Poe's Critical Theory

Stuart Levine is an emeritus professor of English at the University of Kansas. Susan F. Levine is a former assistant dean of the Graduate School at the University of Kansas. Their collaborations have included scholarly editions of Short Fiction of Edgar Allan Poe and Poe's Eureka.

“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

• Acknowledgments   viiIntroduction   ixAbbreviations   xiiiLETTER TO B------.   1 A Note on the Text   4Letter to B--------.   5A Note on Variant Readings   11Notes   12 PROSPECTUSES FOR "THE PENN" AND "THE STYLUS"   21 Note on the Text of the Prospectuses of "The Penn Magazine"   22The Earlier (Austin) Version of the Prospectus of "The Penn"   25The Second (Philadelphia) Version of the Prospectus of "The Penn"   25Note on the Second (Philadelphia) version of the Prospectus of "The Penn Magazine"   27The March 4, 1843, Version of the Prospectus for "The Stylus"   28Notes on the March 4, 1843, Version of the Prospectus for "The Stylus"   31The January 1848 Version of the Prospectus for "The Stylus"   32The April 1848 Version of the Prospectus for "The Stylus"   34 EXORDIUM   37 A Note on the Text   38Exordium (Review of New Books)   39Notes   44 PREFACE TO THE POEMS (1845)   51 A Note on the Text   52Preface   52 THE PHILOSOPHY OF COMPOSITION   55 A Note on the Text   59The Philosophy of Composition   60Notes   71 THE RATIONALE OF VERSE   77 A Note on the Text   80The Rationale of Verse   80Variant Readings   121Notes   127 NOTES UPON ENGLISH VERSE   145 A Note on the Text   146Notes upon English Verse   147Variant Readings   171 THE POETIC PRINCIPLE   175 A Note on the Text   177The Poetic Principle   178Notes   200 BIBLIOGRAPHY   213INDEX   219