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19 reviews for:
The Reason for the Darkness of the Night: Edgar Allan Poe and the Forging of American Science
John Tresch
3.84 AVERAGE
19 reviews for:
The Reason for the Darkness of the Night: Edgar Allan Poe and the Forging of American Science
John Tresch
3.84 AVERAGE
bgluckman's review against another edition
1.0
Pretentiously overwritten, this book fails completely in its two stated goals: to provide a new biography of Poe the writer, and to show him as a significant contributor to 19th century American scientific advancement.
canireadthemall's review against another edition
3.0
well written, interesting concept and perspective. Enjoyed the journey of Poe's life, which has been written about numerous times, as presented alongside the changes in science during his lifetime. I also enjoyed the examination of Poe's interest in the subject matter.
shewreads's review against another edition
3.0
So much of Poe’s life and contributions have been excluded from historical accounts, and that which has made it in is oft misrepresented. Rarely do we associate Poe with 19th-century science and philosophy, but he had remarkable success and ambitions in both. Alas, Poe’s endeavors too often followed a one step forward two steps back pattern, forcing a fair amount of that success to be awarded only in retrospect. What I found most curious was how Poe’s musings would eventually help to solidify the narrative that the universe is indeed bound by time. It has a story with a beginning, and in this biography, you will learn so much about the ignored pieces of Edgar Allan Poe’s beginning, middle, and everlasting end.
atxspacecowboy's review against another edition
4.0
I committed The Raven to memory years ago and, as a result, have always felt a connection with Poe (despite actually knowing very little about him). The main thing I took away from this book was Poe’s scientific side; I had no idea he was such a brilliant mind in the world of science.
superwritermom's review against another edition
This book has a lot of science. I mean, it is right there in the subtitle. For me, however, it was more science than Poe, and I am an English major so...I would've preferred the other way around.
That said, the author's explanation of why Poe wrote what he did was fascinating. And if you'd told me Poe predicted some matters of physics that would've later to have been proven true, I would've called you a liar and been wrong.
Like science, especially science of the mid 19th century? This book is for you. Love Edgar Allan Poe and want to know more about his life? Also probably for you.
Easily frustrated by all the ways Poe torpedoed his own life? Might want to skip this one.
That said, the author's explanation of why Poe wrote what he did was fascinating. And if you'd told me Poe predicted some matters of physics that would've later to have been proven true, I would've called you a liar and been wrong.
Like science, especially science of the mid 19th century? This book is for you. Love Edgar Allan Poe and want to know more about his life? Also probably for you.
Easily frustrated by all the ways Poe torpedoed his own life? Might want to skip this one.
lavanda4's review against another edition
5.0
Ever since my mom quoted Edgar Allan Poe's poetry to me as a child, I was fascinated by the enigma and mystery which enshrouded him. He seemed almost otherworldly. But this book answered many questions as well as posed others. Poe is still mysterious but I know much more about him now than ever before. He accomplished so much by the time he died at 40...it makes me wonder what else he would have accomplished had he died at 75.
Most of us know Poe best by his powerful poems such as the dark and stark "The Raven" and short stories including The Pit and the Pendulum, The Cask of Amontillado and The Tell-Tale Heart and his character Auguste Dupin in The Murders in the Rue Morgue and others. As a young man he wrote for and edited many newspapers, tantalizing with his cliffhangers and ongoing sagas. Poe's scientific slant was completely new to me, though unsurprising. He was also a brilliant lecturer and expounded upon religion, philosophy, astronomy and metaphysics. He believed "Eureka" to be his best work which I now long to read.
Poe married his young cousin, Virginia, who had chronic illnesses much of her life. At times he said he thought he was insane. He had been an orphan and had a cruel step father. Extreme poverty and homelessness were common to him. To me it seemed he was sorely misunderstood and in ways much ahead of his time. He liked Charles Dickens and Oscar Wilde but disparaged Longfellow. Even after his death he was scorned, though also venerated.
Poe's quick intelligence and wit must have been truly fascinating. I would love to see him debate his contemporaries such as Wilde. Poe did enjoy spurts of fame now and then during his lifetime but as he was an orphan and not connected to wealth or position was not as known as he ought to have been.
My sincere thank you to Farrar, Straus and Giroux and NetGalley for the privilege of reading this book about a writer I've held in esteem and admired for his unparalleled writing of his time.
Most of us know Poe best by his powerful poems such as the dark and stark "The Raven" and short stories including The Pit and the Pendulum, The Cask of Amontillado and The Tell-Tale Heart and his character Auguste Dupin in The Murders in the Rue Morgue and others. As a young man he wrote for and edited many newspapers, tantalizing with his cliffhangers and ongoing sagas. Poe's scientific slant was completely new to me, though unsurprising. He was also a brilliant lecturer and expounded upon religion, philosophy, astronomy and metaphysics. He believed "Eureka" to be his best work which I now long to read.
Poe married his young cousin, Virginia, who had chronic illnesses much of her life. At times he said he thought he was insane. He had been an orphan and had a cruel step father. Extreme poverty and homelessness were common to him. To me it seemed he was sorely misunderstood and in ways much ahead of his time. He liked Charles Dickens and Oscar Wilde but disparaged Longfellow. Even after his death he was scorned, though also venerated.
Poe's quick intelligence and wit must have been truly fascinating. I would love to see him debate his contemporaries such as Wilde. Poe did enjoy spurts of fame now and then during his lifetime but as he was an orphan and not connected to wealth or position was not as known as he ought to have been.
My sincere thank you to Farrar, Straus and Giroux and NetGalley for the privilege of reading this book about a writer I've held in esteem and admired for his unparalleled writing of his time.
mwgerard's review against another edition
5.0
Please read my full review here: https://www.mwgerard.com/review-reason-for-darkness-of-night/
I found this book fascinating, enlightening, and intriguing, and not only because I am a Poe adherent. Author John Tresch delves into a short moment in the history of American science, one that is often only referenced. By focusing on the two decades around Poe’s most prolific years, readers can really get a sense of the disparate ideas and turbulent scene among scientific thinkers.
The book is primarily a biography, but views its subject through the lens of science and writing efforts. Clear lines are drawn between Poe’s life events, the scientific community’s academic conversation, and Poe’s literary output. When the world was enraptured by Arctic exploration, Poe was inspired to write The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym. As scientists worked to collect, categorize, and classify the natural world, Poe was hired to write The Conchologist’s First Book, an illustrated guidebook to oceanic shells. When the theory of phrenology claimed to predict criminal behavior, Poe penned his tales of ratiocination.
As much as I’ve read Poe, read about Poe, and noticed Poe’s interest in the technical, I was unaware of how directly involved he was with the scientific discourse. He gave lectures and presented philosophical treatises on the origins of the Universe. Throughout his public life, he struggled to combine Man’s tendency to imagine and the rigorous discipline of science. From “Sonnet-To Science” to this cosmological treatise Eureka, Poe diligently worked to bring the ethereal nature of poetry and the tangible study of sciences.
I found this book fascinating, enlightening, and intriguing, and not only because I am a Poe adherent. Author John Tresch delves into a short moment in the history of American science, one that is often only referenced. By focusing on the two decades around Poe’s most prolific years, readers can really get a sense of the disparate ideas and turbulent scene among scientific thinkers.
The book is primarily a biography, but views its subject through the lens of science and writing efforts. Clear lines are drawn between Poe’s life events, the scientific community’s academic conversation, and Poe’s literary output. When the world was enraptured by Arctic exploration, Poe was inspired to write The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym. As scientists worked to collect, categorize, and classify the natural world, Poe was hired to write The Conchologist’s First Book, an illustrated guidebook to oceanic shells. When the theory of phrenology claimed to predict criminal behavior, Poe penned his tales of ratiocination.
As much as I’ve read Poe, read about Poe, and noticed Poe’s interest in the technical, I was unaware of how directly involved he was with the scientific discourse. He gave lectures and presented philosophical treatises on the origins of the Universe. Throughout his public life, he struggled to combine Man’s tendency to imagine and the rigorous discipline of science. From “Sonnet-To Science” to this cosmological treatise Eureka, Poe diligently worked to bring the ethereal nature of poetry and the tangible study of sciences.
caitlin_89's review against another edition
3.0
Pheeeew. I guess I should have expected it from the title but this biography, while a stunningly detailed celebration of Poe's intellect and industry, was a SLOG. More than a mere biography, this is a very long and tough to read exploration of Poe's role among both scientific and literary stars of America's early years which reads more like a favorable research paper than a mere "biography." And I learned a TON.
guarinous's review against another edition
5.0
Approaching a canonical, American titan of literature such as Edgar Allan Poe must seem incredibly daunting for a biographer. In Poe we have a man already the subject of countless articles, books, and films that, thanks in part to some cleverly placed slander after his death, carries with him the stigma of alcoholism and itinerant poverty to go along with his genius in letters. John Tresch's solution to that is to approach Poe from a novel angle, taking into account the burgeoning scientific scene of his time and the author's contributions to the cause as well as the inspirations he took into his writing.
The Reason for the Darkness of the Night paints Poe in a far different light from the other biographical accounts of his life that I have read. Rather than completely focusing on Poe's reputation as tortured and poverty stricken goth genius, Tresch shows Poe as actively engaged with, and often at odds with, the wider scientific community around him. Alternating between debunking hoaxes and perpetuating them himself as well as fraternizing and then later being at loggerheads with the premier scientific minds of the time, Tresch shows Poe as an often enigmatic figure who nevertheless added (and took inspiration from) scientific advancement far more than he is given lasting credit for.
Tresch also does a fantastic job showing the overarching sadness and tangle of contradictions that defined Poe's life. He achieved critical success with his writing and became a household name with the publication of the Raven, but was never able to turn this into any sort of lasting monetary success. Tresch juxtaposes glowing critical reviews of Poe's work with stark depictions of the author and his family engulfed in near starvation poverty made worse by his unpredictable bouts of drunken sickness. While Poe's struggles cannot be denied, Tresch ardently defends and debunks the image of the man dying "friendless and alone in a gutter" as the product of jealous posthumous revisionist history and proves Poe's undeniable contributions to both American literature and modern science.
**I was given a copy of this book by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. My thanks to Farrar, Straus and Giroux**
The Reason for the Darkness of the Night paints Poe in a far different light from the other biographical accounts of his life that I have read. Rather than completely focusing on Poe's reputation as tortured and poverty stricken goth genius, Tresch shows Poe as actively engaged with, and often at odds with, the wider scientific community around him. Alternating between debunking hoaxes and perpetuating them himself as well as fraternizing and then later being at loggerheads with the premier scientific minds of the time, Tresch shows Poe as an often enigmatic figure who nevertheless added (and took inspiration from) scientific advancement far more than he is given lasting credit for.
Tresch also does a fantastic job showing the overarching sadness and tangle of contradictions that defined Poe's life. He achieved critical success with his writing and became a household name with the publication of the Raven, but was never able to turn this into any sort of lasting monetary success. Tresch juxtaposes glowing critical reviews of Poe's work with stark depictions of the author and his family engulfed in near starvation poverty made worse by his unpredictable bouts of drunken sickness. While Poe's struggles cannot be denied, Tresch ardently defends and debunks the image of the man dying "friendless and alone in a gutter" as the product of jealous posthumous revisionist history and proves Poe's undeniable contributions to both American literature and modern science.
**I was given a copy of this book by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. My thanks to Farrar, Straus and Giroux**
themarinaraera's review against another edition
5.0
"Beyond the facts of his own case, he telegraphed the fascinations and the terrors of simply being alive" (349).
The synopsis was correct; this was an insightful and novel biography of Poe's life. It included all the tales and poems readers know but enlightened us to the hidden scientific reasoning behind them. Before reading this, I had no clue that Poe was so influential and so involved in modern American science. Walking through his life, his thoughts, and his writing was profound, yet eerie. Perhaps it's because Poe's personality is quite eerie. I loved gaining insight into this side of Poe's personality since we usually just get what's on the surface. Poe's influence on American science and his thoughtful, creative, and psychologically thrilling takes on these ideas are vital to those who love literature and science.
The synopsis was correct; this was an insightful and novel biography of Poe's life. It included all the tales and poems readers know but enlightened us to the hidden scientific reasoning behind them. Before reading this, I had no clue that Poe was so influential and so involved in modern American science. Walking through his life, his thoughts, and his writing was profound, yet eerie. Perhaps it's because Poe's personality is quite eerie. I loved gaining insight into this side of Poe's personality since we usually just get what's on the surface. Poe's influence on American science and his thoughtful, creative, and psychologically thrilling takes on these ideas are vital to those who love literature and science.