Edgar Allan Poe’s death continues to be one of the great mysteries, as there are multiple theories on the actual cause. However, we tend to lose sight of an even a greater mystery, his life.

It’s difficult to establish a truly accurate story of Poe’s life, as not only did those who knew him exaggerate and contradict themselves, but Poe himself did the same. While author Mark Dawidziak explores these contradictions, he more importantly provides a captivating story of what we do know about Poe and the essence of his life and last days.

Readers will learn to separate the poet and author from his narrators. The fact that he wrote with a “satirical edge” and had a great sense of humor doesn’t fit with the myth. Neither do some of the writers who probably influenced him.

Could Poe have been the originator of the modern detective story and a major influence in the true-crime genre? Dawidziak gives context to some of his greatest works, which helps to answer the above question. He also gives strong evidence on why Poe is appreciated more today than when he was alive.

We also learn what famous contemporary writers think of him, as well as to what lengths historians have gone through in attempts to get into his mind. Dawidziak details his meetings with Charles Dickens and explores why he had such animosity towards Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.

Though all of this is fascinating, I found delving into his daily life the most captivating. We learn about the complex personality of this outsider, who often acted as his own worst enemy. This is also accomplished by learning about those close to him.

One could say that "A Mystery of Mysteries" appeals to a niche audience. However, I must admit that I am not a huge fan of Poe’s work. Still, I was mesmerized by this analysis, and learning about one of America’s greatest writers.

(This review will be posted on UnderratedReads on 3/1/23)

Edgar Allen Poe is probably, no definitely, the single historical American author who universally captures the interest of readers today. There is something about his stories that just stick with you decades after reading them as a teen in American Lit class. The lub dub of The Tell-Tale Heart continues to beat strongly long after Poe has been dead and buried. But what stilled this much-revered heart of American Lit? The medical mystery of Poe's sudden demise at age 40 has never been solved. As a Poe fan and pharmacist, this unsolved medical mystery is simply poetical and is fitting for the end of his fascinating yet tragically short life.

A Mystery of Mysteries is a fascinating delve into Poe's life. A well-researched biography, the book may read a little heavy for casual readers, but for those with more of an academic bent, it tells a wonderful story of his life and demise. Using dual timelines, A Mystery of Mysteries, alternates between the time of Poe's death with a chronological account of his earlier life until the stories converge at the end. I appreciated the author's interviews and incorporation of modern-day Poe influencees as evidence of Poe's life after life. So few have achieved Poe's degree of literary immortality and it was also enjoyable to reflect upon and compare the impact of his literary peers at the time.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and #NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this ARC.

TL;DR

A Mystery of Mysteries by Mark Dawidziak dispels the caricature of Edgar Allan Poe to show the real person. It turns that that the real Edgar Allan Poe is way more interesting than the caricature. Dawidziak’s biography attempts to reframe the mystery surrounding Poe’s death while enlightening readers to the oddities of Poe’s life. Highly recommended.

Disclaimer: The publisher provided a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Any and all opinions that follow are mine alone.

Review: A Mystery of Mysteries by Mark Dawidziak

Biographies of famous historical figures face the continual problem of how to separate themselves from prior published biographies. For example, how much research has been done into the life of Edgar Allan Poe? Quite a bit. So, how does a writer approach Poe as a subject for a new biography? One way is to present the most up to date information and scholarship in a format that’s new and exciting. In A Mystery of Mysteries by Mark Dawidziak, two competing timelines tell the story of Edgar Allan Poe’s life and the mystery of his death. Dawadziak seeks to reframe that mystery, and in doing so, he has to look at the whole of Poe’s life.

Dawidziak begins his biography of Edgar Allan Poe with the man’s death. This feels natural and fitting for the father of American gothic horror. Poe’s life could have been one of his own stories, and in the time unaccounted for prior to his death, the mystery of a life cut short looms. It calls to fans of Poe. What happened to him? Where was he? Dawidziak seeks to answer that unanswerable question. To do this, he consults experts on Poe’s life, literature, and criticism. Edgar Allan Poe died on October 7, 1849; yet, Dawidziak pursues the story as rigorously – maybe even more so – as any investigative journalist. His passion and thoroughness would almost make it seem like he’s working an open case instead of looking at a death prior to the American Civil War.

Dawidziak structures his book with alternating chapters. One section focus on the events leading up to his disappearance, and the other provides an overall biography. I liked this structure. It kept things fresh. Rather than reading a linear biography, the reader jumps around in time. This gave it a mystery novel feel; though, I didn’t think the two timelines came together smoothly. Still, it was an excellent structuring that gave motion and a sense of urgency to the biographical events.

No one who reads this book will accuse Dawidziak of skimping on the research. His preparation to write this thing was shocking to me in its thoroughness. He read. He interviewed. He researched. I’m not sure thoroughness is the appropriate word for how prepared Dawidziak was to write this novel. I can only wonder at all the info that didn’t make it into the book. Whether it’s the greeter at the Edgar Allan Poe National Historic Site, the docent of the Edgar Allan Poe House in Baltimore, quotes from writers like Stephen King, excerpt from the works of Poe’s scholars, or interviews with Poe scholars, there is no lacking in supporting information. (On a personal note, I loved seeing the addition of Matthew Pearl as resource about Poe. Pearl wrote The Poe Shadow, which is an excellent book in its own right.) Dawidziak’s own interest in Poe comes through the page in the depth and breadth of resources he includes for readers.

Poe, the Man, not the Caricature

This is the first Poe biography I read, and I was astonished to find out that the Poe I thought I knew was wrong. I pictured Poe as a broody Goth who belonged on foggy moors rather than the streets of New York. I couldn’t have been more wrong. Dawidziak paints a portrait of an active and adventurous man. For a time, Poe joined the military and was quite popular. He spent time at West Point and was quite popular. While he was born in Boston, he considered himself a Southern gentleman. He’s often associated with Baltimore, but his preferred home was Richmond, Virginia.

I knew he wrote poetry and mysteries in addition to the horror that he’s best known for, but I didn’t know he was a critic. Apparently he was a scathing one at that, whether he actually read the work being critiqued or not. Being a critic myself, of course this interested me. It seems as if criticism is where he made most of his money while alive. Poe is the first American writer to make a living writing full time, as meager as that living was. To think that criticism helped provide a living is surprising to me. I can’t help but wonder if he obsessed over the same things in his criticism that he obsessed over in his own fiction.

Tragic Character Flaws

Dawidziak points out how often Poe was his own worst enemy. Poe wrecks his own prospects in such a way that it’s like he’s a character straight out of fiction himself. He has the tragic character flaw of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. He is constantly asking for money to support him, and yet in doing so he’ll often be as combative or abrasive as he is manipulative. His lifelong battle with alcohol often rears its head when things are going well for him. But whatever tragic flaws he possessed, none of them seemed to get in the way of his writing. Poe was a machine who wrote and wrote and wrote. His output and its lasting impact upon literature is astonishing when we learn he died at the age of 40. While his writing was appreciated in his lifetime, no one could have guessed its legacy. One wishes that he could have gotten a glimpse at what his work means to the world, similar to the ending of Vincent and the Doctor.

Poe's Women

Throughout his life, Poe experience loss after loss. It seems as if the loss of the women in his life hit him the hardest. His mother Elizabeth died in 1811 when Edgar was 2. Jane Stanard, mother to his friend Robert Craig and whose memory inspired To Helen, passed about a year after meeting Edgar, but in her, he had found a kindred spirit. He loved but never married Sarah Elmira Royster, and he ‘lost’ her to another man. His wife and cousin, Virginia Clem, died when she was 24. With all this loss, is it a wonder why he wrote so much of tragic women? He doesn’t write women with much agency in his stories; they seem to be the focus of tragedy. Dawidziak paints his interactions with women as tragic. The loss of his mother and the chronic illness of his caretaker, Fanny Allan, had lasting impacts. How could they not? He seemed a deeply Romantic person, whose view of love as tragic would fit right in with any of his horrors.

Dawidziak’s writing about Poe’s relationship to women is enlightening and, with regards to his cousin, creepy. Dawidziak doesn’t judge Poe for this relationship, or if he does, it doesn’t come through on the page. Nonetheless, it’s a creepy relationship in and of itself. Dawidziak is careful to point out that it isn’t understood whether it was a marriage like we think of marriages. Poe regarded Virginia as his idealized soulmate.

Conclusion

Mark Dawidziak’s A Mystery of Mysteries is the Poe biography I needed to read. It humanized this giant of American letters by giving me a portrait of who the man was rather than the caricature that exists in popular culture. Dawidziak’s structuring of the alternating timelines gives a mystery novel feel to this investigation. A Mystery of Mysteries had me glued to the page wondering if by chance Dawidziak had found the answer to Poe’s ultimate mystery. Highly recommended.

So much mystery and mystique around Poe's death and a three-day disappearance that occurred in his life. This book sheds some light on different aspects of his life. I have always been a fan of Edgar Allen Poe, so I enjoyed reading this biography of his life.

I get the impression this is best for Poe die hards, though I also wonder how much new information it contains. The chapters are slanted towards Poe's life as opposed to the mysterious circumstances of his death, and those chapters are organized by years. As a result, they take on the quality of a list (this happened, then this happened, then this happened) without greater narrative or organizing effect. Dawidziak's embrace of our inability to know all the facts as well as his acknowledgment that myth often reshapes our relationship to the truth are admirable. But does it lead to a satisfying book? One could debate...

I have to admit something. I have never read anything by Edgar Allen Poe. I know, I know, where have I been as a classics reader? I will say that I am very interested in reading his work after reading this biography. I knew nothing (except his young wife) as I started reading but I was invested quickly. I was fascinated with his childhood, writing career, and how his reputation was created. It was incredible to learn about and reflect upon. This is an excellent biography that is well worth the read.

I received an arc via Netgalley in exchange for a honest review.

DNF @20%

I love Edgar Allan Poe [his stories AND his poetry and I am not really a poetry lover; I had a teacher in HS that spent a month teaching nothing but the works of EAP and it was amazing] and was so excited to read this; unfortunately this just didn't work for me. It was so dry and boring and jumped around a LOT and I just could not get into it. I am very disappointed because I really was hoping to learn more about EAP, but this was just to dry and textbooky to continue.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I was really looking forward to reading this as I have enjoyed Poe's work and looked forward to learning more about him as a person. However, while there is a lot of detail about his life here, it is presented in a disjointed way, jumping back and forth in time, and not really making a whole lot of sense in some instances. So, while the content gives the appearance of being very well-researched, I don't know that I really learned a lot because I was confused by the presentation of the information.

In the advance review copy I received, for whatever reason too, the footnote references were all put after the first word of the quoted material, which is incorrect per CMOS 14.26, and very distracting.

Thank you, Mark Dawidziak, St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for an advance review copy.

Rating: 2.5/5 rounded up

A wonderful read to those who are interested in learning about the man behind the myth. The author through fascinating and impeccable research has fleshed out and dare I say, humanized ‘Edgar’ in a refreshing manner.

Not written chronologically but instead geographically as Poe lives, loves and moves from state to state as his need for work ensues.

I loved discovering that Poe and Charles Dickens met face to face during one of his tours of the United States.

My only disappointment was the chapters dealing with how Poe died. Nothing surprising but overall a terrific read.

A MYSTERY OF MYSTERIES, The Death and Life of Edgar Allen Poe by Mark Dawidziak is a new biography of an American Treasure.

Biographies are not my usual choice for fun reads, but I when I saw this title, I thought it would be a good time to learn more about the famed Edgar Allan Poe. Come to find out, I am among the masses that loved the works he wrote, but didn't give enough credit to the man behind the caricature. In a dual timeline fashion, Dawidziak takes the reader from the mysterious moments right before Poe's death, back in time to follow his steps into fame and misfortune.

I enjoyed the format of this biography, as it gave a bit of the mystery of his death the feel of suspense as I traveled along his life's path. I learned quite a bit about him and his complicated personality. I wonder how he would be perceived today! I can definitely understand why he had social troubles after reading this and it makes his story even more fascinating to me. The final chapter does seem to offer some ideas on the final mystery of E.A. Poe, but also acknowledges the joy, or even need, to keep it a true mystery.

Many thanks to @NetGalley and @stmartinspress for this digital ARC. This book is available now and anyone with a curiosity of Poe should absolutely pick up this easy to read biography!

A very interesting read and learned quite a bit about Edgar Allan Poe. This book was Intriguing, interesting, and familiar but yet many surprises as you read on. Definitely gave me the mysterious feeling.

In this illuminating biography, Mark Dawidziak pays homage to the Gothic nature of Poe's work, while also shedding full light on this masterful poet and architect of American literature.

Thank you, St. Martin's Press and Netgalley for giving me an ARC of this book for an honest review. All thoughts and feelings expressed are my own.

When I saw that this book was coming out, I just had to request it.  I have been interested in Poe and his works since I was in high school.  I have read/watched a some takes on Poe's life, and I have to say this one seems to me the most interesting and most researched one that I have seen yet.  The author talks about having to dig deeper than just the new paper columns after his death to see the real Poe.  Most of what we think of as fact is just what rival columnists wrote after his passing, which is a shame. Yes, Poe had issues, however he is not the depressed morbid picture we are painted by most media today.  

As much as I enjoyed this take on Poe, I only had one thing that threw me off, and that was how the chapters jumped back and forth between different times in his life.  I know that is done for a reason, but it was hard sometimes to switch gears back and forth. 

If you have ever wanted to know more about Poe, this is the book to pick up!

Summary:
This is a nonfiction book, both biography of Edgar Allan Poe and an investigation into his untimely death under mysterious circumstances. The author has taken great pains through research and interviews to cut through the misinformation and popular myths that surround Mr. Poe. The extensive bibliography, list of interviews and documentation of the notes included at the end would be very useful to those interested in reading further.
Review:
By the time I finished reading the book, my rating increased to 5 stars. I'm a reader who didn't know a lot about Poe. I think my first brush with one of his stories was in second grade when a friend's big sister read The Tell-Tale Heart to us -- it terrified us! In his short life he was a poet, a critic, an editor, a humor writer, the father of the literary detective, and also the horror stories that remain very popular long after his rivals have faded from public knowledge. Edgar Allan Poe's work seems even more well suited to our current time than it was to his lifetime.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for an arc to read for review!
#MysteryofMysteries #Mark Dawidziak

A MYSTERY OF MYSTERIES: THE DEATH AND LIFE OF EDGAR ALLAN POE was a riveting piece of nonfiction that compellingly disentangles the myths about Poe’s life and death. While we might never know the truth about how or why he died, the author paints a compelling case for one top theory and why other theories can be debunked.

The author uses a somewhat unconventional format interweaving the last three months of Poe’s life with the broader story of his life. I must admit this switching back and forth through time was rather confusing, especially when it comes to the women in Poe’s life. Nevertheless, I think the author’s sources and conclusions are extremely strong and I really enjoyed learning more about Poe.

Pop culture has portrayed Poe as this perpetually morose, unhinged genius who was either murdered or drank himself to death. The real Poe is so much more nuanced than this and Dawidziak helpfully dispels the common misconceptions about his life and personality.

When I started this book I knew almost nothing about Poe, but now I feel like I have a three-dimensional view of him as a flawed but fascinating human being. I have even more appreciation for his writing and all the work that went into it!

If you’re interested in Poe, I highly recommend picking this up and improving your day by rediscovering one of the most legendary American writers!

ARC provided in exchange for an honest review.

This book is great at detailing the life and possible causes of death of Edgar Allan Poe. I knew the bare minimum about Poe going into this book so I found it all very interesting and know want to read more of his work that was lesser known. If you’re at all curious about his life and untimely demise, this book gives everything you could want to know, citing multiple sources, and much more!

As a mystery aficionado and all-around genre reader, I’ve long been acquainted with the works of Edgar Allan Poe. After all:

QUOTE
The two forms he crafted into literature have one thing in common: both horror and mystery are an attempt to uncover a truth. The horror story probes the mysteries of the cosmos and human nature, searching for revelations that we may never find. The journey into darkness must be taken, and fears must be faced, but answers are not guaranteed. We may well be on the trail of the unknowable, the insolvable, the impenetrable. The detective story might take us down similarly dark alleys, but it gives us the assurance and comfort that an answer can be found, understood, and revealed.
END QUOTE

To a large extent, I’ve favored his mysteries over his horror stories, but perhaps none of the ones he penned has seized the public imagination so greatly as the mystery surrounding his own demise. The facts are few but certain. On October 3, 1849, he was found in Baltimore in a state of insensibility, wearing cheap clothes that were not his own. He was taken to the Washington Medical College, where he died several days later. Every other facet of his death has been disputed, if not outright lied about, almost from the moment the last breath left his body.

I freely admit that I was one of the people bamboozled by the wealth of urban legends surrounding his final days. I’d been under the impression that he’d died in a Baltimore gutter, most likely of rabies, all of which is untrue. Mark Dawidziak not only sets the record straight, establishing the few known facts of what happened, but also does a deep dive into what may have occurred and what the likeliest actual causes of death might have been, offering the known evidence for the support of each but ultimately acknowledging that modern technology might not yet be capable of ascertaining without a shadow of a doubt how the legendary writer actually passed on.

A Mystery Of Mysteries does a greater service, though, than merely presenting the most plausible causes of death. It also debunks the many myths that have grown around the great writer’s life. It’s easy to think of Poe as a gloomy alcoholic who wrote in great crazed spurts of inspiration before sinking back into long periods of prostration. The reality, however, is that he was a lively, humorous man in vigorous good health for most of his life. His work ethic was top notch, as he persevered at various poorly paid positions while constantly writing and revising his own output. In his day, he was considered a critic first, a poet second, then a writer of prose fiction last. It is no surprise to me, a book critic, that this has entirely turned around in the intervening years, and that he’s best known now for his wildly atmospheric short stories.

There are, of course, some aspects of his life that have persisted as truth. He did have a bad habit of quarreling with people he needed help from, and his romantic life raised eyebrows, to say the least. But he worked hard at his craft, and was severely beset by misfortune at nearly every step of the way. Mr Dawidziak chronicles these setbacks with compassion and empathy, though one can’t help feeling that posthumous glory is cold comfort to someone who spent so much time struggling to house and feed his young wife and beloved mother-in-law. It’s argued that Poe would never have written his best works had he not had to struggle so hard, but I subscribe to the idea that he would have been even more prolific had he not had the stresses of survival to contend with. Adversity may build character but poverty sucks the energy out of souls trying to thrive in society.

Written with painstaking attention to detail and with the collected testimony of over a century of people who knew, admired or have studied Poe, A Mystery Of Mysteries is the kind of book that ought to be read by anyone with even a passing interest in the acclaimed author. The timeline can sometimes feel disjointed, but this is, overall, one of the finest investigations into his life and death I’ve come across. After having read this book, I like to remember him now thusly, as he appeared to friends barely a fortnight before his untimely death:

QUOTE
Certainly during the last few days in Richmond, many friends and acquaintances described his mood as upbeat. That seemed to be the case when he bid farewell to the Talley family on September 25. He was the last to leave the party at Talavera that night. The parting image was for Susan Archer Talley both symbolic of his life and sadly prophetic of his death: “We were standing on the portico, and after going a few steps he paused, turned, and again lifted his hat, in a last adieu. At that moment, a brilliant meteor appeared in the sky directly over his head.”
END QUOTE

A literary figure whose light shone only too briefly during his own lifetime, Poe was a rare talent indeed.

I do like Edgar Allan Poe's work, so thought this book would give more insight in to how he got his inspiration to write. Although the book did give his bio, and theories of how he finally died, I did think that many chapters were repeated and no exact conclusion was reached.i do thank the author, publisher and Netgalley for my ARC in exchange for my honest review.

A fascinating look at Edgar Allan Poe's death (and life).

It's pretty clear we'll never have a definitive answer on strange and unusual circumstances of Edgar Allan Poe's mysterious death, but I appreciated the way the author presented all of the evidence for the various theories over the years without saying outright what he thought happened. We were guided through some possibilities that were more probable than others and left to make our own inferences.

This is an incredibly well-researched book. The quotes from more modern horror authors such as Robert Bloch and Stephen King were a nice addition.

I have always been fascinated by Edgar Allen Poe, so when the chance to read Mark Dawidziak's POV on his enigmatic, I jumped at the chance.

This book covers the last few weeks of his life and fills in some of the backstory on his life as a child and teenager. Getting to know Poe in a much different light than he is portrayed usually was both refreshing and exhilarating. Poe was a master of comedy and had such a beautiful writing style in his poetry that the fact he is best known for his macabre writings is a little sad to be honest.

You can see quite clearly that Poe had some pretty intense mental health issues and the author really did an excellent job of giving a very well researched and rounded review of his life.

The writing was lucid and I really enjoyed the way the information was presented. I felt I learned things about Poe I didn't know and buying a copy is top of my to do list.

If you like non-fiction and you would like to know more about Poe, then this book has to be your next read.

4.5 stars!! Thank you St Martins press and netgalley for my review copy!!