Review by Choice Review
Like the other excellent titles in the "Cambridge Companions to Literature" series, this volume provides a collection of well-researched essays that will be useful for both students and researchers. Hayes (Univ. of Central Oklahoma) includes 14 commissioned essays on all major aspects of Poe's life and writing: three on his life and critical writings, eight on aspects of his fiction, one on his poetry, and two on Poe's later influence. If there is a lack, it is in the treatment of the poetry; the single essay is devoted only to "The Raven" and "Ulalume." But the volume makes up for this deficiency with superlative essays on important Poe topics less studied--Poe's humor, his science fiction, and his impact on popular culture. More familiar subjects are given fresh treatment--his use of the gothic tradition, his invention of the detective story, and his fictional women characters. A few illustrations accompany the book, and one demands special recognition: a sentence diagram of the opening of the "The Fall of the House of Usher." The diagram and the accompanying commentary startle the reader into a new understanding of Poe's self-conscious stylistics. All academic collections. P. J. Ferlazzo Northern Arizona University
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
