Description
Book SynopsisEdgar Allan Poe's reputation as an enduring and influential American literary critic. This edition shows that what is consistent in Poe is not any single theory. Rather, always present are wit, playfulness, concern for the strong effect, a bin of recyclable allusions, anecdotes and quotations, and a writer's discipline.
Trade Review“A solid resource for scholars of Poe. Highly recommended”--
Choice"Poe's quotations and misquotations are assiduously identified and corrected. Obscure references are made clear, and connections among a variety of Poe's writings are drawn. Poe's playfulness, even in criticism, repeatedly comes through, as does his occasional tendency to lapse into unfairness merely to make a point or to put the punch line on a joke. There is still a need, over one hundred years after Poe's death, for traditional scholarship of this kind. . . . This new volume is clearly the most authoritative edition of the works presented, and it is likely to remain so for sometime."--Poe Studies
"The Levines have made major contributions to Poe studies with this volume and numerous analytical studies that help readers appreciate the work of one of America's most famous writers."--
American Studies"This volume will likely become the first place to which students and scholars will turn if they want to understand Poe's work as a critic. . . . A significant contribution to Poe studies."--
Resources for American Literary Study"This book provides scholars and students of nineteenth-century literary theory and Poe with a reliable edition of his essays of critical theory, heavily annotated by respected Poe scholars. The notes provide explications not easily attained elsewhere, including Poe's relationships with his contemporaries and allusions to works few of today's readers would recognize. Levine and Levine have thoroughly researched the textual variants on all of these essays and provided the most accurate texts available to date."--Scott Peeples, author of
The Afterlife of Edgar Allan PoeTable of ContentsAcknowledgments vii
Introduction ix
Abbreviations xiii
LETTER TO B------. 1
A Note on the Text 4
Letter to B--------. 5
A Note on Variant Readings 11
Notes 12 PROSPECTUSES FOR "THE PENN" AND "THE STYLUS" 21
Note on the Text of the Prospectuses of "The Penn Magazine" 22
The Earlier (Austin) Version of the Prospectus of "The Penn" 25
The Second (Philadelphia) Version of the Prospectus of "The Penn" 25
Note on the Second (Philadelphia) version of the Prospectus of "The Penn Magazine" 27
The March 4, 1843, Version of the Prospectus for "The Stylus" 28
Notes on the March 4, 1843, Version of the Prospectus for "The Stylus" 31
The January 1848 Version of the Prospectus for "The Stylus" 32
The April 1848 Version of the Prospectus for "The Stylus" 34 EXORDIUM 37
A Note on the Text 38
Exordium (Review of New Books) 39
Notes 44 PREFACE TO THE POEMS (1845) 51
A Note on the Text 52
Preface 52 THE PHILOSOPHY OF COMPOSITION 55
A Note on the Text 59
The Philosophy of Composition 60
Notes 71 THE RATIONALE OF VERSE 77
A Note on the Text 80
The Rationale of Verse 80
Variant Readings 121
Notes 127 NOTES UPON ENGLISH VERSE 145
A Note on the Text 146
Notes upon English Verse 147
Variant Readings 171 THE POETIC PRINCIPLE 175
A Note on the Text 177
The Poetic Principle 178
Notes 200 BIBLIOGRAPHY 213
INDEX 219
