2 options
The reason for the darkness of the night : Edgar Allan Poe and the forging of American science / John Tresch.
LIBRA - Athenaeum of Philadelphia Circulating PS2631 .T74 2021
Available from offsite location
- Format:
- Book
- Author/Creator:
- Tresch, John, 1972- author.
- Language:
- English
- Subjects (All):
- Poe, Edgar Allan, 1809-1849.
- Poe, Edgar Allan.
- Poe, Edgar Allan, 1809-1849--Knowledge and learning.
- Science--United States--History--19th century.
- Science.
- Authors, American--19th century--Biography.
- Authors, American.
- History.
- United States.
- Learning and scholarship.
- Genre:
- Biographies.
- History.
- Physical Description:
- 434 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm
- Edition:
- First edition.
- Other Title:
- Edgar Allan Poe and the forging of American science
- Place of Publication:
- New York : Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2021.
- Summary:
- "A biography of Edgar Allan Poe with an emphasis on his engagement with the scientists and scientific discoveries of his era"-- Provided by publisher.
- Tresch reveals Poe's obsession with science and lifelong ambition to advance and question human knowledge. Even as he composed dazzling works of fiction, he remained an avid and often combative commentator on new discoveries, publishing and hustling in literary scenes that also hosted the era's most prominent scientists, semi-scientists, and pseudo-intellectual rogues. In showing that Poe lived, thought, and suffered surrounded by science, Tresch shows that many of his most renowned and imaginative works can best be understood in its company. -- adapted from jacket
- Contents:
- Part I: From Allan to Poe
- The Young Astronomer
- In Jefferson's Experiment
- Exile, Artificer, Cadet
- Part II: Setting Sail
- A Baltimore Apprenticeship
- Richmond: The Palpable Obscure
- Delirious Design
- Part III: Philadelphia
- The Athens of America
- Methods Grotesque and Arabesque
- Dizzy Heights
- The Tide Turns
- The March of Science and Quacks
- Part IV: New York City
- The Market for Novelty
- A Man of Wonders
- The Imp of the Perverse
- Part V: To the Plutonian Shore
- A Spectacle for Angels
- The Plots of God
- Falling Star
- Conclusion: From a Lighthouse.
- Notes:
- Includes bibliographical references and index.
- Local Notes:
- Athenaeum copy: Nichols fund bookplate.
- ISBN:
- 9780374247850
- 0374247854
- OCLC:
- 1182584350
The Penn Libraries is committed to describing library materials using current, accurate, and responsible language. If you discover outdated or inaccurate language, please fill out this feedback form to report it and suggest alternative language.