The fourth biography of Edgar Allan Poe I’ve read. By far the most unique and, consequently, one of the best. It helps that the author is not a stuffy historian or literary professor, but Dorothy Dow. She would go on to become a highly prolific author of love stories. We’re talking like a dozen short stories published per month, blanketing every pulp romance magazine in print. Of the few I’ve read, they’re good too.

Dow’s approach to Poe’s life is personal. She gets the facts down, but dwells more on the journey of his tragic life than a dissection of his literary accomplishments. “The Tell-Tale Heart” isn’t mentioned once, and numerous other classics appear merely as a quick title check. Only the stories and poems penned out of extreme personal emotion, such as “Annabel Lee” and its high probability of being inspired by the death of Poe’s wife, are given closer scrutiny.

There’s a general assumption the reader is familiar with Poe’s works or, even if not, desire to learn more about the man than the content he left behind. In many ways, she unfurls his story more like a romance than traditional non-fiction. It’s an excellent strategy to take, especially for a figure who’d already been the subject of many biographies when this book was published in 1931.

Read more “Dorothy Dow – Dark Glory: A Story of Edgar Allan Poe (1931)”