Helen Pinsent‘s exemplary “The Men we Love to Hate” offers a compact, accessible, sharply intelligent analysis of a popular topic, the unreliable narrators of selected short stories by Edgar Allan Poe. Her style is as logical and artful as that of her subject, as evident in her introduction, with its apt allusions, its pointed rhetorical questions, its precise statements and its alliterative flair. Just as admirable is her application of theory, as she translates ponderous jargon into a crystal clear comparison of three narrators, combining skillful paraphrase, direct quotation, sharp distinctions, and graceful transitions. It is often said that Poe challenges readers to contemplate his work with a “kindred art.” Ms Pinsent meets (dare I say beats?) the master at his game, thereby leaving her reader with “a sense of the fullest satisfaction.” —Dr. Judith Thompson
