A mystery of mysteries The death and life of Edgar Allan Poe

Mark Dawidziak, 1956-

Book - 2023

"A Mystery of Mysteries is a brilliant biography of Edgar Allan Poe that examines the renowned author's life through the prism of his mysterious death and its many possible causes. It is a moment shrouded in horror and mystery. Edgar Allan Poe died on October 7, 1849, at just forty, in a painful, utterly bizarre manner that would not have been out of place in one of his own tales of terror. What was the cause of his untimely death, and what happened to him during the three missing days before he was found, delirious and "in great distress" on the streets of Baltimore, wearing ill-fitting clothes that were not his own? Mystery and horror. Poe, who remains one of the most iconic of American writers, died under haunting cir...cumstances that reflect the two literary genres he took to new heights. Over the years, there has been a staggering amount of speculation about the cause of death, from rabies and syphilis to suicide, alcoholism, and even murder. But many of these theories are formed on the basis of the caricature we have come to associate with Poe: the gloomy-eyed grandfather of Goth, hunched over a writing desk with a raven perched on one shoulder, drunkenly scribbling his chilling masterpieces. By debunking the myths of how he lived, we come closer to understanding the real Poe-and uncovering the truth behind his mysterious death, as a new theory emerges that could prove the cause of Poe's death was haunting him all his life. In a compelling dual-timeline narrative alternating between Poe's increasingly desperate last months and his brief but impactful life, Mark Dawidziak sheds new light on the enigmatic master of macabre"--

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Subjects
Genres
Biographies
Published
New York : St. Martin's Press 2023.
Language
English
Main Author
Mark Dawidziak, 1956- (author)
Edition
First edition
Physical Description
x, 275 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations ; 24 cm
Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN
9781250792495
  • A matter of death and life
  • "Pale and haggard" late June-early July 1849
  • "From childhood's hour" January 1809-March 1827
  • "I must die" July 7-13, 1849
  • "Save me from destruction" March 1827-May 1836
  • "Considerable fever" July 14-September 27, 1849
  • "Extremity of terror" May 1836-January 20, 1842
  • "Rather the worse for wear" September 27-October 3, 1849
  • "By horror haunted" March 5, 1842-January 30, 1847
  • "As if a corpse" October 3-6, 1849
  • "I shall hardly last a year" February 1847-June 1849
  • "Doubly dead" October 7, 1849
  • "Penetrate the mysteries".
Review by Booklist Review

The origin of the mystery genre is widely credited to Edgar Allan Poe, author of such seminal stories as "The Murders in the Rue Morgue," "The Fall of the House of Usher," and "The Tell-Tale Heart," and his poem, "The Raven," which brought him much sought-after fame. However, there is one mystery that even the most ardent Poe fans have been unable to solve, that of Poe's death in 1849 at 40. Dawidziak cleverly employs two timelines, one following Poe's last days, the other tracing Poe's childhood, career, and family. This structure builds suspense while challenging many long-held perceptions of Poe. The iconic author whose dark-eyed, mustachioed visage peers out from countless tote bags, mugs, and T-shirts was in fact a sensitive aesthete and fleet-footed athlete. He loved with abandon and lost friends as easily as he made them. He was his own worst enemy. Dawidziak's thoroughly researched investigation meticulously explores the various theories surrounding Poe's death while vividly capturing the public's ongoing fascination with this quintessential tortured soul. As Poe presciently wrote in his story, "The Assignation," "Ill-fated and mysterious man!--bewildered in the brilliancy of thine own imagination and fallen in the flames of thine own youth!"

From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review

In this intrigue-filled offering, Dawidziak (Everything I Need to Know I Learned in the Twilight Zone), a former television and film critic, achieves the difficult feat of delivering a fresh biography of Edgar Allan Poe. Dawidziak cleverly frames his narrative as an investigation into the writer's puzzling demise: Poe died in Baltimore in 1849 at age 40, apparently delirious and by some accounts calling out for someone named Reynolds. These murky circumstances have sparked enduring fascination among fans and scholars, and Dawidziak surveys the most commonly proposed causes of death, which include "binge drinking, rabies, murder, a brain tumor, encephalitis brought on by exposure, syphilis, suicide, heart disease." The author builds tension by alternating chapters between Poe's final days and his earlier life, dispelling myths about Poe (such as that he was addicted to opium or had a sullen demeanor) and asserting that, despite his reputation as a "sickly, pasty guy with... a raven perched on his shoulder," he was best known as a critic during his lifetime and wrote many "satires, hoaxes, and humorous pieces." Though Dawidziak resists offering a definitive cause of death (even as he identifies tuberculosis as the prime suspect), his sharp analysis of how Poe's macabre pieces came to overshadow the rest of his work will give readers a fuller understanding of Poe's varied artistry and character. This has revelations to spare. (Feb.)

(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Kirkus Book Review

A new life of the enigmatic writer. TV and film critic Dawidziak draws on published and archival sources, including more than 50 interviews with Edgar Allan Poe scholars and other experts, to create a colorful portrait of the poet, critic, and story writer. The author structures his biography as parallel timelines, interweaving a chronology of significant periods in Poe's life with a close investigation of the mystery of his sudden death. Seeing his subject as "a creature of contradiction, duality, and ambiguity," Dawidziak examines the myths that swirl around Poe's career, reputation, and relationships. Orphaned as a young child, he was adopted by the "aloof and exacting" John Allan and his benevolent wife, Fanny, whose frequent illnesses made her inaccessible to her young ward. Although the couple provided a home, Edgar never felt truly loved; after Fanny's death in 1829, his relationship with Allan grew increasingly contentious. At 17, Poe enrolled at the University of Virginia, where a classmate found him to be "very excitable & restless, at times wayward, melancholic & morose, but again--in his better moods frolicksome, full of fun & a most attractive and agreeable companion." He soon left college life for a stint at West Point, where his waywardness again got the better of him. A devotee of Lord Byron, Poe saw himself as a romantic, "separated from the masses not by class but by intellect, sensitivity, and genius. Yet, at the same time," Dawidziak writes, "he craves a place in the august circles where he is granted admittance but never full acceptance." He also craved love, which he found from his devoted aunt, Maria Clemm, and her daughter, Virginia, whom Poe married in 1836, when she was 13. Offering a sympathetic, if not revisionist, portrait, Dawidziak does rule out several theories about Poe's death--rabies, carbon monoxide poisoning, a drug overdose, epilepsy, apoplexy, and liver disease, to name a few--to defend a well-grounded conclusion. A brisk, satisfying biography of a literary icon who still fascinates. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.