Peter Ackroyd’s “Poe: A Life Cut Short” comes to Iranian bookstores
TEHRAN –(Iranart)- English writer Peter Ackroyd’s book “Poe: A Life Cut Short” has recently been published in Persian in Tehran.
Published by Aftabkaran, the book has been translated into Persian by Shahab Shokravi.
Gothic, mysterious, theatrical, fatally flawed and dazzling, the life of Edgar Allan Poe, one of America’s greatest and most versatile writers, is the ideal subject for Ackroyd.
Poe wrote lyrical poetry and macabre psychological melodramas; invented the first fictional detective; and, produced pioneering works of science fiction and fantasy. His innovative style, images and themes had a tremendous impact on European romanticism, symbolism and surrealism, and continues to influence writers today.
In this essential addition to his canon of acclaimed biographies, Ackroyd explores Poe’s literary accomplishments and legacy against the background of his dramatic life. Ackroyd chronicles Poe’s difficult childhood, his bumpy academic and military careers, and his marriage to his cousin.
He describes Poe’s much-written-about problems with gambling and alcohol with sympathy and insight, showing their connections to Poe’s childhood and the trials, as well as the triumphs, of his adult life. Ackroyd’s thoughtful, perceptive examinations of some of Poe’s most famous works shed new light on these classics and on the troubled and brilliant genius who created them.
Ackroyd is an English biographer, novelist and critic with a particular interest in the history and culture of London. For his novels about English history and culture and his biographies of, among others, William Blake, Charles Dickens, T. S. Eliot and Sir Thomas More, he won the Somerset Maugham Award and two Whitbread Awards. He is noted for the volume of work he has produced, the range of styles therein, his skill at assuming different voices and the depth of his research.
He was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 1984 and appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 2003.
source: Tehran Times