With an unconventional new perspective, Anderson identifies Edgar Allan
Poe's texts as a journey and explores the ways Poe both encounters and
transcends the realm of the material. Beginning with Poe's earliest
short stories through his last fragment of imaginative prose, this book
shows the path that Poe traveled as he came to understand how to
transform "rudimentary" into "ultimate" life. Anderson skillfully argues
that Poe's response to the existential predicament of life lies at the
heart of his achievement.