Book Description
This digital document, covering the life and work of Edgar Allan Poe, is an entry from Contemporary Authors, a reference volume published by Thompson Gale. The length of the entry is 3880 words. The page length listed above is based on a typical 300-word page. Although the exact content of each entry from this volume can vary, typical entries include the following information:

• Place and date of birth and death (if deceased)
• Family members
• Education
• Professional associations and honors
• Employment
• Writings, including books and periodicals
• A description of the author's work
• References to further readings about the author

Book Description
This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery. ... Read more

Book Description
This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A GREAT BOOK
This book is a must-have, very good both in the content and in the presentation. The paper, the style, the encadernation, all the elements make it a very good acquisition. ... Read more

Book Description
This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery. See also: #14082 illustrated by Édouard Manet ... Read more

Book Description

Edgar Allan Poe has long been viewed as an artist who was hopelessly out of step with his time. But as Terence Whalen shows, America's most celebrated romantic outcast was in many ways the nation's most representative commercial writer. Whalen explores the antebellum literary environment in which Poe worked, an environment marked by economic conflict, political strife, and widespread foreboding over the rise of a mass audience. The book shows that the publishing industry, far from being a passive backdrop to writing, threatened to dominate all aspects of literary creation. Faced with financial hardship, Poe desperately sought to escape what he called "the magazine prison-house" and "the horrid laws of political economy." By placing Poe firmly in economic context, Whalen unfolds a new account of the relationship between literature and capitalism in an age of momentous social change.

The book combines pathbreaking historical research with innovative literary theory. It includes the first fully-documented account of Poe's response to American slavery and the first exposé of his plot to falsify circulation figures. Whalen also provides a new explanation of Poe's ambivalence toward nationalism and exploration, a detailed inquiry into the conflict between cryptography and common knowledge, and a general theory of Poe's experiments with new literary forms such as the detective story. Finally, Whalen shows how these experiments are directly linked to the dawn of the information age. This book redefines Poe's place in American literature and casts new light on the emergence of a national culture before the Civil War.

Customer Reviews (1)

An Original and Convincing Book
This book makes many original contributions to the study of Poe and his times.As I read through it, I began to understand what Poe must have felt as he struggled to make it as a professional writer.The book hassomething for everyone: capitalism, slavery, desperate acts of deception,and a fascinating link between Poe and Charles Babbage, who invented theprototype of the modern computer.I especially liked the fact that Whalenlaid out convincing evidence--much of it new--instead of just makingassertions.The book is not just an interpretation of Poe; it's really anattempt to recreate one of the most important moments in American culturalhistory. ... Read more

Book Description

Renowned as the creator of the detective story and a master of horror, the author of "The Red Mask of Death," "The Black Cat," and "The Murders of the Rue Morgue," Edgar Allan Poe seems to have derived his success from suffering and to have suffered from his success. "The Raven" and "The Tell-Tale Heart" have been read as signs of his personal obsessions, and "The Fall of the House of Usher" and "The Descent into the Maelstrom" as symptoms of his own mental collapse. Biographers have seldom resisted the opportunities to confuse the pathologies in the stories with the events in Poe's life. Against this tide of fancy, guesses, and amateur psychologizing, Arthur Hobson Quinn's biography devotes itself meticulously to facts. Based on exhaustive research in the Poe family archive, Quinn extracts the life from the legend, and describes how they both were distorted by prior biographies.

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Customer Reviews (7)

I worship at the altar of Poe.
As a lifelong fan of Edgar Allan Poe, I admit that I worship at the altar of Poe. Therefore it was a delight to discover this most excellent bio, extensively researched by another worshipful fan (from an earlier era) of American's greatest short story writer.This is a must for your reference library.I read and absorbed every single page.I'm grateful that the author followed his own lifelong passion for Poe and went against the grain of Poe bashing biographers of his time, and produced this work that extols Poe's positive character features while not neglecting the negatives.Compare this bio with other "negative" Poe bios of the past (esp. early 20th century), still available in libraries, and you'll understand why it was such a pleasure for me to find this particular book which provides a more balanced picture of the artist's life and career.

Edgar Poe died for your sins.
if you agree alot with the title you would love this book.Before copyright laws and respectability for writers,authors unless they were connected with money would literally peddle their offerings like a door to door magazine subscription salesperson.So the story of Poe goes. Needless to saythe hardships attendant on such a life. there are alot of primary sources here in fact a goldmine for readers unwilling to take anyones suspect interpretations.The rev. griswold letters are here exposed in all their distortions with a column showing what Poe actually wrote and then as Griswold reprinted them adding his own "spin". If education without religion creates clever devils then education with religion can at times create even cleverer devils as proved by the Reverend Griswold.An excellent biography,you might even run the Poe category (or potent potables) on Jeopardy and make the first payment on that student loan---NAAAA!!.You just choked and for Rev. Griswold you answered Gus Griisom(the astronaut)!! Alex sent you packing and that what you get for treating Poe as trivia. This book right up there with the Silverman bio.

An Exhausting Accumulation Of Often Superfluous Facts
First published in 1941, Arthur Hobson Quinn's critically acclaimed Edgar Allan Poe: A Critical Biography is a dry, strictly academic work which presents its readership with over 700 dense pages containing thousands of thoroughly researched 'hard' facts concerning the life of one of America's greatest literary figures, but which completely neglects to create a vibrant, three-dimensional, shadow-casting portrait of the writer himself.

Throughout the volume, its human subject remains little more than a blank, three-letter sieve endlessly referred to as "Poe": "Poe lived up to his standard...", "Poe signalized his departure from the editorial staff of...", "Poe wrote the critical notices for October and November...", "Poe did not lecture, however....", "Poe was still hearing echoes of his visits to Mrs. Whitman's home..."

The problem, of course, is that, despite the avalanche of facts, many of which are utterly superfluous, the reader comes no closer to gaining an understanding of the man behind them. "Who was Edgar Allan Poe?" is a fundamental question the text never comes close to providing a genuine answer to.

As Quinn's evaluation of Poe's prose and poetry is routinely perfunctory and unexceptional, Edgar Allan Poe: A Critical Biography is a work that few readers, with the exception of committed Poe scholars, are likely to find worthwhile or engrossing.

A perfect narration of Poe's Life.
This is the best biography about Edgar Allan Poe I have ever seen. Meticulous and clear, Arthur H. Quinn take us to the real world that E.A.POE lived and show us with facts that Poe was more than a writer, a Genius.

A perfect narration of Poe's Life.
This is the best biography about Edgar Allan Poe I have ever seen. Meticulous and clear, Arthur H. Quinn take us to the real world that E.A.POE lived and show us with facts that Poe was more than a writer, a Genius. ... Read more

Book Description
Enduring Literature Illuminated By Practical Scholarship

A collection of the Gothic master's classic works in prose and verse.

This Enriched Classic Edition Includes:

• A concise introduction that gives the reader important background information
• A chronology of the author's life and work
• A timeline of significant events that provides the book's historical context
• An outline of key themes and plot points to guide the reader's own interpretations
• Detailed explanatory notes
• Critical analysis, including contemporary and modern perspectives on the work
• Discussion questions to promote lively classroom and book group interaction
• A list of recommended related books and films to broaden the reader's experience

Enriched Classics offer readers affordable editions of great works of literature enhanced by helpful notes and insightful commentary. The scholarship provided in Enriched Classics enables readers to appreciate, understand, and enjoy the world's finest books to their full potential.

... Read more

Book Description
This biography of Edgar Allan Poe, a giant of American Literature who invented both the horror and detective genre, is a portrait of extremes: a disinherited heir, a brilliant but underpaid author, a temperate man and uncontrollable addict. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Edgar Allan Poe - the Original Punker?
Edgar Allan Poe: His Life and Legacy is a biography that focuses both on Poe's personal life and his literary legacy. While it doesn't go into great detail about the writing process of Poe's tales and poems, the book does discuss in detail the impact that his work had on other authors of the time and in the future, such as Baudelaire and Arthur Conan Doyle. The book also discusses Poe's contribution to modern writing styles, such as the detective story and the adventure tale. When dealing with Poe's personal life, the author wrote about the negative as well as the positive in what seemed to be an attempt to present the facts about Poe's life and temperament in a sympathetic fashion - though the author does have a few obvious "What the hell was Poe thinking?!" moments when writing about Poe's self-destructive behavioral tendencies. Overall, I found the account to be a fascinating and enlightening read, and I highly recommend it for Poe fans who are curious about the man behind the tales.

A truly great biography.
besides being a thorough biography on Poe this book describes his influence on American and European literature.I hadn't realized before how many writers were influenced by Poe's writings and consciously or subconsciouly tried to imitate him.The way that Poe liked to accuse authors of plagiarism he would have a field day on the authors both major and minor who "borrowed" his ideas and style.Some of these authors after criticizing Poe's work either are shown by the author this book as "copycats" or insignificants.The better authors however have given Poe his do and acknowledge that he broke the ground for a new style of literature more the "art for arts sake" type works.Also for his exploration into the deeper(and sometimes sinister) levels of the human psyche.This is a great book,from the descriptions of the cynical sneers from Poe's asymmetrical face to the strategic, boyish,vulnerable,charm he displayed at times.You'll be glad a person like Poe came along and glad that someone was able to tell his story the way this author has.In a side note it is comforting to know that from Poe's honorable military service that had he lived today he would qualify for assistance from the VA,and perhaps this would have alleviated alot of his suffering in regard to his family.

Edgar Allan Poe rocks!
This book was great it shows all sides of Poe. I learned a lot about Edgar Allan Poe by reading this book. Anyone who wants to know anything about Poe should reasd thsi book.A great choice.

Unsympathetic
I know a lot more about the life of Edgar Allan Poe after having read this book, and for that reason Iým glad I read it.

Itýs not, however, the most flattering of biographies.It would be an exaggeration to call Jeffrey Meyerýs biography a hatchet job, but not much of one. You get the sense that the author wanted to take Poeýs reputation down a peg or two.He portrays the troubled writer as not much more than a hypocritical, back-stabbing, often insincere hack who had the good fortune of stumbling upon a few brilliant turns of phrase.I donýt doubt any of the factual information that Meyers provides about Poeýs life.I just question the authorýs intent in piling high so many unflattering details.After a while, you get to wondering why Meyers even bothered writing a three hundred page book about the man.

I recommend this book to fans and scholars alike for the facts it provides about Poeýs life, but with a warning regarding the biographerýs unsympathetic and often harsh tone.

no more!no more, nevermore please..
First of all, this biograpy does not critique or even mention when he wrote or published the stories of "William Wilson" and "The Pit and the Pendalum." This biography isn't as concerned for the work of Poe as what people of that time said and thought of him.

First half is an overkill of facts, quotes, rumors, and articles about Poe.Author seems to give no true opinion and is completely uncreative for as to how to make these facts and rumors about his character seems interesting to the reader.

It's not until well into the second half that the author seems to realize he's lead his audience to a bricked up wall.But behind the wall, we are willfully burried and sleeping in the hopes that he will not wake our slumber.Realizing this, he tries to revive us through a seance of medeocre creativity.

He does seem to put to rest the rumors circulating about the death of Mr. Poe.

But overall, this book is unimaginative, soulless, and a dozing to constantly waking history lesson of what it was to be an early American author. ... Read more

Book Description

"The problem of Poe's place in American culture cannot be settled canonically, since, unlike the works of Melville or Hawthorne, Poe's texts have not been primarily transmitted through the schools. Indeed, at its most radical level, the failure of criticism to account for the remarkable diversity of Poe's influence leads one to question the utility of the canon itself as an instrument for the study of American culture." -- from the Introduction

The contributors to this volume share the conviction that Poe is central to current work on American culture -- and that strictly theoretical approaches to Poe have become increasingly irrelevant. Aiming to transform his place in the American canon, they bring sophisticated theoretical awareness to bear on the particular historical, social, political, and economic circumstances of his literary career. Their essays offer new insights into the complex and unavoidable relations between traditionally literary issues and the broader aspects of a democratic mass culture. The contributors are Gillian Brown, Stanley Cavell, Eva Cherniavsky, Joan Dayan, Jonathan Elmer, John T. Irwin, Barbara Johnson, David Leverenz, Meredith L. McGill, Stephen Rachman, Louis A. Renza, Shawn Rosenheim, and Laura Saltz.

"Rosenheim and Rachman's collection consolidates a new direction in Poe studies which will be of particular interest to contemporary readers. Avoiding the mere Frenchification of Poe that was dominant in the eighties, on the one hand, but, on the other, steadfastly refusing to return to the traditional formalist and thematic style which never really accounted for the French Poe, these essays make a wonderful case for a vitally social Poe -- returning him home again, but with a difference that makes all the difference. They do so because their authors are at once theoretically current and widely experienced with the American canon. And they do so, even more, because they are quality essays, valuable individually as well as collectively." -- Kenneth Dauber, State University of New York, Buffalo

Customer Reviews (1)

Great Colection of Essays on Poe
This book is ideal for the college student who is studding the master ofthe detective story.It is comprised of a multitude of essays that detailsthe writing style and reasons behind Poe's elaborate stories and poems. This book covers all aspects of Poe's career as a writer with a strongcritical review of his work.If you are a true Poe fan this book is a musthave. ... Read more