I am a huge EAP fan but has it ever been proven that he was "insane"? I mean i consider him a genius, but what does science have to say about it?

-- Anonymous, August 10, 2001

Answers

Even dr. Laura would be hard put to diagnose a man based on skimpy biography and select writings where he generally avoids autobiography. Areas of trouble, weakness, and crippled upbringing are easy to spot. Also the way Poe handles life and art is described in his own essays and brief history. Not many artists share his mix of talents and interests, nor do many attack art so passionately and analytically. Breakdowns? Alcoholism? Bereavement? Who would think the poor unfortunate so singular if he hadn't written so darkly all those tales and poems? Definitely not insane, definitely not simple or ordinary. He saw enough of dysdunction in himself to peer over the boundaries of normal thought, but that was a common preoccupation of the Romantics of his day. Read more of his essays and a variety of his works and you would probably come to that conclusion. Here again, some biographers, usually detesting Poe personally(not a very good grounding for an analyst) have contributed to the slander legend. This is a principle you can apply to all critics of this stripe. Watch for the sneer, the leer, the simplified abuse of fact or science, the attack on a person down or dead, the most vicious attacks reserved for things of most worth or outrageous invasions of privacy accompanied by jokes and fiction. Then you will find someone REALLY crazy and worth avoiding.

I keep recommending the contemporary Stephen King book "On Writing" which is semi-autobiographical. It reveals where he is coming from, and though one dead end was alcoholism none of them were bedlam.

-- Anonymous, August 11, 2001

Well, PE, You've Done It Agian My Good Friend, Got To It First, Curses, O Well, You've Siad All I Need To... But....

.................Can A Man That Brilliant Be Insane?.................. ...........................I Think Not................................ ..............................Peace................................... .............................Double D.................................

-- Anonymous, November 01, 2001