Suzanne Ashworth is professor in the Department of English and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at Otterbein University.

• Introduction: Perverse FeelingsChapter 1: HateChapter 2: MelancholiaChapter 3: DisgustChapter 4: ResentmentChapter 5: RevengeConclusion: Ambivalence

Ashworth notes that "Poe populates his fiction with kindred men: white men angry, aggrieved, and vindictive" (p. 5). In this book she is concerned with understanding that not with blaming Poe. Thus, in Poe's troubled relationship with his foster father, John Allan, she finds an "intransigent" conflict with Poe as "the repentant son; Allan the unforgiving father" (p. 141). Each of the five chapters is centered on a specific text and "a perverse emotion that propels the narrative: hate, melancholia, disgust, revenge, and resentment" (p. 5)… Ashworth's conclusion addresses contemporary "perverse feelings," offering the tentative hope that "in ambivalence, we can feel discouraged and hopeful, compassionate and hostile, anxious and detached" (p. 199). Recommended. Lower-division undergraduates through faculty; general readers.

Suzanne Ashworth is professor in the Department of English and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at Otterbein University.

• Introduction: Perverse FeelingsChapter 1: HateChapter 2: MelancholiaChapter 3: DisgustChapter 4: ResentmentChapter 5: RevengeConclusion: Ambivalence

Ashworth notes that "Poe populates his fiction with kindred men: white men angry, aggrieved, and vindictive" (p. 5). In this book she is concerned with understanding that not with blaming Poe. Thus, in Poe's troubled relationship with his foster father, John Allan, she finds an "intransigent" conflict with Poe as "the repentant son; Allan the unforgiving father" (p. 141). Each of the five chapters is centered on a specific text and "a perverse emotion that propels the narrative: hate, melancholia, disgust, revenge, and resentment" (p. 5)… Ashworth's conclusion addresses contemporary "perverse feelings," offering the tentative hope that "in ambivalence, we can feel discouraged and hopeful, compassionate and hostile, anxious and detached" (p. 199). Recommended. Lower-division undergraduates through faculty; general readers.

Suzanne Ashworth is professor in the Department of English and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at Otterbein University.

• Introduction: Perverse FeelingsChapter 1: HateChapter 2: MelancholiaChapter 3: DisgustChapter 4: ResentmentChapter 5: RevengeConclusion: Ambivalence

Ashworth notes that "Poe populates his fiction with kindred men: white men angry, aggrieved, and vindictive" (p. 5). In this book she is concerned with understanding that not with blaming Poe. Thus, in Poe's troubled relationship with his foster father, John Allan, she finds an "intransigent" conflict with Poe as "the repentant son; Allan the unforgiving father" (p. 141). Each of the five chapters is centered on a specific text and "a perverse emotion that propels the narrative: hate, melancholia, disgust, revenge, and resentment" (p. 5)… Ashworth's conclusion addresses contemporary "perverse feelings," offering the tentative hope that "in ambivalence, we can feel discouraged and hopeful, compassionate and hostile, anxious and detached" (p. 199). Recommended. Lower-division undergraduates through faculty; general readers.