Edgar Allan Poe (Reaktion Books - Critical Lives)

189 Pages·2009·1.3 MB·English

by  Kevin J. Hayes

Edgar Allan
Poe
Kevin J. Hayes

Edgar Allan Poe
Titles in the series Critical Lives present the work of leading cultural
figures of the modern period. Each book explores the life of the
artist, writer, philosopher or architect in question and relates it to
their major works.
Jean Genet Erik Satie
Stephen Barber Mary E. Davis
Michel Foucault Georges Bataille
David Macey Stuart Kendall
Pablo Picasso Ludwig Wittgenstein
Mary Ann Caws Edward Kanterian
Franz Kafka Octavio Paz
Sander L. Gilman Nick Caistor
Guy Debord Walter Benjamin
Andy Merrifield Esther Leslie
Marcel Duchamp Charles Baudelaire
Caroline Cros Rosemary Lloyd
James Joyce Jean Cocteau
Andrew Gibson James S. Williams
Frank Lloyd Wright Sergei Eisenstein
Robert McCarter Mike O’Mahony
Jean-Paul Sartre Salvador Dalí
Andrew Leak Mary Ann Caws
Noam Chomsky Simone de Beauvoir
Wolfgang B. Sperlich Ursula Tidd
Jorge Luis Borges Gertrude Stein
Jason Wilson Lucy Daniel
Edgar Allan Poe
Kevin J. Hayes
reaktion books
For Hyun-woo and Ji-eun
Published by Reaktion Books Ltd
33Great Sutton Street
London ec1v 0dx, uk
www.reaktionbooks.co.uk
First published 2009
Copyright © Kevin J. Hayes 2009
All rights reserved
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or
transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopy-
ing, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publishers.
Printed and bound in Great Britain
by cpiAntony Rowe, Chippenham, Wiltshire
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Hayes, Kevin J.
Edgar Allan Poe. – (Critical lives)
1. Poe, Edgar Allan, 1809–1849
2. Authors, American – 19th century – Biography
I. Title II. Series
818.3’09-dc22
isbn: 978 1 86189 515 8
Contents
Introduction 7
1 The Contest 15
2 The Birth of a Poet 34
3 The Gothic Woman 53
4 Making a Name 72
5 From Peeping Tom to Detective 90
6 The Tourist’s Gaze 106
7 The Narrow House 127
8 The Most Noble of Professions 147
References 167
Select Bibliography 181
Acknowledgements 185
Photo Acknowledgements 187
W. S. Hartshorn and C. T. Tatman, Edgar Allan Poe, 1904.
Introduction
No American author has influenced the history of literature and
the arts more than Edgar Allan Poe. But at the time of his death in
1849, the profound influence of his writings – verse, fiction, and
criticism – was by no means assured. In his last few years Poe was
known in the usprimarily as the author of ‘The Raven’. A handful
of his short stories were translated into French and Russian in
the late 1840s, but not until the following decade would Europe
disc over his work and recognize his genius. More than anyone,
CharlesBaudelaire was responsible for celebrating Poe’s greatness
and disseminating his work. Baudelaire saw Poe as a kindred spirit,
someone who had crystallized into prose many ideas he had
imagined himself but had yet to articulate. It was Poe’s fortune
that one of France’s greatest poets became his greatest champion.
Baudelaire’s translations not only helped Poe achieve a level of
status in France akin to that of a major national author, they
also circulated throughout Europe for decades to come. Overall,
Poe’s critical reputation took two separate directions after his
death. Whereas readers in English-speaking nations hesitated
to recognize his genius, European readers accepted him and his
works wholeheartedly.
The obituary Rufus Wilmot Griswold published in the New York
Tribune largely shaped Poe’s reputation after his death. Griswold
harshly criticized Poe’s personal habits, depicting him as a misan-
thrope, a mad and melancholy loner, someone who wandered the
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city streets night and day, alternately mumbling curses or prayers
and not much caring which was which. According to Griswold,
Poe was devoid of honour, devoid of morality, devoid of any and
all elevating personal qualities. Griswold further asserted that
Poe’s imaginative writings, especially the poems and stories of
his final years, were based on personal events. The assertion gave
readers licence to understand Poe’s stories through his life, his
life through his stories. This dual impulse still affects the popular
understanding of Poe’s life and works. Even now, many readers
see his mentally unbalanced narrators as reflections of a disturbed
mind, not as products of a rich imagination. Many contemporary
readers were shocked by Griswold’s obituary, but few doubted its
details. His portrayal became the accepted image of Poe in both
the usand uk.
Perhaps the strangest aspect of Griswold’s scathing obituary is
the fact that Poe had chosen him as his literary executor, the one to
carry out his final wishes in regard to his writings. Why would Poe
choose such a mean-spirited man as his literary executor? Poe’s for-
ward-thinking fiction anticipates the future in so many ways: could
he not foresee what Griswold would do after his death? Surely Poe
must have had some inkling of Griswold’s intentions. After all, he
had publicly attacked Griswold’s popular anthology The Poets and
Poetry of Americanumerous times. He had to expect some sort of
posthumous payback. But there are reasons to explain why Poe
chose Griswold as his literary executor. In the time Poe spent as
author and editor, he had learned much about the publishing
world. Here’s one thing he learned: controversy sells books. And
in his dealings with Griswold, he had learned something important
about him: Griswold got things done. Poe could be reasonably sure
Griswold would edit and publish a posthumous collected edition
of his writings. And he did. The first two volumes, which consisted
of Poe’s short fiction and poetry, appeared together the year after
Poe’s death. Griswold subsequently edited and published two
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