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A Mind of Morbid Beauty
This biography essentially takes the (to my mind) correct and psychological tack to validating Poe's genius, though it be of a very peculiar sort.The problem (as any lost soul who chances upon this esoteric review of an out-of-print biography has probably guessed) is that the psychology of the time (1926) was inundated by Freudianism.Thus, we have the word "neurotic" and "neurosis" springing up time and time again when it is not at all clear that this verbal crutch serves as more of a hindrance than a help to understanding Poe.But perhaps this is just a semantic quibble.For, whatever you may call it, there was something truly out of the ordinary in Poe's psychological makeup and this, Krutch contends, is what makes for the genius of his works: They were born of the living realities that tormented his own mind, not concocted artifice.
I think Poe's quote on pages 127-128 serve best to illustrate this point, "-whether all that is profound-does not spring from disease of thought-from moods of mind exalted at the expense of general intellect.They who dream by day are cognizant of many things who dream only by night.In their gray visions they obtain glimpses of eternity, and thrill, in awaking, to find that they have been upon the verge of a great secret.In snatches, they learn something of the wisdom which is good, and more of the mere knowledge of which is evil.They penetrate, however rudderless or compassless, into the vast ocean of the "light ineffable."-To anyone associated with Romantic poetry or mystic religious literature, the adjective that springs to one's mind here is not "neurotic" but rather mystical and/or Romantic.
Poe like all the great mystics and Romantics (St. John of The Cross, Shelley, Yeats etc.) actually lived his particular credo: in his case that the most poetical topic in the world is the death of a beautiful woman.From "Annabel Lee" to (my favorite) "The Fall of the House of Usher" there is that consecrated worship of the waiflike unworldy female by the poet or his alter ego.The thing is, Poe actually LIVED this life, as any writer worth reading does in re his works.He died a virgin, and married a thirteen year old whose strange beauty made the act of sex unthinkable and evil.In short, Poe inhabited his own unique world which his works were mere manifestations thereof.This, I agree with Krutch, qualifies him to the title of genius.
Where I diverge with Krutch is in his failure to see where Poe fits into any kind of tradition, save in isolated cases such as the chord Poe struck in Baudelaire.The tradition of "morbid purity", as Krutch would have it, stretches from the Gnostics and early Christians (Origen went as far as to castrate homself) to Shakespeare "Lovers, madmen and poets are of imagination all compact" to such 20th century figures as Yeats and the novelist Malcolm Lowry (who wrote a story after visiting Poe's memorial in Baltimore entitled "Strange Comfort Afforded by the Profession").What is most surprising to the modern reader is that no mention at all is made of Herman Melville, the American writer of the time who most resembled Poe in his psychology, who told Hawthorne of his desire "to annihilate himself."
The Gothic morbidity of Poe is unique in literature, and its correspondence to the reality of the Poe's own life is what makes it genuine.It is unfortunately true that much of what Poe wrote was inane, vulgar, or simply untrue.Yet, in his best work (such as "The Fall of the House of Usher") that morbid purity Krutch mentions is manifested as in no other writer or artist.
Krutch is at his best regarding Poe when he propounds, regarding those critical of his works, that "it is bound to seem mere artifice unless they happen to have chords in their tempraments which respond to the neurotic melodies which are the secret of his fascinations."
Again, my problem is with this Freudian "neurotic" business.The great traditions of spiritial mysticism and Romanticism cannot be simply filed away under this all too convenient convenient rubric.-Aside from this reservation, however, the biography is an exquisite and well-written description of Poe's unique contribution to literature, of his genius. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

best johnson biography
in my humble view this is the single best book on samuel johnson other than boswell's magnificent massive biography. a great reading experience. ... Read more

Product Description
Essays about nature. Quotations and writings of hundreds of historical figures on the subject of Gardening. Collected and edited by Mr. Krutch. ... Read more