Poe's Critical Theory

“A solid resource for scholars of Poe. Highly recommended”--Choice

"Poe's quotations and misquotations are assiduously identified and corrected. Obscure references are made clear, and connections among a variety of Poe's writings are drawn. Poe's playfulness, even in criticism, repeatedly comes through, as does his occasional tendency to lapse into unfairness merely to make a point or to put the punch line on a joke. There is still a need, over one hundred years after Poe's death, for traditional scholarship of this kind. . . . This new volume is clearly the most authoritative edition of the works presented, and it is likely to remain so for sometime."--Poe Studies

"The Levines have made major contributions to Poe studies with this volume and numerous analytical studies that help readers appreciate the work of one of America's most famous writers."--American Studies

"This volume will likely become the first place to which students and scholars will turn if they want to understand Poe's work as a critic. . . . A significant contribution to Poe studies."--Resources for American Literary Study "This book provides scholars and students of nineteenth-century literary theory and Poe with a reliable edition of his essays of critical theory, heavily annotated by respected Poe scholars. The notes provide explications not easily attained elsewhere, including Poe's relationships with his contemporaries and allusions to works few of today's readers would recognize. Levine and Levine have thoroughly researched the textual variants on all of these essays and provided the most accurate texts available to date."--Scott Peeples, author of The Afterlife of Edgar Allan Poe