Order from a Major Online Bookstore
Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine
Save Your Time And Money
| AnyBook4Less.com | Order from a Major Online Bookstore |
|
| Home | Store List | FAQ | Contact Us | | ||
| Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine Save Your Time And Money |
||
 |
Title: Midnight Dreary: The Mysterious Death of Edgar Allan Poe by John Evangelist Walsh, Michael Flamini ISBN: 0-312-22732-9 Publisher: St. Martin's Press Pub. Date: May, 2000 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.09 (11 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: A plausible and well documented explanation of how Poe died
Comment: Edgar Allen Poe's death has not lacked for theories. Now Walsh presents a solution that has many appealing elements. The most generally accepted theory of Poe's death has been death through alcoholic intoxication something easy to assume with someone having the long history on binge drinking. The problem is that Poe was in a good place in his life, his proposal of marriage having been accepted by his childhood sweetheart, now a wealthy widow and was traveling north on a job that would earn him substantial income.
Whether or not Walsh's explanation covers all the evidence in a reasonable way is for the jury of readers to determine. The book presents the documentation in readable form. I found it easy to follow Walsh's logic as buttressed by the evidence. I recommend this book for anyone interested in the dissection of an old murder and a reconsideration of the evidence.
Rating: 2
Summary: Two books
Comment: Midnight Dreary seems to be separated into two different books: the first half is a fairly well-documented reconstruction of Poe's last days, including many details that I'd never read before. Unfortunately, the second book takes this sparse information and attempts to craft it into some earth-shattering thesis as to how Poe died. It fails miserably. Walsh takes his tiny pieces of evidence and surrounds them with so much conjecture and just plain old made up stuff that the entire book is tarnished. I will give but one example, although there are many: while it may be true that Walsh shows SOME small evidence that Poe was followed by his fiancee's brothers, where exactly does he come up with the bizarre scenario in which they trap him in his room and MAKE him drink a bottle of whiskey in order to tarnish his image? He presents No, that is zero, evidence that this is the case. That is just shoddy research work. Walsh's presentation of Poe's final days is riddled with such leaps of faith and ridiculous, undocumented conclusions, lending it absolutely no validity whatsoever. It's a shame too, because Walsh had enough shreds of evidence to frame the beginnings of a portrait and to start a good, scholarly debate. Unfortunately, he tried to hang the picture before it was finished.
Rating: 4
Summary: Interesting and Compelling
Comment: Those who take issue with John Evangelist Walsh's "Midnight Dreary" are, I think, missing the point. Certainly, there is truth to the suggestion that this is two books, one, a detailed recreation of the last days of Poe and two, the author's attempt to make sense of the random data and form a reasonable explanation.
In the first instance, Walsh succeeds beyond one's expectations. I ahve read dozens of biographies of Poe and have not come across a good deal of this material. Letters, journal entries, recollections of personal interviews - Walsh succeeds in bringing extant material to light.
In the second endeavor, Walsh has not been as successful. In my opinion, he falls into every theorists greatest trap - attempting to bend the facts to fit his hypothesis. In several cases, Walsh accuses his subjects of faulty memory and/or outright embellishment. "Such and such can not have occurred on this date, but if we assume that the wrier was incorrect and it actually occurred on blah-blah date, then it all makes sense." No. No and no. As observers of history, we do not have the luxury of assuming those who lived it were forgetful liars.
Nonetheless, this IS an interesting book and it is a treasure trove of data for those interested in Poe's death. Additionally, it is written in an interesting, conversational style that I found quite readable. I enjoyed this book, as a reader and as an historian.
 |
Title: Edgar A Poe : Mournful and Never-ending Remembrance by Kenneth Silverman ISBN: 0060923318 Publisher: Perennial Pub. Date: 04 November, 1992 List Price(USD): $18.00 |
 |
Title: Edgar Allan Poe A to Z: The Essential Reference to His Life and Work by Dawn B. Sova ISBN: 081604161X Publisher: Checkmark Books Pub. Date: April, 2001 List Price(USD): $17.95 |
 |
Title: Edgar Allan Poe: A Critical Biography by Arthur Hobson Quinn, Shawn J. Rosenheim ISBN: 0801857309 Publisher: Johns Hopkins Univ Pr Pub. Date: December, 1997 List Price(USD): $23.95 |
 |
Title: Edgar Allan Poe by Jeffrey Meyers ISBN: 0815410387 Publisher: Cooper Square Press Pub. Date: October, 2000 List Price(USD): $18.95 |
 |
Title: The Cambridge Companion to Edgar Allan Poe by Kevin J. Hayes ISBN: 0521797276 Publisher: Cambridge University Press Pub. Date: 25 April, 2002 List Price(USD): $23.00 |
Thank you for visiting www.AnyBook4Less.com and enjoy your savings!
Copyright� 2001-2021 Send your comments
