Edgar A. Poe: Mournful and Never-ending Remembrance

This is for the paperback edition with Edgar A Poe written in purple.I had no idea that so much was known about Edgar Allan Poe. I always thought that his life was a complete mystery from beginning to end, but this book reveals so much otherwise. From early life onward Poe’s dreams and losses are well chronicled. The existence of many personal letters and professional correspondences are most helpful. His hopes and despairs, his turbulent associations with relatives and publishers, and reflective personal moments have been well preserved on paper.Poe was often at odds with his contemporary writers; copyright laws at the time were weak or nonexistent, which didn’t help him or anyone else at the time. As far as his fellow writers go, Poe could bite, and when he bit he bit hard as Mr. Longfellow found out. In that case, accusations of plagiarism flew about wildly, both ways, not necessarily word by word thefts but dishonest borrowing of ideas. Note that Poe didn't like writers who were born wealthy.Many photographs are in the book, and of notable interest, we are given glimpses into the genesis of his more well-known works; on this note, the Raven is deservedly given special treatment; Poe declares his great poem wasn’t the product of spontaneous revelation but rather a construction of careful design.His death still remains a mystery though, his final days are still cloudy; but I did notice there is a photograph of his final written letter, and the perfect penmanship on unlined paper and concise grammatical structure certainly doesn’t seem like the delusional ravings of an intoxicated madman who would be roaming about the streets at midnight just one week later. A fairly long biography for such an elusive personality, but the journey, once begun, is too interesting to seek shortcuts to the end.

In the vast majority of cases prior to the 20th century a biographer has a hard time writing about the psychological problems of a book’s subject simply because documentation of inner states is rare in history. If ever there was a 19th century American for whom psychological analysis seems essential, it is Edgar Allan Poe. For Poe a great deal of psychological documentation exists. Sticking closely to Poe’s letters and writing and the writing of his numerous acquaintances who knew him from different angles, Kenneth Silverman pulls off the tough job of linking Poe’s writing to his increasingly unstable mental condition. This is a powerful and engaging biography of one of the most disturbed geniuses in American history. Poe managed to turn his personal suffering and inner turmoil into literary forms that have a lasting place in literary history. He was the inventor of the detective story, wrote what could be called the first great horror stories, and penned some of the most lyrical poetry in American literature. He is a great example of the spark of mental brilliance breaking through conditions that would have crushed almost anyone else.Just like Silverman’s biography of Samuel Morse, this book is well-written. It flows easily, transitions between topics are smooth and clear (especially tough with Poe) and the combination of biography and literary selections from Poe are well-balanced. Silverman uses chronological dates in chapter headings to follow Poe’s life so at times he uses a time period to describe Poe’s personal experiences and then uses the same period in another chapter to discuss his literary output. This allows full development of some of Poe’s most productive years. During years or months when he combines the personal and the literary, the changes in topic are seamless. Like many of Poe’s friends the reader can develop real sympathy for this struggling man who, amidst a flood of self-deception, lies, alcoholism, and suicide attempts writes with a grasp of the English language that did and still does deeply move readers.I highly recommend this biography of a man who wrote “outside the box” for his time and whose works can still inspire (and scare like crazy) modern readers.

I mean he really wrote it. He did it. It is undeniably *a* biography of Edgar Allen Poe. Is it particularly interesting? At parts, yeah, it's a good glimpse into what early American literature was like and how it was built, but it reads more like a laborious chronology of Poe's sketchy career as a writer (what paper he worked on, who owned it, who they were, what years, and so on) mixed with a review of his literature, which I would honestly rather read myself and juxtapose that with what I knew his life was like.Also, my copy arrived with the cover pages and the first 20 pages of the actual biography missing. All-in-all, I feel like it could have been half as long and twice as interesting. Read for an episode of my podcast, Hard Fried History.

Superlative biography of Poe! The thoroughness of investigation, writing style, and subject are all combined to create a mesmerizing account of the life of Poe along with in-depth information about his family background. I've always been fascinated by Poe's legend, his poetry and stories, and reading this biography has confirmed him as a person of merit, a complex man of numerous talents and high intelligence, a real innovator in the realm of literature. I highly recommend this book to anyone as inspiration in overcoming difficulties in their own lives, as well as to anyone interested in learning the history of this amazing writer. I have a deeper appreciation of Poe thanks to the excellent and detailed account of the man's time, family, education, personality, accomplishments, and quirks written about with great skill by Kenneth Silverman.

An excellent biography! The book is a wonderful introduction to Poe, his life, and works. Yet, for as information dense as it is, Silverman’s writing is easy to read and makes this a great book for both the casual reader and a more serious student of Poe. My only complaint is Silverman’s curious format for his Notes.

Este volumen es una de las mejores biografías que he leído de Poe. Aporta gran cantidad de documentación y es bastante exhaustiva. Es una de los libros que pretenden ser la biografía definitiva sobre este autor. Y creo que casi lo consigue.

Very interesting read. Arrived on time.

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