Fast upon the heels of Kenneth Silverman and his splendid Edgar A.
Poe (1991), Meyers (Joseph Conrad, 1991, etc.) fashions an even
greater success with the same material. The strength of Meyers's
approach is that it focuses on Poe's life and character, and
examines his writings in historical, rather than literary, terms.
This isn't a book of criticism, or even a critical biography - and,
as such, it's free of the theoretical constructions so often
imposed by academics upon their subjects. Poe, Meyers emphasizes,
was a mess of complications and perversity - a brilliant crank, a
genteel necrophile, a plagiarist and hack who stole from his
inferiors and starved while his editors grew fat - and Meyers is
able to show the depth of his insanity and genius by means of a
clear and straightforward narrative of events and personalities too
poignant to support much interpretation. Poe's own correspondence
is drawn on to supply a vivid portrait of his brutal domestic life
- the constant uprootings, the continual pleas for aid, the
excruciation of his wife's slow death - and the endless (and
frequently absurd) controversies that Poe carried on in print are
excerpted at length. The testimonial accounts of Poe given by many
of his contemporaries are remarkable for their concurrences, and
constitute some of the best material in this very rich work. The
notes are extensive and helpful. Vivid and haunting: a great
success. (Kirkus Reviews)
This biography of Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849), a giant of American
literature who invented both the horror and detective genres, is a
portrait of extremes: a disinherited heir, a brilliant but
exploited author and editor, a man who veered radically from
temperance to rampant debauchery, and an agnostic who sought a
return to religion at the end of his life. Acclaimed biographer
Jeffrey Meyers explores the writer's turbulent life and career,
including his marriage and multiple, simultaneous romances, his
literary feuds, and his death at an early age under bizarre and
troubling circumstances.
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