Back to Results
Info page for book:   The American Face of Edgar Allan Poe
Info page for book:   The American Face of Edgar Allan Poe
Share this Title:

The American Face of Edgar Allan Poe

edited by Shawn Rosenheim and Stephen Rachman

Publication Date
Binding Type

"The problem of Poe's place in American culture cannot be settled canonically, since, unlike the works of Melville or Hawthorne, Poe's texts have not been primarily transmitted through the schools. Indeed, at its most radical level, the failure of criticism to account for the remarkable diversity of Poe's influence leads one to question the utility of the canon itself as an instrument for the study of American culture."—from the Introduction

The contributors to this volume share the conviction that Poe is central to current work on American culture—and that strictly theoretical approaches to...

"The problem of Poe's place in American culture cannot be settled canonically, since, unlike the works of Melville or Hawthorne, Poe's texts have not been primarily transmitted through the schools. Indeed, at its most radical level, the failure of criticism to account for the remarkable diversity of Poe's influence leads one to question the utility of the canon itself as an instrument for the study of American culture."—from the Introduction

The contributors to this volume share the conviction that Poe is central to current work on American culture—and that strictly theoretical approaches to Poe have become increasingly irrelevant. Aiming to transform his place in the American canon, they bring sophisticated theoretical awareness to bear on the particular historical, social, political, and economic circumstances of his literary career. Their essays offer new insights into the complex and unavoidable relations between traditionally literary issues and the broader aspects of a democratic mass culture. The contributors are Gillian Brown, Stanley Cavell, Eva Cherniavsky, Joan Dayan, Jonathan Elmer, John T. Irwin, Barbara Johnson, David Leverenz, Meredith L. McGill, Stephen Rachman, Louis A. Renza, Shawn Rosenheim, and Laura Saltz.

Reviews

Reviews

About

Book Details

Publication Date
Status
Available
Trim Size
6
x
9
Pages
408
ISBN
9780801850257
Author Bios
Featured Contributor

Shawn James Rosenheim

Shawn J. Rosenheim is an associate professor of English at Williams College. He is the author of The Cryptographic Imagination: Secret Writing from Edgar Allan Poe to the Internet, also available from Johns Hopkins.
Featured Contributor

Stephen Rachman

Stephen Rachman teaches in the Department of English at Michigan State University.