Stock photo. Cover may not represent actual copy or condition available.
Edgar Allan Poe and the Masses
The Political Economy of Literature in Antebellum America
by Terence Whalen
ISBN: 0691001995
ISBN-13: 9780691001999
Format: Hardcover
|
Summary
Placing Poe in the economic context of antebellum America, this study explores how the business of publishing shaped his work. This title was honored by an award given by the Poe Studies Association of the Modern Language Association.
Customer Reviews
Review this book!
Bibliographic Details
Publisher: Princeton Univ Pr
Published date: 1999
Size: 6.5 x 9.5 inches
Weight: 1.45 pounds
Pages: 328
Publisher's Notes
Edgar Allan Poe has long been viewed as an artist who was hopelessly out of step with his time. But as Terence Whalen shows, America's most celebrated romantic outcast was in many ways the nation's most representative commercial writer, Whalen explores the antebellum literary environment in which Poe worked, an environment marked by economic conflict, political strife, and widespread foreboding over the rise of a mass audience. The book shows that the publishing industry, far from being a passive backdrop to writing, threatened to dominate all aspects of literary creation. Faced with financial hardship, Poe desperately sought to escape what he called 'The magazine prison-house" and "the horrid laws of political economy." By placing Poe firmly in economic context. Whalen unfolds a new account of the relationship between literature and capitalism in an age of momentous social change. The book combines pathbreaking historical research with innovative literary theory. It includes the first fully-documented account of Poe's response to American slavery and the first expose of his plot to falsify circulation figures Whalen also provides a new explanation of Poe's ambivalence toward nationalism and exploration, a detailed inquiry into the conflict between cryptography and common knowledge, and a general theory of Poe's experiments with new literary forms such as the detective story. Finally, Whalen shows how these experiments are directly linked to the dawn of the information age. This book redefines Poe's place in American literature and casts new light on the emergence of a national culture before the Civil War.
Similar books
Pioneers, Passionate Ladies, and Private Eyes
by
Getting at the Author
by Barbara Hochman
The Economy of Literary Form
by Lee Erickson
In the first half of the nineteenth century, technological developments in printing led to the industrialization of English publishing, made books and periodicals affordable to many new readers, and changed the market for literature. In The Economy of Literary Form Lee Erickson analyzes the effects on literature as authors and publishers responded to the new demands of a rapidly expanding literary marketplace. These developments, Erickson argues, offer a new understanding of the differences between Romantic and Victorian literature. As publishing became more profitable, authors were able to devote themselves more professionally to their writing. The changing market for literature also affected the relative cultural status of literary forms. As poetry became less profitable, it became more difficult to publish. As periodicals grew in popularity, essays became the center of reviews, and their authors the arbiters of culture. The novel, which had long sold chiefly to circulating libraries, found an outlet in magazine serialization - and novelists discovered a new popular audience. With chapters on William Wordsworth, Thomas Carlyle, and Jane Austen, as well as on specific literary genres, The Economy of Literary Form provides a significant new synthesis of recent publishing history which helps to explain the differences and continuities between Romantic and Victorian literature. It will be of interest not only to literary critics and historians but also to bibliographic historians, cultural or economic historians, and all who have an interest in the commercialization of English publishing in the nineteenth century.
Strange Talk
by Gavin Roger Jones
John Keats and the Culture of Dissent
by Nicholas Roe
|
|
Ready to buy this book?
Below are all of the copies of 0691001995 we currently have available for purchase, sorted by lowest price first. If you would like to refine your search, use the advanced options in the search box above.
|
|
1)
|
Edgar Allan Poe and the Masses
Terence Whalen
Princeton University Press. Used - Very Good. Hardcover Slight Shelf Wear; Otherwise, Very Good. ( more information) Offered by Powell's Bookstores Chicago (United States)
Favorite bookseller : you've previously added this bookseller to your favorites list.
|
|
|
4)
|
Edgar Allan Poe and the Masses (Qty: 5)
FREE SHIPPING
Whalen, Terence
Princeton University Press. Hardcover. 0691001995 Good condition. May have some markings & or shelfwear. All pages intact. Immediate shipping for all orders and FREE STANDARD DELIVERY on Domestic US Orders! International, APO, FPO and PO Box addresses accepted. All of our titles are exactly the same title as shown and are 100% Guaranteed! Used items may not include extras such as infotrac, CD or other web access codes. We recommend expedited shipping for fastest delivery. Standard shipping may take up to 14 business days. . Good. ( more information) Offered by Paperleaf Books (United States)
Favorite bookseller : you've previously added this bookseller to your favorites list.
|
|
|
0 items in cart
Muze Inc. For personal non-commercial use only. All rights reserved. Some content for books is owned by Baker & Taylor, Inc. or its licensors and is subject to copyright and all other protections provided by applicable law.
