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Humorous short story by Edgar Allan Poe

"The Duc de L'Omelette" is a humorous short story by American writer Edgar Allan Poe. It was first published in the Philadelphia Saturday Courier on March 3, 1832, and was subsequently revised a number of times by the author.

Plot summary

The Duc de L'Omelette dies while dining on an ortolan and finds himself in hell: an apartment filled with various works of art that has a window overlooking a fiery landscape. Face to face with Satan, the Duc manages to avoid damnation by cheating him at a game of cards.^[1]

Publication history

Poe originally titled the story "The Duke of L'Omelette" when it was published in the March 3, 1832, issue of the Philadelphia Saturday Courier.^[2] It was one of four comedic tales Poe published anonymously in that newspaper that year, along with "A Tale of Jerusalem", "A Decided Loss" (later renamed "Loss of Breath"), and "The Bargain Lost" (later renamed "Bo