#RIP XIV The Afterlife of Edgar Allan Poe

• Author: Scott Peeples
  
• Title: The Afterlife of Edgar Allan Poe
  
• Published: 2003
  
• Genre: non-fiction
• List Challenges 2019
  
• Monthly planning
• #RIPXIV @ReadersImbibingInPeril
  

 

Structure:

The Man That Was Used Up: Poe’s Place in American Literature

1. Reading time 1 hr 15 min
2. Discussion: about Poe’s character by biographers in the the late 19th C
3. his alcoholism, inability to sympathize, fickleness, ugly humor, ill- tempered
4. Paradox: Poe was unappreciated, rejected….but
5. …this aura of mystery was good for business (bookselling)
6. Why is Poe considered the most characteristic American poet?
7. — he was beaten down by American materialism
8. — he did not copy the English literary tradition
9. — he explored the pathological side of American temperament
10. — he was curious, interest toward the most strange and odd mysteries
11. Conclusion: Poe was torn to pieces by many biographers but in
12. 20th C  he has been rebuilt into an ever more fascinating public figure

 

 

A Dream Within a Dream: Poe and  Psychoanalysis

1. Reading time 1 hr 15 min
2. Discussion: Psychoanalysis could inspire new,
3. inventive ways of reading Poe.
4. Helicopter view…
5. of several writers who have psychoanalyzed
6. Poe’s writing:
7. L. Purette, D.H. Lawrence, Marie Bonaparte, J. Robertson, J. Krutch
8. …J. Lacan and many more.
9. …looking at the anatomy of Poe’s unconscious.
10. Conclusion:
11. Basically this essay is about  ‘What made Poe tick?‘
12. Some insights made by Bonaparte sounded a bit
13. far-tetched “…when Poe was tempted by living women, drink
14. cleared the way for ‘flight’ and kept him faithful to his dead mother.”
15. Honestly, this essay was more about the analysts
16. ….pages and pages about Lacan,
17. …then Poe himself!

 

Out of Space, Out of Time: From Early Formalism to Deconstruction

1. Reading time 1 hr 02 min
2. Discussion: is about 1950s New Criticism
3. ….the deficiencies and limitations of Poe’s work.
4. Not every critic feel Poe’s works  should
5. allowed into the temple of high literary art.
6. Critics Brooks and Warren state:
7. “…when you learn to read more carefully you’ll see
8. that he’s (Poe) only a little better than pulp fiction
9. …you read for pleasure.”
10. Emerson had famously called Poe “the Jingle Man”
11. because his poems sounded jingly, gimmicky!
12. Conclusion: The critics want to teach me how to
    
13. read Poe….I wish they would just let me enjoy his
14. writing instead of  trying to dissect Poe with structuralism,
15. Post structuralism, and Deconstructism mumbo jumbo.
16. The essay was filled with themes and philosophical issues.
17. #Challenge
    

 

The Man of the Crowd: The Socio-Historical Poe

1. Reading time 1 hr
   
2. Discussion: In 1980s placing Poe’s text 
3. in question to other texts in the
   
4. same period with emphasis on
5. representations of race, gender and class.
6. Conclusion: Again critics who insinuate the
7. The Black Cat is  figure for the abused slave
8. …seems far-fetched.
9. #IAmNotBuyingIt

 

Lionizing: Poe as Cultural Signifier

1. Reading time 50  min
2. Discussion: The pop-culture Poe
3. Why has Poe proved so resilient over
4. …150 years after his death?
5. Peeples reviews books, plays, films and comics
6. …entertainment derived from
7. …Poe and his works.
8. Conclusion:  readable

 

Conclusion:

1. We all know the uses of research material is
2. a vital component to writing.
3. Scott Peeples has cited  about 350 works to
4. create these essays.
5. That feels a bit excessive
6. for 5 essays with reading times of 1 hour 15 min.
7. Great thoughts yes, but there is  much
8. ….cutting an pasting of direct quotes throughout the essays.
9. This results in a confusion of voices and disrupts
10. the flow of information.
11. The writer must do more than parrot information!
12. I did cherry pick some good insights about Poe and
13. his writing but it was a laborious task.
14. #NotWorthMyReadingTime
15. …but you may enjoy this book!