Edgar Allan Poe
A Life
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- $39.99
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- $39.99
Publisher Description
A groundbreaking exploration of one of America’s most iconic and misunderstood authors
Edgar Allan Poe: A Life is the most comprehensive critical biography of Poe yet produced, exploring his fascinating life, his extraordinary work, and the vital relationship between the two. Best known for his tales of mystery and the macabre found in such works as “The Raven,” “Annabel Lee,” and “The Tell-Tale Heart,” this legendary American author continues to intrigue and enthrall his devoted readers. Written by one of the world’s leading Poe experts, this biography is a rich and rewarding study for the general reader as well as for the seasoned scholar. Richard Kopley combines a biographical narrative of Poe’s enduring challenges—including his difficult foster father, his personal losses, his great struggles with depression and alcoholism, and the poverty that dogged his existence—with close readings of his work that focus not only on plot, character, and theme but also on language, allusion, and structure in a way that enhances our understanding of both. While incorporating past Poe scholarship, this volume also relates unknown stories of Poe culled from privately held letters unavailable to previous biographers, presenting a range of groundbreaking archival discoveries that illuminate the man and his oeuvre in ways never before possible.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
This magisterial critical biography from Kopley (Edgar Allan Poe and the Dupin Mysteries), an English professor emeritus at Penn State DuBois, traces the life of Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849) from his childhood as the adopted son of a merchant in Richmond, Va., through his death, likely from excessive drinking, in Baltimore. Poe's life was marked by the tension between his conviction in his own genius and his recurrent depression, Kopley argues, suggesting that though Poe shared the sense of "self supremacy" he ascribes to the eponymous protagonist of his autobiographical poem "Tamerlane," his disappointment over failing to parlay his talents into a remunerative literary career contributed to his alcoholism and persistent "melancholy." Kopley excels at elucidating how Poe's life influenced his work, dissecting, for instance, how the writer grappled with his grief over the premature death of his brother, Henry, at age 24 by recasting himself and Henry as best friends and sailors in the novel The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket. Historical letters from Kopley's personal collection shed new light on Poe's overlooked capacity for conviviality, as when Kopley discusses a letter from the stepdaughter of Poe's friend that describes how Poe would joyfully dance the fandango at Richmond social gatherings. Blending rich literary analysis with new insights into Poe's character, this proves there's still plenty left to say about the master of the macabre. Photos.
