Edgar Allan Poe: The Fever Called Living by Paul Collins
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Edgar Allan Poe is one of the most intriguing writers in American literature. His short life (he died at 40) was productive and inventive. He's often credited with the invention of the detective story (i.e. "Murders in the Rue Morgue"), and was prolific as a writer of stories, poetry, and criticism. We know him for macabre tales like "Tell-Tale Heart" and the poem, "The Raven." Few authors invoke such a benighted image.
Yet the popular image of Poe is a bit of a dark caricature, reflecting truths but exaggerating features for effect. Part of this exaggeration probably owes to our collective desire to romanticize the tortured artist - and Poe is as tortured as they come. However, some of the exaggeration of Poe's faults owe to the fact that he was a harsh critic, and at least one of the authors who felt the sting of his pen found an opportunity to amplify the "drug-addled lunatic" aspect of Poe's nature in a biography after the great author's death. That's not to deny that Poe had an addictive personality. He was both an alcoholic and prone to gambling away whatever funds graced his pockets.
This short biography (less than 150pp.) gives one insight into Poe's life from birth to death in five chapters. The first of these chapters describes Poe's childhood, which was marred by the death of his mother, abandonment by his father, and being taken in - but not adopted - by a foster couple. Granted the foster couple was wealthy, but Poe's foster-father could be a harsh man and the uncertainty of not being formally adopted seemed to have weighed on Poe's mind.
The middle chapters give special attention to Poe's life as a writer, noting under what circumstances he was published, starting with a self-published chap book and moving through to becoming one of America's great men of letters (though he never made enough money to live in comfort.) Poe famously married a cousin who was very young (though of legal age) at the time, and we get some insight into that relationship, which ended not terribly long before his own death. The last chapter gives the details of Poe's demise.
I found this book interesting and educational. Collins neither gets lost in the minutiae nor give's Poe's life short shrift, and it feels as though he reveals the true Poe and not the T-shirt version. I would recommend this book for fans of Poe's work and for those who are interested in the literary history of America.
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