This short story explores Captain Kidd's lost treasure reputed to be on Sullivan's Island. Poe uses his interest in cryptography in his solution. Poe uses Gullah dialect for Jupiter's character which makes it difficult to read in places. This falls far short of most of Poe's work. Twenty-first century readers will view the story as racist, but the nineteenth-century audience likely would not have batted an eye at the overtones which are similar to those by other period writers. The book's font and illustrations are all brown. The scenes illustrated and map depict Sullivan's Island. ( )

I thought this story was good, but I wanted more from it. The resolution didn't do enough for me. It needed more weirdness and intrigue. ( )

An enjoyable, crowd-pleasing short story about a hunt for buried treasure. The cryptography angle is interesting and, for its time, ground-breaking. Unfortunately, also of its time is the unashamedly racist depiction of the black servant Jupiter, which would be comical if not for its sincerity.

I was also interested to learn that The Gold-Bug served as inspiration for Robert Louis Stevenson in writing Treasure Island, whilst the man who oversaw the breaking of the Japanese diplomatic codes in World War Two traced his interest in cryptography back to this story. This modest little gem made waves. ( )

I usually enjoy Poe, but this short story left me feeling empty. I felt that time had been wasted on nonsense. Nelson DeMille explores the Captain Kidd lost treasure, and does a better job than Poe. Both works gush with silly formulas and codes for finding the treasure. Poe uses hoity-toity language for one character and poor slave vernacular for another character. Then the story ends abruptly. ( )

Une nouvelle très connue d’Edgar Poe, mais qui me semble avoir un peu vieilli. Si elle marquait probablement un tournant dans la littérature de l’époque, avec l’apparition des romans à énigmes (non pas policières comme dans le Double assassinat dans la rue Morgue, mais purement logique), sa simplicité déconcertante a du mal à rivaliser avec les romans à suspens alambiqués que l’on nous sert aujourd’hui.
Il n’en demeure pas moins que l’écriture efficace de Poe, dans une traduction non moins efficace de Baudelaire, demeure un modèle. Avec cette histoire banale, et grâce à un savant dosage de lieux communs et d’étrange, Poe captive son lectorat, même si au final la nouvelle laisse un goût un peu fade. Un moment de lecture qui n’est pas désagréable, et qui comble une lacune dans ma culture littéraire…