Rating: 
Summary: This is the best literary biography since James Atlas'
Review: biography of Delmore Schwartz. Objective, magnificently researched, marvellously articulate, witty, urbane, insightful. Congratulations to you, Kenneth Silverman, for elevating the biographical bar for everyone.
Rating:
Summary: Borderline Disorder Personality?
Review: I bought this book primarily to find out Silverman's take on Poe's being found (just before his death) in clothes that did not belong to him (as indicated in a video in the Great Authors series). That odd fact, combined with the alter egos he created in stories like "Fall of the House of Usher" made me wonder if Poe had some sort of alter ego himself. Though the clothing issue is not completely explained (after all, who could know with certainty?), Silverman's book does offer insights into Poe's use of false identity, pseudonym, anonymous writing, plagiarism, and other identity issues (especially relating to his odd perversions of the Allan name and his brother's name). In addition, Poe's behavior, as explained by Silverman, put me in mind of a book entitled *I Hate You, Don't Leave Me: Understanding the Borderline Personality Disorder* by Jerold J. Kreisman and Hal Straus, published in 1989. I'm an English teacher, not a psychologist, and I do not know the current thinking on borderline personality disorder, but it is apparent that virtually every characteristic Kreisman and Straus identified in the borderline personality were exhibited by Poe. The next time I teach Poe, I plan to present information from both books for my students to consider (after reading "Fall of the House of Usher," Poe's story with a cross-gender alter ego). Thanks, Professor Silverman, for a marvelously researched and documented book!
Rating:
Summary: Never-Ending and Evermore!
Review: I love biographies and read a great many of them. Silverman's work on Poe is certainly my favorite bio of the American Romantic. Poe was my first and most important influence in life. I read him in middle school, and later in high school, I wrote my senior paper on his works. Since then, I have read every biography I could get my hands on. This one book is my keeper. Somehow, in his own personal way, Silverman was able to capture a side to Poe I had not really seen in earlier readings. It is subtitled a Mournful and Never-Ending Remembrance, and that is exactly what it is. Here Poe comes alive, in all his glories and disappointments. It's mournful, it's detailed, and it will certainly never leave your memory. Silverman actually breathes life into Poe, and for a moment, while you are reading, you feel as though you might look over and see Edgar A sitting next to you. That's kind of nice.
Rating:
Summary: Incredibly engrossing and informative
Review: I loved this book. It was another instance of realizing that almost everything I knew about a topic (in this case, E.A.Poe) was inaccurate. Also, Silverman's book provided a number of insights into life in New York, Boston, Philadelphia and Richmond in the pre-Civil War 19th Century. I do wish, however, that the author had more directly addressed some lingering questions about Poe; specifically, the real nature of his marriage to Virginia and his peculiar relationship to her mother, and the cause of his bouts of derangement (was it really alcohol or some other mental/chemical condition?). This was a rich and deep book that was very difficult to put down, even though it's long.
Rating:
Summary: Incredibly engrossing and informative
Review: I loved this book. It was another instance of realizing that almost everything I knew about a topic (in this case, E.A.Poe) was inaccurate. Also, Silverman's book provided a number of insights into life in New York, Boston, Philadelphia and Richmond in the pre-Civil War 19th Century. I do wish, however, that the author had more directly addressed some lingering questions about Poe; specifically, the real nature of his marriage to Virginia and his peculiar relationship to her mother, and the cause of his bouts of derangement (was it really alcohol or some other mental/chemical condition?). This was a rich and deep book that was very difficult to put down, even though it's long.
Rating:
Summary: a vivid, analytic record of Poe's life and work
Review: If you have enough interest in Poe to even entertain the idea of reading a biography, you should move ahead now and order a copy of this fantastic book. But you'd better have a copy of Poe's works nearby, because Silverman's book (as with all excellent literary biographies)will continually fire your yearning to revisit familiar Poe works and to discover ones you've missed. Assuming that your interest derives first from Poe's writings, you'll find Silverman's account wholly engaging. I like to thumb through it simply for Silverman's analytic synopses of Poe's poems and stories, which the author enlivens with connections between the work he's currently reviewing and earlier and later ones as well. Silverman thus offers a total panorama of Poe's interests, development, themes and aims. Indeed, the book could almost be the biography of Poe's literary accomplishment.Silverman's finely detailed yet compulsively readable account of Poe's life is equally engrossing. The book's title is the most sensationalistic thing about it, for Silverman pursues the facts and spectualtions about Poe with deep scholarly interest but objective, rational distance--and yet he relays it all with a novelist's drive. He allows the unremittingly frustrating commingling of tragedy and success in Poe's life speak for itself. Though this is a book to be read from cover to cover, you can nonethless pick it up anywhere and find yourself immediately involved. Silverman capture's Poe's person and his art with balance and intensity in his solid biography.
Rating:
Summary: a vivid, analytic record of Poe's life and work
Review: If you have enough interest in Poe to even entertain the idea of reading a biography, you should move ahead now and order a copy of this fantastic book. But you'd better have a copy of Poe's works nearby, because Silverman's book (as with all excellent literary biographies)will continually fire your yearning to revisit familiar Poe works and to discover ones you've missed. Assuming that your interest derives first from Poe's writings, you'll find Silverman's account wholly engaging. I like to thumb through it simply for Silverman's analytic synopses of Poe's poems and stories, which the author enlivens with connections between the work he's currently reviewing and earlier and later ones as well. Silverman thus offers a total panorama of Poe's interests, development, themes and aims. Indeed, the book could almost be the biography of Poe's literary accomplishment. Silverman's finely detailed yet compulsively readable account of Poe's life is equally engrossing. The book's title is the most sensationalistic thing about it, for Silverman pursues the facts and spectualtions about Poe with deep scholarly interest but objective, rational distance--and yet he relays it all with a novelist's drive. He allows the unremittingly frustrating commingling of tragedy and success in Poe's life speak for itself. Though this is a book to be read from cover to cover, you can nonethless pick it up anywhere and find yourself immediately involved. Silverman capture's Poe's person and his art with balance and intensity in his solid biography.
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent bio on a complex person
Review: Kenneth Silvermen does a outstanding job of capturing the times and the man that was Edgar A.Poe. The author pulls no punches in presenting a complete warts and all portrayl allowing the reader to determine for his or her self the brillance that was Poe. I really enjoyed the descriptions of the times, the language and the society in which Poe lived. Highly recomended
Rating:
Summary: Excellent bio on a complex person
Review: Kenneth Silvermen does a outstanding job of capturing the times and the man that was Edgar A.Poe. The author pulls no punches in presenting a complete warts and all portrayl allowing the reader to determine for his or her self the brillance that was Poe. I really enjoyed the descriptions of the times, the language and the society in which Poe lived. Highly recomended
Rating:
Summary: Shrewd Analysis of "Eddie" and young America
Review: One of the best things about this book is the descriptions of various American cities in the early 1800's-each locale takes on a distinct atmosphere that shows careful research and imaginative attention to detail. In these rich environments Poe wanders from opportunity to tragedy, a proud man hampered by his own weaknesses. With extensive quotes from letters and publications, Silvermann shows the personality and reputation of Poe, one of the first celebrities of American letters, perhaps best known in his own times as a savage critic and a recurring center of controversy. Highly recommended.
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