Edgar Allan Poe (Critical Lives)

ISBN: 1861895151

Author: Hayes, Kevin J.

Condition: New

The life of Edgar Allan Poe (1809-49) is the quintessential writers 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 or perhaps even 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 Poes 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.Whereas previous biographers have tended to concentrate on the sorry details of Poes life, by contrast Hayes takes an original approach by examining Poes life within the context of his writings. The author offers fresh, insightful readings of many of Poes short stories, and presents newly-discovered information about previously unknown books from Poes library, as well as updated biographical details obtained from nineteenth-century newspapers and magazines. This well-researched biography goes beyond previous scholarship and creates a complete picture of Poe and his significant body of work.Approachably written, Edgar Allan Poe will appeal to the many fans of Poes work-from The Raven to the Tell-Tale Heart-as well as readers interested in American literary history.