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08.26: Paul Collins
2014-07-16 01:40:56| Powells Books Events Calendar
Today the name Edgar Allan Poe invokes a tragic genius whose mastery of horror seems inexorably tied to his tormented life. But in his own time, Poe was above all a craftsman — an editor and reviewer desperately trying to earn a living by transmuting the wild ephemera of early Victorianism into innovations in science fiction, horror, and detective literature. Indeed, the crime thriller would not exist without Poe's sleuth Dupin, the deductive genius of "The Murders in the Rue Morgue" and "The Purloined Letter." With brilliant scholarship and storytelling verve, Paul Collins, author of Duel with the Devil and The Murder of the Century, delves into Poe's life and his professional world, from his stormy relationship with his rich adoptive father and interest in cryptograms to hits such as "The Raven" and flops like "Eureka," his late-career crank literature outing. Edgar Allan Poe: The Fever Called Living (New Harvest) is an informative and entertaining account of one of the most singular talents in American letters.
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