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American Face of Edgar Allan Poe

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''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. ''Rosenheim and Rachman's collection consolidates a new direction in Poe studies which will be of particular interest to contemporary readers. Avoiding the mere Frenchification of Poe that was dominant in the eighties, on the one hand, but, on the other, steadfastly refusing to return to the traditional formalist and thematic style which never really accounted for the French Poe, these essays make a wonderful case for a vitally social Poe–returning him home again, but with a difference that makes all the difference. They do so because their authors are at once theoretically current and widely experienced with the American canon. And they do so, even more, because they are quality essays, valuable individually as well as collectively.''–Kenneth Dauber, State University of New York, Buffalo
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