Scott Peeples discusses his book about Edgar Allan Poe “The Man of the Crowd” (Princeton University Press, 2020)
Scott Peeples discusses his book about Edgar Allan Poe “The Man of the Crowd” (Princeton University Press, 2020)
Interview Timeline
Scott Peeples is a professor of literature and has written three books on Edgar Allan Poe and has co-authored a handbook on Poe. We spoke about his latest book on Poe and his experiences in four major cities Poe lived in.
0:34 – Scott talks about why he started studying and writing about Edgar Allan Poe.
2:21 – Scott talks about the cities Poe had lived in and how it impacted his work. We touch on his Baltimore connections.
5:07 – Scott talks about the growth of the cities Poe lived in – Richmond, Baltimore, Philadelphia, and New York.
6:33 – Scott talks about slavery in Richmond and how that may have impacted Poe’s writing.
9:39 – Scott talks about Poe’s exposure to poverty in these cities, especially Baltimore.
11:16 – Scott talks about Poe’s exposure to the rich in these cities.
12:15 – Scott talks about Poe’s ideas about ancient architecture.
14:01 – Scott talks about Poe’s writing on New York City.
16:01 – Scott talks about the city elements that Poe highlighted.
18:16 – Scott talks about the order Poe lived in the various cities and why he moved around.
20:21 – Scott talks about Poe always being on the move.
22:18 – Scott talks about the locations Poe was drawn to.
25:43 – Scott talks about Poe’s difficulties in moving his writing supplies and equipment around.
27:58 – Scott talks about where in Richmond Poe lived.
31:16 – Scott talks about the documents he had available to do this research.
33:39 – Scott talks about business documents related to Poe’s movements.
34:49 – Scott talks about when Poe become famous.
36:11 – Scott talks about the interest in Gothic poetry in Poe’s time.
38:10 – Scott talks about the Poe Society of Baltimore’s archived material.
40:23 – Scott talks about the fights Poe would get into.
42:20 – Scott talks about Poe and regionalism.
44:38 – Scott talks about Poe’s drinking.
46:35 – Scott talks about the bars and hospitals in Poe’s cities.
48:46 – Scott talks about visiting the cities Poe had lived in.
51:21 – Scott talks about Poe’s letter writing.
52:17 – Scott talks about how much writing Poe did.
54:12 – Scott talks about wishing he understood Poe’s work days better.
57:28 – Scott talks about why Poe became a writer.
59:29 – Scott talks about Poe’s rough personality.
1:01:28 – Scott talks about the effect of Poe’s early death on his celebrity.
1:02:23 – Scott talks about Poe’s opium use.
1:03:17 – Scott talks about Poe’s childhood.
1:07:16 – Scott talks about the photographs used in the book.
1:10:54 – Scott can be found @lscottpeeples on twitter and is on academia.edu
Links of interest
https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691182407/the-man-of-the-crowd
https://cofc.academia.edu/ScottPeeples
https://twitter.com/lscottpeeples
Contact Information
For more “Full Contact Nerd” please follow me at crisalvarez.com, on Facebook at CrisAlvarezFCN, on youtube at Cris Alvarez on twitter @CrisAlvarezFCN, on Instagram @crisalvarezscifi, and on Apple Podcasts / Google Podcasts / Stitcher / Spotify for the podcast.
Guests: Scott Peeples
Host: Cris Alvarez
Tags: Books, audio interviews, author, academic, podcast, Princeton University Press, literature, non fiction,
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