Book overview
The Political Poe examines the collective works of Edgar Allan Poe through a political lens. While others have gestured toward Poe's gloomy conservatism, Michael J. Blouin argues that Poe's reaction against Jacksonian America--with its drift into populism, demagoguery, and what Poe felt was an unhinged politicization of everyday life--mirror the concerns of contemporary American life. Poe consistently denounced democracy. He leveraged racist and misogynistic tendencies. But despite these politics, Blouin uncovers lessons for a world where political thought is antagonistic and every truth has become a battleground for partisan bickering. Here, horror isn't just a heartbeat beneath the floorboards; it's a lack of political imagination for what can be created.