Coffee With Poe [Paperback]

Andrew Barger (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 3, 2003

Coffee with Poe, award-winning finalist (historical biography category) of the USA Book News "Best Book Awards", is a historical novel detailing Edgar Allan Poe’s life. The book is filled with actual letters to his three fiancées, his literary contemporaries (Longfellow, Irving, and Hawthorne), and his bitter enemies. The characters are brought to life by interactive dialogue that may have taken place given what history teaches us. Read about the life of America's most haunting and mysterious author today and see Edgar Allan Poe brought to life like never before! “To give us a historical fiction look at Edgar Allan Poe is great. The start where we are at his mom's funeral gives a little insight into why he may write the way he does. It is very interesting the ideas the author has put into the story about Poe. I like the idea of detailing the life of Edgar Allan Poe into a historical fiction novel. . . . A great idea to give us some insight into why Poe may be the way he is.” Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award Expert Reviewer

Editorial Reviews

From the Author

Coffee with Poe is a historical novel detailing Edgar Allan Poe'’s life. The award winning book is filled with actual letters to his three fiancées, his literary contemporaries (Longfellow, Irving, and Hawthorne), and his bitter enemies. The characters are brought to life by interactive dialogue that may have taken place from what history teaches us. Below is an interview I did about the book. Enjoy!

• Q1: Let's start with the title. Why Coffee with Poe: A Novel of Edgar Allan Poe's Life?
• A1: There's a funny story behind that because I don't drink coffee, but I love the smell.  My wife, who did the great cover photography for the novel, tells me that doesn't count. She has an entire kitchen cabinet devoted to her coffee paraphernalia. I'm banned from looking inside because of my jokes about all the sifters, grinders, roasters, and foamers.  Anyway, I could think of no better coupling than books and coffee ... well, actually I can.  In truth, the title is derived from a letter that Sarah Helen Whitman (one of Poe's fiancées) wrote to John Ingram on December 13, 1874, which speaks of Poe's penchant for coffee: "Mr. Bartlett has never seen him inspired by any more dangerous stimulant than strong coffee, of which he was very fond & of which [he] drank freely. MacIntosh says that the measure of a man's brain is the amount of coffee he can drink with impunity."
• Q2: Coffee with Poe is one of the only--if not the only--novel about Edgar Allan Poe's life viewed from his own eyes. What made you write Coffee with Poe fromPoe's first person perspective?
• A2: I wanted readers to get inside the head (however frightening that may be) of one of America's best-loved and most mysterious writers. I wanted readers to livePoe's life instead of learn about it. That's the only way you can truly understand his horror stories and where he's coming from. There are so many boring biographies out there.
• Q3: And what an interesting and tragic life it was. You use a number of actual letters to and from Poe, including letters from Nathaniel Hawthorne and Washington Irving. How did this come about?
• A3: In researching Coffee with Poe I was surprised to learn that there were so many conflicting accounts of his life, so I went straight to the letters and used these as a framework to construct the novel. I was able to incorporate many of the people mentioned in the letters as characters. The novel to me is more compelling when you read Poe's letters from his pen after experiencing the events that prompted the letter.
• Q4: The letters of his three fiancées are especially interesting.
• A4: Poe got around!
• Q5: In one chapter Poe meets Charles Dickens. Was that hard to write?
• A5: It was difficult to capture the personalities of both of these great writers as they would have interacted at this point in their careers, but it was a lot of fun to try. When they met in Philadelphia, Dickens was finishing a trip to the U.S. He was as popular across The Pond as he was in England. Poe, on the other hand, had yet to write The Raven and was not nearly as well known. Poe solicited Dickens at this time to get his works published in England but it never panned out. Poe thought any author as popular as Dickens could easily get him published in Europe. Poe thought Dickens never really tried and Poe held a grudge against Dickens until his death. Poe lampooned Dickens in his short story "Thou Art the Man."

• Q6: Where did Poe get his idea for The Raven?
• A6: Many think it was from Dickens's use of a talking raven in Barnaby Rudge. Poe felt the bird should have had a much larger role and I imagined Poe gently telling him such in Philadelphia. Dickens's in turn based the raven in Barnaby Rudge off his own pet raven named Grip. There is a hilarious account of Grip's death that Dickens gave in a letter to a friend and I included that statement as he retells it to Poe.
• Q7: Was Poe strung out on drugs when he did most of his writing?
• A7: It's doubtful. Even Poe's bitter literary enemies--and he had quiet a few--never accused him of taking drugs. Many of these enemies were also medical doctors, so they would have detected this state. I believe people over the years have confused narrators in Poe's tales, many of whom are crazed or tripping on drugs, to be Poe himself. What these people are doing is taking credit away from a highly talented author and assuming he could only have experienced these states to write about them. Poe also wrote about being buried alive, but that never happened either!
• Q8: What about drinking?
• A8: Poe most certainly drank, but a medical condition caused him to have a sensitivity to alcohol. One or two drinks a day in our society, which is acceptable in certain circles and even claimed as good for the heart by the medical community, would have branded Poe as being prone to excess over a hundred and fifty years ago. As you know, I have my own theory regarding Poe's drinking problem in Coffee with Poe and how this sensitivity came about.
• Q9: Why did Poe write horror short stories?
• A9: Because he could and because he was the best. I edited The Best Horror Short Stories 1800-1849: A Classic Horror Anthology. Of the 12 horror stories Poe wrote one third of them. It is amazing at how Poe towered above all other writers in this genre for those fifty years. There is a fine art to scaring people to death and Poe took it to levels unseen. The time was ripe for his tales. Snake oil salesmen roamed the country. Prominent doctors of the day routinely practiced bloodletting and people were buried alive because their faint pulse could not be detected. Then you have everyone frightened of reanimation by galvanic batteries thanks to Mary Shelley. Poe thoroughly enjoyed getting a rise out of people. This was evidenced by his many pranks as a child, his biting reviews of the "Literati of New York," and, of course, his horror tales. Poehad a very humorous side despite his circumstances and many people don't realize this.
• Q10: A few more questions?
• A10: Okay, but I'm about to turn into a pumpkin and orange is not my color.
• Q11: Speaking of horror, who do you think are the Big Three?
• A11: In order of appearance: Edgar Allan Poe. H. P. Lovecraft. Stephen King. The problem is that the first two died in abject poverty and Stephen King has made slightly less money than God. Not that I'm taking anything away from King, but the other two should also have been rewarded handsomely for their work. Poe only made $15 off the entire publication history of "The Raven." There are injustices in this world, and then there are outright tragedies.
• Q12: Going back to your comment on Poe using deductive reasoning to craft some of his stories, he obviously used this in his mystery novels.
• A12: Poe is actually the inventor of the mystery genre, or at least the closed room murder mysteries. Many people overlook this and focus only on his horror. His fmystery stories were "The Murders in the Rue Morgue," "The Purloined Letter," and "The Mystery of Marie Roget." Sir Conan Doyle got his idea for Sherlock Holmes based partly off Poe's mysteries. "Thou Art the Man" is another fine mystery of his and the only one where he satired another writer (see the previous Dickens discussion).
• Q13: What were Edgar Allan Poe's favorite things?
• A13: Color-Black; Drink-Strong coffee, ale; Song-"Come Rest in this Bosom"; Animal-Cat (Poe had one named Catterina with his wife Virginia and also had a black cat that he wrote about); Poem-He had many. Orion by Richard Horne was his favorite epic poem. A few years ago I edited a new edition since is had been out of print for 80 years. In it I included Poe's fine review of Orion; Place-the South in general.

From the Inside Flap

"...Literature is the most noble of professions. In fact, it is about the only one fit for a man. For my own part, there is no seducing me from the path. I shall be a literateur, at least, all my life; nor would I abandon the hopes which still lead me on for all the gold in California." EDGAR ALLAN POE, Februrary 14, 1849.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: BottleTreeBooks LLC (November 3, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1589611047
• ISBN-13: 978-1589611047
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.9 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #855,926 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Andrew Barger is the award winning author of COFFEE WITH POE: A NOVEL OF EDGAR ALLAN POE'S LIFE and THE BEST HORROR SHORT STORIES 1800-1849: A CLASSIC HORROR ANTHOLOGY. He is the editor of EDGAR ALLAN POE ANNOTATED AND ILLUSTRATED ENTIRE STORIES AND POEMS, THE BEST GHOST STORIES 1800-1849: A CLASSIC GHOST ANTHOLOGY and THE BEST WEREWOLF SHORT STORIES 1800-1849: A CLASSIC WEREWOLF ANTHOLOGY.

Andrew's first short story collection is MAILBOXES - MANSIONS - MEMPHISTOPHELES: A COLLECTION OF DARK TALES. He is a leading voice in the Gothic literature space. Please visit him at www.AndrewBarger.com and at his blog: www.AndrewBarger.Blogspot.com.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An enjoyable read!, July 24, 2007

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Dark Romantic (Near Boston, MA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Coffee With Poe (Paperback)

Certainly not a new concept of combining fact and fiction, this really is an enjoyable, quick read on Edgar Allan Poe. Barger has some interesting theories on Poe's mysterious life and writes in a very engaging style that keeps you reading. I admire how clear the author is in showing what text comes from Poe's actual letters and where he has filled in the gaps with fiction. Recommended!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Haunting Look at Poe's Life in a Fascinating Way, February 7, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Coffee With Poe (Paperback)

Coffee with Poe combines actual Poe letters to weave the tale of his life. The gothic writter was as much a master of letters as he was poetry or short stories. Who knew he loved so many women or that he married his 13 year-old first cousin? Poe's interaction with other literary figures of the day such as Dickens and Hawthorne is also interesting. From cradle to grave this is the tragic account of 'America's first poet' and it should not be missed.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Edgar Allan Poe: An Amazing and Tragic Life, December 13, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Coffee With Poe (Paperback)

Coffee with Poe is the story of Poe's life and although it is a novel, seamlessly includes many actual letters from his many romances and literary figures of the time. I especially liked the chapter where Poe meets Dickens. Anyone wanting a great read or anyone with interest in Poe will be interested in this book.