Edgar Allan Poe

Ewers, Hanns Heinz, 1871-1943Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

Rating 3.0

Word count: 72K words
Chapters: 8

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Edgar Allan Poe by Hanns Heinz EwersAuthor: Ewers, Hanns Heinz, 1871-1943,Language: German, Class: PS: Language and Literatures: American and Canadian literature, Release Date: Feb 16, 2007

Editor's review

This book is a critical biography of Poe written in German by the German author Hans Heinz Ewers, released free of charge by Project Gutenberg as an early public-domain electronic text. Its value lies not in new material but in showing how a German writer understood this American pioneer of weird fiction: Ewers himself was drawn to the dark side of the psyche and grotesque imagination, so his account of Poe's life and work is marked by evident sympathy and literary interpretation rather than academic scholarship. Readers can see how the German-speaking world received Poe in the early twentieth century and compare it with later Anglo-American criticism. The text is in German and not long, making it suitable supplementary material for studying Poe's reception history, comparative literature, or German reading practice. It is best read as an opinionated commentary rather than an authoritative biography; its factual account of Poe's life should be cross-checked against more reliable biographical sources.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers studying Poe's reception history and comparative literature
Readers with German reading ability who want to practice literary German
Readers interested in German literary criticism of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries

Not a good fit for

General readers who only want Poe's fiction or poetry in the original
Readers unfamiliar with German who need a Chinese or English introduction
Academic researchers who need rigorous biographical chronologies and documentation

Reading tips

Read a few of Poe's representative works first, then compare them with this book's commentary to grasp Ewers's perspective more easily.
Treat the book as reception-history material and read it alongside Anglo-American Poe biographies, noting differences in viewpoint.
German readers can excerpt and closely read the critical passages to build up common expressions in literary criticism.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Is this book a collection of Poe's works?

No. It is a critical-biographical text about Poe written in German by Hans Heinz Ewers, discussing Poe the man and his work, not a compilation of Poe's fiction or poetry.

What language background is needed to read this book?

The original is in German, so some German reading ability is required. If you know only Chinese or English, you can use it as a lead for understanding German-language Poe criticism and then look for translations or related studies.

Is this book suitable as an introduction to Poe's life?

Not really. It is more a writer's personal, opinionated commentary; the accuracy of its biographical facts should be cross-checked against authoritative biographies, and beginners should first read a reliable Poe biography.

This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.

About the author

Ewers, Hanns Heinz, 1871-1943 Author · German · 1871–1943

Hanns Heinz Ewers (1871–1943) was a German writer known for his novels and plays in the fantasy and horror genres. His work often explored the grotesque, the occult, and transgressive experience, giving him a distinctive place in early twentieth-century German popular literature. One of his best-known works is the novel Alraune, which centers on the motif of artificial life and seduction; it attracted wide attention and was adapted for the screen several times. The library also holds a work by him on Edgar Allan Poe, reflecting his interest in the American writer and the tradition of psychological horror. Public information on the details of Ewers's life is limited, so this entry makes no speculation; readers may approach his themes and style through his fiction and plays.