Edgar Allan Poe As Literary Critic

Download or read book Edgar Allan Poe As Literary Critic written by Edd Winfield Parks and published by University of Georgia Press. This book was released on 2010-03-01 with total page 130 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Edgar Allan Poe was one of the first major critics to develop and refine his critical theories through magazine articles and book reviews. Edgar Allan Poe as Literary Critic focuses on his interest in establishing an aesthetic for magazine literature, and Parks has examined Poe's criticism at length. Poe's efforts in the field of literary criticism have often been condemned as a rationalization of his own personal limitations as a writer, but this study contends that his critical theories far surpass such a narrow interpretation. Rather, Poe was “essentially a magazinist,” and therefore emphasized brevity, unity, and totality of effect and placed the highest value on literary types best suited to periodical literature.