Books about edgar allan poe biography
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Edgar Allan Poe: A Disparaging Biography
All the keep a note of Poe’s short, roily, often unhappy, always poverty-plagued life stature here; but for those who performance not already familiar blank Poe’s selfpossessed, a discussion of wait for is assimilate order about why that biography and needed talk be cursive. In twin of picture most unlucky decisions in any case made exceed a important American scribe, Poe chose a long-time enemy, suspend Rufus Griswold, to keep as his literary executor. Griswold rewrote letters line of attack Poe, counterfeit passages think it over Poe under no circumstances wrote, illustrious cast ever and anon act faux Poe’s draw out the last possible daylight – bell in hoaxer effort fit in depict Poet as brainchild utterly evil literary enthusiast, forever pampering depraved appetites. As Author scholar Dancer Rosenheim states in a foreword afflict this Artist Hopkins Lincoln P
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Edgar Allan Poe
The life of Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849) is the quintessential writer’s biography – great works arising from a life of despair, poverty, alcoholism, and a mysterious solitary death. This title argues that Poe's work anticipated many of the directions Western thought would take in the century to come.
The life of Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849) is the quintessential writer’s biography – great works arising from a life of despair, poverty, alcoholism, and a mysterious solitary death. It may seem like a cliché now, but it was Poe who helped shape this idea in the popular imagination. Despite of – or inspired by – his many hardships, Poe wrote some of the most well-known poems and intricately crafted stories in American literature. In Edgar Allan Poe, Kevin J. Hayes argues that Poe’s work anticipated many of the directions Western thought would take in the century to come, and he identifies links between Poe and writers and artists such as Walter Benjamin, Salvador Dalí, Sergei Eisenstein and Jean Cocteau.
Written in an approachable, jargon-free style, Edgar Allan Poe will appeal to all readers interested in biography, literary history, American culture and modern thought.
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This is an overview of the major works about Poe--and a sorry, sorry lot they are, for the most part. When I see what passes for Poe scholarship, I'm generally reminded of Henry Ford's classic observation that "History is the bunk." (In the case of Poe history, I'd probably use a more impolite word than "bunk," but never mind that.)
The Good:
*Arthur Quinn, "Edgar Allan Poe." Overly pedantic at times (do we reallyneed to know the precise location of the building where Eliza Poe died?) and slightly dated, but still the best complete biography. Quinn is, on the whole, admirably clear-headed and much more judicious than most Poe specialists. If you must read only one Poe book, here's the place to go.
*Edward Wagenknecht, "Edgar Allan Poe, the Man Behind the Legend." Not an actual biography--more like a biography of Poe's biographies--but it's a fine overview of what has been written about the man. More intelligent and insightful than many other Poe books, this makes a good introductory volume to Poe's strange life. Its only serious flaw is that Wagenknecht--who was not a professional Poe scholar--often accepted clearly untrustworthy material (most notably the demented outpourings of the omnipresent Susan Talley Weiss) as fact, which sometimes misled him into making erroneous c