Edgar Allan Poe: His Life and Legacy [Paperback]

Jeffrey Meyers (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 5, 2000

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.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Meyers ( Joseph Conrad ) focuses on the ways the works of poet and short story writer Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849) influenced many other great writers, including Hawthorne, Fitzgerald, Nabokov and Baudelaire. Hailed in France as the inventor of the modern detective and psychological novel and of symbolist poetry, he is remembered in his own country chiefly for his macabre tales ("The Pit and the Pendulum," "The Fall of the House of Usher") and his poem "The Raven." Meyers documents Poe's short and unhappy life, effectively describing his chaotic childhood (he was raised by a foster father who would later disown him) and his tragic adult life (he struggled to write while suffering from alcoholism, poverty and the death of his young wife Virginia in 1847 from consumption). Meyers's sympathetic and readable treatment highlights Poe's considerable stylistic achievements. Illustrations not seen by PW.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Kirkus Reviews

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. -- Copyright ©1992, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 376 pages
• Publisher: Cooper Square Press (September 5, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0815410387
• ISBN-13: 978-0815410386
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #340,521 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Edgar Allan Poe - the Original Punker?, January 8, 2008

By 

ZombiKitty "zombikitty" (Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Edgar Allan Poe: His Life and Legacy (Paperback)

Edgar Allan Poe: His Life and Legacy is a biography that focuses both on Poe's personal life and his literary legacy. While it doesn't go into great detail about the writing process of Poe's tales and poems, the book does discuss in detail the impact that his work had on other authors of the time and in the future, such as Baudelaire and Arthur Conan Doyle. The book also discusses Poe's contribution to modern writing styles, such as the detective story and the adventure tale. When dealing with Poe's personal life, the author wrote about the negative as well as the positive in what seemed to be an attempt to present the facts about Poe's life and temperament in a sympathetic fashion - though the author does have a few obvious "What the hell was Poe thinking?!" moments when writing about Poe's self-destructive behavioral tendencies. Overall, I found the account to be a fascinating and enlightening read, and I highly recommend it for Poe fans who are curious about the man behind the tales.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A truly great biography., October 8, 2007

By 

Douglas E. Libert "howitt" (parkersburg wv) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Edgar Allan Poe: His Life and Legacy (Paperback)

besides being a thorough biography on Poe this book describes his influence on American and European literature.I hadn't realized before how many writers were influenced by Poe's writings and consciously or subconsciouly tried to imitate him.The way that Poe liked to accuse authors of plagiarism he would have a field day on the authors both major and minor who "borrowed" his ideas and style.Some of these authors after criticizing Poe's work either are shown by the author this book as "copycats" or insignificants.The better authors however have given Poe his do and acknowledge that he broke the ground for a new style of literature more the "art for arts sake" type works.Also for his exploration into the deeper(and sometimes sinister) levels of the human psyche.This is a great book,from the descriptions of the cynical sneers from Poe's asymmetrical face to the strategic, boyish,vulnerable,charm he displayed at times.You'll be glad a person like Poe came along and glad that someone was able to tell his story the way this author has.In a side note it is comforting to know that from Poe's honorable military service that had he lived today he would qualify for assistance from the VA,and perhaps this would have alleviated alot of his suffering in regard to his family.

13 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars no more! no more, nevermore please.., June 27, 2001

By 

M. Cruz (Valparaiso, IN United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Edgar Allan Poe: His Life and Legacy (Paperback)

First of all, this biograpy does not critique or even mention when he wrote or published the stories of "William Wilson" and "The Pit and the Pendalum." This biography isn't as concerned for the work of Poe as what people of that time said and thought of him.

First half is an overkill of facts, quotes, rumors, and articles about Poe. Author seems to give no true opinion and is completely uncreative for as to how to make these facts and rumors about his character seems interesting to the reader.

It's not until well into the second half that the author seems to realize he's lead his audience to a bricked up wall. But behind the wall, we are willfully burried and sleeping in the hopes that he will not wake our slumber. Realizing this, he tries to revive us through a seance of medeocre creativity.

He does seem to put to rest the rumors circulating about the death of Mr. Poe.

But overall, this book is unimaginative, soulless, and a dozing to constantly waking history lesson of what it was to be an early American author.