This book is a journey through the life of Edgar Allan Poe, a man wounded by a deep malaise, immersed in alcohol and drugs, at the mercy of an irascible and self-destructive aggressiveness. In order to understand Poe, it is necessary to go to the root of his writing and investigate the essential moments of his life. Thus, Giuseppe Cafiero offers us an analysis of Poe's disturbing writing in the light of conversations with the characters who marked his life and who live in the painful and dark pages of his work. Also, of the friendships and enmities that contributed to the frustrating and delirious restlessness of the great writer.