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214th out of 250 books
—
35 voters
Poe: A Life Cut Short (Ackroyd's Brief Lives #4)
Edgar Allan Poe served as a soldier and began his literary career composing verses modelled on Byron; soon he was trying out his 'prose-tales' - often horror melodramas such as The Fall of the House of Usher. As editor of the Literary Messenger he was influential among critics and writers of the American South. His versatile writings - including, for example, The Murders i...more
Hardcover, 170 pages
Published
February 7th 2008
by Chatto & Windus
(first published January 1st 2008)
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I have to say, this book in it's entirety is my favorite biography of Poe. So much so, that I nearly sold and rid my house of anything Poe. As shocking as my friends would have been, it was due to the clear & concise way of revealing all of Edgar's personality. He was a brag, spoiled, self-centered, argumentative, etc. One should never meet in person for an extended amount of time nor find out that one's heroes or individuals of a favored nature are as beleaguered by the same, if not worse,...more
For Halloween weekend, I read this little biography which contained a number of biographical details but was focused towards Poe's quest for family.
I knew from reading anthology entries about Poe that he was an orphan, a hard drinker, and emotionally injured from losing his mother and his young wife to early deaths. (They both died at age 24.) But reading nearly 200 pages of detail about his life really painted a picture of a man in pain, a man who increasingly lost control of his life. His las...more
I knew from reading anthology entries about Poe that he was an orphan, a hard drinker, and emotionally injured from losing his mother and his young wife to early deaths. (They both died at age 24.) But reading nearly 200 pages of detail about his life really painted a picture of a man in pain, a man who increasingly lost control of his life. His las...more
I think that "Ackroyd's Brief Lives" is a good, overall introduction. Poe lead such a tragic life, beginning at age 2 when his mother died (Tuberculosis) and his father abandoned Poe and his siblings for the theater. It seems that he never got over that loss of his mother. Poe was taken in by foster parents John Allan, a successful Scottish merchant and his wife Frances (who also died from Tuberculosis). Poe attended school abroad and did well and they returned to Virginia and he attended Univer...more
Like Poe himself, Peter Ackroyd’s Poe is of a different time. I remember when I was a kid, my grandmother had a library that she had amassed during her life. Leather bound first editions of some amazing authors, and included in that collection were slim volumes that were biographies of writers. Ackroyd’s Brief Lives series, of which Poe is one, harkens back to this tradition, in Poe’s case, remarkably well.
Poe is a short book, it does cover the major events of his life in some detail, but not in...more
Poe is a short book, it does cover the major events of his life in some detail, but not in...more
Peter Ackroyd's 'Poe-A Life Cut Short' is not the size of other biographies of his that I have read in the past, being all over in one hundred and sixty pages. The first biography of Poe was written shortly after his death in 1849, by Rufus Griswold, who portrayed the man as 'a drunken womanizing madman with no morals and no friends'. The Edgar Allan Poe museum in Richmond, Virginia claims that this is a distorted image, that has created the legend that lives to this day. Ackroyd's biography con...more
My first delve into both Edgar Allan Poe and Peter Ackroyd and I really enjoyed this book. Edgar Allan Poe does indeed have an interesting life but it is really Ackroyd's writing that makes this such an enjoyable read.
It is truly refreshing to read a biography where the author is neutral regarding their own thoughts and positions. Ackroyd presents the information/narrative on Poe in a balanced way, and where appropriate uses his knowledge base from the extensive research to inform the reader whe...more
It is truly refreshing to read a biography where the author is neutral regarding their own thoughts and positions. Ackroyd presents the information/narrative on Poe in a balanced way, and where appropriate uses his knowledge base from the extensive research to inform the reader whe...more
Peter Ackroyd’s biography of Dickens is a big, magnificent beast. His biography of Dickens’ contemporary Edgar Allen Poe is a slenderer affair. This is no doubt partly because Charles had a far more public life, but there’s also a sense that Ackroyd – a London based writer himself – hasn’t really got to grips with the world of Poe in the same way. The cities of Richmond, Philadelphia, Boston and New York are never brought to life (Poe’s childhood in London is far more vividly presented) and so P...more
What a fascinating study on the age old question of nature vs. nurture.
I expected Poe to have a tragic life to justify his creepy, albeit brilliant writing. This is a man who early on decided he was a victim. He was adopted at age 2 by loving wealthy parents who saw to his every need and loved him as their own. He complained and was ungrateful EVERY step of the way. He would lie to people about his misfortune, and try to manipulate their sympathy and he did this for his entire 40 years. Finally...more
I expected Poe to have a tragic life to justify his creepy, albeit brilliant writing. This is a man who early on decided he was a victim. He was adopted at age 2 by loving wealthy parents who saw to his every need and loved him as their own. He complained and was ungrateful EVERY step of the way. He would lie to people about his misfortune, and try to manipulate their sympathy and he did this for his entire 40 years. Finally...more
“Lord, Help My Poor Soul”
(Books reviewed in this article include: Poe, A Life Cut Short by Peter Ackroyd, In the Shadow of the Master, Classic Poe Tales and Essays edited by Michael Connelly and On a Raven’s Wing, New Tales in Honor of Edgar Allan Poe edited by Stuart M. Kaminsky)
January 19, 2009 marked the 200th anniversary of the birth of Edgar Allan Poe: poet, editor, literary critic and creator of fantasy, horror and mystery fiction. He is credited with inventing the detective novel genre. S...more
(Books reviewed in this article include: Poe, A Life Cut Short by Peter Ackroyd, In the Shadow of the Master, Classic Poe Tales and Essays edited by Michael Connelly and On a Raven’s Wing, New Tales in Honor of Edgar Allan Poe edited by Stuart M. Kaminsky)
January 19, 2009 marked the 200th anniversary of the birth of Edgar Allan Poe: poet, editor, literary critic and creator of fantasy, horror and mystery fiction. He is credited with inventing the detective novel genre. S...more
Book Review – ‘Poe: A Life Cut Short’ by Peter Ackroyd
Anyone interested in the life of Poe will be aware of the tremendous hype surrounding his death. It is a fact that he died in a state of delirium, and was found in this state only a week after he had cheerfully waved goodbye to his aunt from a steamboat bound from Richmond to Baltimore. This was the last sighting of Poe until he was found dying six days later in a dirty tavern. What happened during that missing week is a complete mystery; one...more
Anyone interested in the life of Poe will be aware of the tremendous hype surrounding his death. It is a fact that he died in a state of delirium, and was found in this state only a week after he had cheerfully waved goodbye to his aunt from a steamboat bound from Richmond to Baltimore. This was the last sighting of Poe until he was found dying six days later in a dirty tavern. What happened during that missing week is a complete mystery; one...more
Having read a good deal of Ackroyd’s writings this book was a bit of a surprise in its succinct and sparseness of debt and length (250+ pages). Initially I was a little disappointed but as I read further into this brief biography I became pleased with his brevity and relieved. I had known of Poe’s tragic life and passing but I had not realized just how tragic it all was. How he managed to produce a cannon of work of its size and its is amazing considering the circumstances in which he lived. Ack...more
again, i dont like the star system here. i clicked 4 stars and a pop up said "really liked it." i didnt "really like it." i thought it was good enough to merit 4 stars, but i dont really know or care about poe enough to really like it.
here's the thing. i saw this book and got it. i read it because it was just sitting there, no real compulsion. before reading it i couldnt tell you the time that poe was alive or more than two of his writings. all i knew was that he spent a considerable amount of t...more
here's the thing. i saw this book and got it. i read it because it was just sitting there, no real compulsion. before reading it i couldnt tell you the time that poe was alive or more than two of his writings. all i knew was that he spent a considerable amount of t...more
“I could not love except where Death/Was mingling his wish with Beauty’s breath.” Edgar Allan Poe wrote this couplet before he was 20. What attracted him to death at such an early age? Maybe because he was an orphan and lost everyone he loved at an early age. He was both afraid and intrigued by death. And that’s why he is the Master of Horror.
Note: This short biography is both readable and mysterious. Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849) lived a life that was full of sadness and tragedy. His mother and f...more
Note: This short biography is both readable and mysterious. Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849) lived a life that was full of sadness and tragedy. His mother and f...more
Short and to the point and wonderfully focused on the many incongruences of Poe (talented writer and editor, consummate liar, alcoholic). It clearly designates when something is a rumor or possibility that can't be substantiated even though it has essentially become viewed as true. It does an especially good job of focusing on the almost random actions he took in the last 2 years of his life--declaring his love for various women, seeking engagements, breaking them off, starting a literary journa...more
I gave this book two stars meaning "it's okay". It's a biography and I find more and more I prefer memoirs wayyyyy over biographies. Of course, most historic figures did not write memoirs, so we're left with biographies as the only literary option for learning more about these people. This one wasn't as textbook-ish or dull as some, so kudos to the author. I did learn some interesting things about Poe and his writings, such as the raven was originally mean to be an owl.
I did find the chronic use...more
I did find the chronic use...more
For literature lovers, this presents a different version of Edgar Allen Poe's life. He is not glorified, but rather presented as a misfit in world in which he lives. The book also deals with his drinking problem and his persistent financial difficulties. The portrait drawn of Poe is not that of a victim of the Allens, as other writers sometimes indicate, but shows the Allens' exasperation with Poe's gambling, drinking, arrogance, and condescending attitude. His soured military experiences are no...more
This was a good, short biography of the Master of the Macabre himself. He was truly a brilliant writer (way before his time) and unfortunately never got the due credit he deserved in his lifetime. He was a pioneer in several literary fields. Always been a particular favorite of mine.
However, his shortcomings are also on display here. He was constantly whining and begging others for money (a habit with him, regardless of his financial situation) , while despairing his lot in life. He was extremel...more
However, his shortcomings are also on display here. He was constantly whining and begging others for money (a habit with him, regardless of his financial situation) , while despairing his lot in life. He was extremel...more
Peter Ackroyd has once again shown himself to be one of the best writers of biography alive today. His short bio of Poe is not easy to read, as Poe's very visible suffering from loneliness, drunkenness, and a will to self-destruction are no easier to take in a work of non-fiction than they are with a loved one in real life. Poe's life is always two steps forward and three steps back, with the steps backward the result of binge drinking. And yet what Poe has managed to create with little support...more
This book is fine for what it is, a very concise autobiography of a very complex and fascinating man. To truly do justice to a writer who arguably was the "the most original genius that America has produced" (Tennyson), and one of the earliest originators of the detective and science fiction genres - would require a book three times the size of this 192 page book. However, Ackroyd did a nice job of being as factual as possible using news articles and existing letters and written accounts from Po...more
Poe. What a dick.
Look, I'm not saying Poe wasn't a great writer. But he doesn't seem to have been somebody I would want to be in the same room with. Not for even ten minutes. Unlike HP Lovecraft, where the more I found out the more fascinating he was, the more I found out about Poe, page by page, the less I wanted to know. But - a good biography, if you don't mind having your heroes revealed as whiny, self-involved alcoholics who wreck everything good in their lives and blame their failings on e...more
Look, I'm not saying Poe wasn't a great writer. But he doesn't seem to have been somebody I would want to be in the same room with. Not for even ten minutes. Unlike HP Lovecraft, where the more I found out the more fascinating he was, the more I found out about Poe, page by page, the less I wanted to know. But - a good biography, if you don't mind having your heroes revealed as whiny, self-involved alcoholics who wreck everything good in their lives and blame their failings on e...more
From Ackroyd's biography you discover that Poe did a lot in very little time. His life was interesting, dramatic and ill-fated (but mostly brought on by himself). You've got to admire his strong sense of self, even if it didn't win him any friends. His described his past like a piece of his writing, lived his life like it, and died in similarly mysterious circumstances. It was either insecurity or unusual desires (which he might not have understood himself) that fuelled his protestations of pass...more
Fantastic book! Mr. Ackroyd mixes a perfect blend of criticism and sympathy to create a remarkable book that begins sometime in the last week of his death and ends the same place. Im not a fan of Poe's to be honest, but I have become interested in his life after seeing a snips of a documentary about him. Poe was essentially abandoned at a young age well before his mother died of consumption, which begins a lifelong pattern of loving women who arent attainable or who are ill. The length of the bo...more
I listened to this on my iPod while working in the library, but the majority of the book seems to concern itself with listing the various literary magazines Poe wrote for and edited, and the subsequent editors he fell out with, as well as various family members and other associates he antagonized during his short life. As such, the first couple of chapters, beginning with Poe's final days before going back to his birth and childhood, are the most interesting, while the rest becomes a bit repetit...more
I have read where this has been poo-pooed by some Poe scholars on the grounds that Ackroyd did not properly cite his sources (or didn't cite them at all.) For what it was, though--a kind of snapshot view of a life--I thought it was great. I thought this biography of Poe offered something that other biographies have not. There is no way we can truly know the kind of man Poe was personally, not without having known him personally. But after reading this account, I felt I at least had a better idea...more
Interesting but sometimes the conclusions the author draws are confusing. For example right after he talks about how Poe was a loner in school--going straight home after and never taking friends; he goes on to talk about how Poe organized all these outdoor events like swimming and fish fries, etc., with other schoolmates! I think Poe was an extremely complicated person so it can be hard to explain motivations for his behavior.
Completely without pretense and yet with a very pro-subject bent this retelling of one of the strangest lives in American Literature is a good read. Ackroyd builds more and more sympathies for his subject even as we all know the dangers of Poe from our misguided English teachers in Junior High and High School. The tendancy to just label him a drunk and a drug abuser or mental case is long past. This biography doesn't attempt to set the record straight, it just tells the story of a man abondoned...more
Mar 11, 2009
Spiros
rated it
3 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
those looking for "a cheap holiday in other people's misery"
Poe was undoubtedly a great and hugely influential writer. Unfortunately, I don't much care for his Tales, and any contemplation of his Verse leads me to risible recollection of Humbert Humbert. He suffered greatly from misfortune and ill-health, but he was a bit of a snivelling little git, withal.
This accomplished entry in Ackroyd's "Short Lives" series will have the somewhat melancholy honor of being the last book that I ever purchased at Stacey's.
This accomplished entry in Ackroyd's "Short Lives" series will have the somewhat melancholy honor of being the last book that I ever purchased at Stacey's.
The thing I do not like about biographies is the fact that the writters can usually offer judgement on the actions taken by the person they are following. it is also common to find a very strong bias tone on most of the text wether in favor or against the subject of study. This just happens with Arckroyd. But in general the text helped me have a broader view and understanding on Poe´s life and literary production.
A very slim and pacy volume, focusing more on the wild ride of Poe’s life than indepth consideration of his writing. It’s a good place to go for a quick handle on Poe, being short, well-constructed, fair-minded, plausible and entertaining. My only quibble is its odd tendency to begin a lot of sentences with ‘So’, which gets a little distracting.
Short and sweet. Ackroyd's Poe: A Life Cut Short presents a good, short biography of Poe's life. It is not an in depth biography, so if you are looking for a long debate about whether or not Poe had sex with his wife, it isn't in this book, thankfully. Despite the book's short length, Ackroyd does deliver some good analysis of Poe's work as well.
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Peter Ackroyd CBE is an English novelist and biographer with a particular interest in the history and culture of London.
Peter Ackroyd's mother worked in the personnel department of an engineering firm, his father having left the family home when Ackroyd was a baby. He was reading newspapers by the age of 5 and, at 9, wrote a play about Guy Fawkes. Reputedly, he first realized he was gay at the age...more
More about Peter Ackroyd...
Peter Ackroyd's mother worked in the personnel department of an engineering firm, his father having left the family home when Ackroyd was a baby. He was reading newspapers by the age of 5 and, at 9, wrote a play about Guy Fawkes. Reputedly, he first realized he was gay at the age...more
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