Edgar A. Poe: a Biography by Kenneth Silverman

Edgar A. Poe: a Biography

Mournful and Never-ending Remembrance

Kenneth Silverman

HarperCollins · Print & ebook · December 23, 2008

“Vivid, absorbing, superbly handled, and completely riveting.” —Boston Globe “This biography of Edgar Allan Poe shows us how the mourning, melancholy, alcoholic literary innovator derived his uncanny tales and graveyard poetry from his chronic despair, and how he consoled himself by inventing the modern detective story.

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Who it’s for
A literary biography connects Poe’s shadowed life with the tales that still enchant and unsettle.
Themes
Edgar Allan Poe’s life, Literary creativity and despair, Mystery and death in Poe’s work
Genres
Writers' Lives, Horror Lit Crit, Mystery & Crime Crit

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About this book

“Vivid, absorbing, superbly handled, and completely riveting.” —Boston Globe “This biography of Edgar Allan Poe shows us how the mourning, melancholy, alcoholic literary innovator derived his uncanny tales and graveyard poetry from his chronic despair, and how he consoled himself by inventing the modern detective story.

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An engrossing literary biography.” —Leon Edel Pulitzer Prize-winning author Kenneth Silverman's authoritative biography of one of the greats of American literature, Edgar Allan Poe. Few writers have had such a profound, lasting impact as the incomparable Edgar Allan Poe. Though written more than two hundred years ago, his stories have lost none of their power to enchant, thrill, and terrify. Poe’s tales of mystery and death continue to work their eerie magic on readers of all stripes. Yet, for all the attention given to his work, many of the details of Poe’s life remain shrouded in obscurity. A man whose stories are familiar to all, Poe was a tortured soul who died a relatively young man under mysterious circumstances. In this fascinating biography, called “the best biography of Poe yet written,” by the Washington Post, Silverman illuminates the dark life of the beloved storyteller, going beyond the literary genius to the intimate details of Poe’s tormented life. Edgar A. Poe is the definitive account of the life of a true master.

Poe, Up Close

A literary biography connects Poe’s shadowed life with the tales that still enchant and unsettle.

Come here for

  • The eerie pull of Poe’s stories and the life behind them

Expect

  • An intimate look beyond the familiar literary reputation

Where it sits

Writers' Lives100%
Mystery & Crime Crit22%
Horror Lit Crit18%

Percentages are BookFrontier’s reading of the book.

Publisher categories

  • Artists' Lives
  • Cultural Heritage Lives
  • Lives in History
  • Writers' Lives
Show all 8 publisher categories
  • Personal Memoirs
  • 19th-Century America
  • Writing as a Career
  • American Literary Collections
Authors
Kenneth Silverman
Publisher
HarperCollins
Published
December 23, 2008
Format
Print & ebook
Theme
Edgar Allan Poe’s life · Literary creativity and despair · Mystery and death in Poe’s work
Reading lane
Artists' Lives