Audible →
About This Audiobook
Prince Prospero believes he can seal his castle against plague and hold death at bay with the right architecture and enough wealth, sealing himself and a thousand of his courtiers inside with food, wine, and a masquerade ball. When a masked figure moves through the seven color-coded rooms of his abbey, the prince's certainty begins to falter in ways that no amount of privilege can prevent. Poe's 1842 tale is one of literature's most perfect short allegories about mortality and the futility of escape.
Stuart Summers narrates the story with the formal deliberateness its Gothic grandeur demands, treating Poe's prose architecture with respect while allowing the dread to build naturally through the procession of colored rooms toward the final confrontation. At approximately forty minutes, this is an ideal single-session listen for anyone wanting Poe at his most austere and symbolic. The narration honors the story's status as a foundational text of American horror.