The Man of the Crowd: Edgar Allan Poe and the City

Description

How four American cities shaped Poe's life and writings Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849) changed residences about once a year throughout his life. Driven by a desire for literary success and the pressures of supporting his family, Poe sought work in American magazines, living in the cities that produced them. Scott Peeples chronicles Poe's rootless l

Scott Peeples is professor of English at the College of Charleston. His books include The Afterlife of Edgar Allan Poe and Edgar Allan Poe Revisited. Michelle Van Parys is professor of photography at the College of Charleston. Her books include The Way Out West: Desert Landscapes. Peeples and Van Parys both live in Charleston, South Carolina.

"A deeply informed, academic work, but highly readable."---Steven Carroll, Sydney Morning Herald "The Man of the Crowd, by Scott Peeples, has something for everyone. It should be equally attractive to Edgar Allan Poe scholars, aficionados, and those who simply want to read more of Poe's stories, poems, and essays."---Henry T. Edmonson III, Law & Liberty "Engaging. . . . [The Man of the Crowd] succeeds admirably in bringing us closer to a man we can now better appreciate as part of the crowd rather than a remote and inexplicable monad."---Ian Finseth, Edgar Allan Poe Review "Peeples convincingly demonstrates that Poe remained "in transit" throughout his life, despite his literary successes, and was never in full control of his career. This accessible book will interest casual readers and Poe scholars alike. " * Choice * "What sets Scott Peeples's 'compact biography' apart from other recent work is that it also concerns cities, specifically Richmond, Baltimore, Philadelphia, and New York, where Poe spent much of his life and which stirred his imagination. Peeples's aim is to re-contextualize the image of Poe as a campy 'nowhere man,'. . . . In detailing Poe's moves from city to city, Peeples presents an ambitious young man seeking to support his family and to establish himself as a writer, critic, and editor."---Katherine J. Kim, The Metropole "[A] superb new biograph[y] of Poe. . . . The Man of the Crowd . . . give[s] us a clearer view of Poe as a man and an artist, while at the same time showing how the myth mill about him was busy from the start, forming and deforming his choices, and creating the brand of Poe we know today."---Jonathan Elmer, Public Books "A welcome, engaging introduction to Poe's life. . . . This compact biography is an affable ramble, a genial journey, with Poe through the years. It knowledgeably and accessibly recounts Poe's urban contexts and relates his relevant texts. . . . The whole is interestingly complemented by archival images of contemporary maps and periodicals and by archival photographs, blended photographs, and recent photographs by Michelle Van Parys of various Poe sites and locales. This volume is a useful vade mecum for our armchair Poe peregrinations. "---Richard Kopley, Poe Studies "Well-researched . . . deeply informed. . . . Scott Peeples's streamlined account of Poe's journeys . . . grounds itself determinedly in the arc of his life's movement through various urban social realities. . . . This biography achieves its freshness through framing Poe's life as a series of chapters related to the cities in which he took up primary residence. "---Stephen Rachman, Poe Studies "A highly absorbing, important, and superbly crafted study that deserves a place on the top shelf of Poe biographies."---Jason Richards, American Literary History