Advance Praise for Darkness Becomes Bright:

“A wonderfully engaging account of Poe’s troubled life and work that is also a celebration of artistic cross-fertilization. Nimble, generous, brimming with insight, Ogden’s book captures the richness, the strangeness and the unexpected beauty to be found in our enduring fascination with the dark places of the soul.” —Sarah Waters, author of The Paying Guests

“A gorgeous, spellbinding tale that blends criticism, biography, and carefully chosen moments of memoir to look fearlessly at what is most difficult—most perverse, disturbing, and, occasionally, beautiful—in art as well as life. Emily Ogden writes with the erudition of a scholar and the sensitivity of a spirit medium. ” —Christine Smallwood, author of The Life of the Mind

“Elegant, frank, discreet, and disturbing, Darkness Becomes Bright takes you on a precarious starlit walk through Poe's shattered life and works. Conversing with his deepest devotees, Ogden turns unexpected corners to reveal the compulsive rewards of returning to Poe – the strange, demanding witness to everything we'd prefer not to know.” —John Tresch, author of The Reason for the Darkness of the Night

“Emily Ogden brilliantly exhumes the beating heart of America's darkest poet.” —Orlando Reade, author of What in Me Is Dark

“Emily Ogden does not flinch from the obscure and sometimes horrifying recesses of Poe’s psychosis. Her enthralling psychological portrait of the tormented artist is drawn with panache, and great compassion.” —Sue Prideaux, author of Wild Thing