research paper about edgar allan poe

Edgar Allan Poe Research Paper Topics

This page provides students with a rich tapestry of Edgar Allan Poe research paper topics . From the haunting beauty of his poetry to the chilling narratives of his short stories, Poe’s works present a myriad of research opportunities. This comprehensive guide not only delves into a categorized list of Edgar Allan Poe research paper topics but also offers insights into choosing the perfect Poe topic and crafting an impeccable research paper. Additionally, iResearchNet’s unparalleled writing services are showcased, promising meticulous research and tailored writing solutions. Dive deep into the Gothic allure of Poe, and embark on an academic journey with iResearchNet’s expert guidance.

Edgar Allan Poe’s enigmatic style and dark themes have continuously intrigued scholars and avid readers alike for generations. For those seeking to delve deep into the recesses of Poe’s mind, here is a comprehensive list of Edgar Allan Poe research paper topics spanning across various facets of his work:

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Get 10% off with 24start discount code, 1. poe’s poetry.

• An analysis of the rhythmic patterns in The Raven .
• The exploration of love and loss in Annabel Lee .
• Ulalume – A journey through grief and remembrance.
• The dark romanticism of A Dream Within a Dream .
• Symbolism in The Bells .
• The personification of death in The Conqueror Worm .
• Navigating the landscapes of Eldorado .
• Themes of sorrow and yearning in Lenore .
• Imagery and melancholy in The Sleeper .
• To Helen and the ideals of beauty.

2. Tales of the Macabre

• Psychological terror in The Tell-Tale Heart .
• The thin line between sanity and insanity in The Black Cat .
• The descent into madness in The Cask of Amontillado .
• Death and disease in The Masque of the Red Death .
• Exploration of guilt in William Wilson .
• The Fall of the House of Usher and the Gothic tradition.
• The pursuit of the unknown in The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar .
• The torment of the soul in Ligeia .
• Themes of revenge in Hop-Frog .
• The intricate narrative of The Pit and the Pendulum .

3. Detective Fiction

• The Murders in the Rue Morgue and the birth of detective fiction.
• The analytical prowess of C. Auguste Dupin.
• The detective’s role in The Mystery of Marie Rogêt .
• Deductive reasoning in The Purloined Letter .
• Poe’s influence on the modern detective genre.
• Examination of crime in Poe’s detective tales.
• The development of sidekicks in detective fiction.
• The detective’s moral compass in Poe’s works.
• Female characters in Poe’s detective stories.
• The evolution of clues and red herrings in Poe’s mysteries.

4. Poe and the Supernatural

• Exploration of the afterlife in Morella .
• Ghosts and hauntings in Poe’s tales.
• The dichotomy of life and death in Berenice .
• The metaphysical in Silence – A Fable .
• Exploration of the soul in The Oval Portrait .
• Visions and prophecies in Poe’s works.
• The exploration of otherworldly realms.
• Portrayal of apparitions and spirits.
• The supernatural as a reflection of human psyche.
• Dreams and omens in Poe’s tales.

5. Poe’s Personal Life and Works

• The influence of Poe’s turbulent love life on his poetry.
• Tragedies of Poe: The deaths that shaped his tales.
• Poe’s relationship with alcohol and its reflection in his work.
• The financial struggles of Poe and their impact on his writings.
• Poe’s tumultuous relationship with the literary community.
• The mystery of Poe’s death: Theories and narratives.
• Poe’s years in Baltimore and their influence.
• Poe and his foster parents: A complicated bond.
• The influence of Poe’s academic life on his tales.
• Poe’s critiques and their influence on American literature.

6. Poe’s Literary Techniques

• Poe’s use of unreliable narrators.
• The symbolism of the Gothic in Poe’s works.
• The mastery of first-person narrative in Poe’s stories.
• Poe’s pioneering use of psychological horror.
• The recurring motif of the ‘eye’ in Poe’s tales.
• Exploration of sound, from the beating heart to the ominous raven.
• The role of nature in setting the mood in Poe’s works.
• The juxtaposition of beauty and decay in Poe’s prose.
• Poe’s portrayal of women: Idealization and objectification.
• Themes of confinement and entrapment in Poe’s narratives.

7. Poe’s Influence on Modern Literature

• Poe’s impact on 20th-century horror writers.
• The continuation of C. Auguste Dupin in Sherlock Holmes.
• Poe’s influence on contemporary gothic fiction.
• Adaptations of Poe in cinema and theater.
• Modern reimaginings of The Tell-Tale Heart .
• The legacy of The Raven in modern pop culture and more.
• The reinterpretation of Poe’s themes in graphic novels.
• Poe’s legacy in the genre of psychological thrillers.
• How contemporary poets have built upon Annabel Lee .
• The Fall of the House of Usher in modern architectural narratives.

Poe’s Exploration of the Human Psyche

• Exploration of obsession in tales like The Tell-Tale Heart .
• Madness and sanity: The blurred lines in Poe’s narratives.
• Delving into paranoia in The Black Cat .
• Love, loss, and mourning in Poe’s poetic and prose works.
• The subconscious fears in The Premature Burial .
• The human psyche’s struggle with mortality.
• Guilt, conscience, and human nature in Poe’s writings.
• The role of memory in stories like Eleonora .
• The fine line between reality and illusion in Poe’s tales.
• Analyzing self-identity and duality in works like William Wilson .

9. Poe and the Victorian Era

• The portrayal of Victorian society in Poe’s works.
• Social conventions and restraints in Poe’s narratives.
• The influence of the Victorian Gothic on Poe’s tales.
• Victorian views on mortality and their reflections in Poe’s stories.
• The role of women in Poe’s Victorian narratives.
• Poe’s criticism of Victorian moral hypocrisy.
• Poe’s interaction with other Victorian writers.
• The role of science and reason in Poe’s Victorian tales.
• The Victorians’ fascination with the macabre and the supernatural.
• Poe’s view on Victorian advancements and industrialization.

10. Analysis of Selected Works

• A deep dive into The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym .
• The many layers of The Descent into the Maelstrom .
• Isolation and despair in The Island of the Fay .
• The metaphysical quandaries of Eureka: A Prose Poem .
• Unraveling Tamerlane : Poe’s early hints at genius.
• Delving into the drama of Politian .
• Love and loss: An analysis of Bridal Ballad .
• The journey of self-discovery in Al Aaraaf .
• Dissecting the mysteries of MS. Found in a Bottle .
• The symbolism and depth of The Man of the Crowd .

Delving into Edgar Allan Poe’s vast realm of literary contributions is akin to embarking on a journey through layers of the human psyche, societal reflections, and transcendent themes. His works, suffused with intricate symbolism and profound emotion, continue to resonate powerfully with readers across the globe, even after centuries. These Edgar Allan Poe research paper topics serve as a window, offering a glimpse into the multifaceted world of Poe, where every narrative, be it prose or poetry, reveals a new dimension of understanding. By exploring these subjects, students not only immerse themselves in the richness of Poe’s genius but also engage in critical thinking, analytical assessments, and a deeper appreciation of literary artistry. As one ventures deeper into his narratives and poems, it becomes clear why Poe stands as an immortal pillar in the pantheon of literary greats.

Edgar Allan Poe and the Range of Research Paper Topics

Edgar Allan Poe, a name that evokes a mosaic of emotions – from eerie suspense to profound melancholy. Often hailed as the master of the macabre, Poe’s contributions to American literature span much more than just tales of horror and the uncanny. His works are a rich tapestry woven with intricate themes, unparalleled symbolism, and a deep understanding of the human psyche. This literary genius’s stories and poems have continually fascinated scholars, readers, and writers alike, offering a plethora of Edgar Allan Poe research paper topics for literature enthusiasts to dive into.

To understand the vast range of research avenues in Poe’s works, one must first grasp the breadth of his literary portfolio. Although primarily recognized for his gothic tales, Poe was also an astute critic, an innovative poet, and a pioneer of the short story genre. He adeptly merged both European romanticism and American originality, resulting in a unique literary style that still stands unmatched.

The Enigmatic Poe

One of the enduring fascinations with Poe is his own life – as mysterious and tragic as some of his tales. Orphaned at a young age, battling personal demons, and facing numerous adversities, Poe’s tumultuous life deeply influenced his writings. Exploring the parallels between his personal experiences and his fictional worlds is a research area that continues to captivate scholars. His enigmatic death, still a mystery, is a testament to the lingering intrigue surrounding his life.

Poe’s Exploration of the Human Psyche

Much ahead of his time, Poe delved deep into the complexities of the human mind. Stories like The Tell-Tale Heart and The Black Cat are not just tales of horror but profound psychological studies of guilt, paranoia, and mental descent. Analyzing the psychological undertones in his works provides a multi-dimensional approach to his stories, making them relevant even in modern psychoanalytical discussions.

Symbolism and the Supernatural

Poe’s tales are replete with symbols. Be it the hauntingly sentient House of Usher or the relentless Raven, Poe used symbols to enhance the atmospheric dread of his stories and to dive deep into abstract concepts. This prolific use of symbolism offers researchers a rich field to dissect, interpret, and reinterpret.

Poe and Science Fiction

Often overshadowed by his gothic tales, Poe’s foray into science fiction, exemplified by stories like The Unparalleled Adventure of One Hans Pfaall and Mellonta Tauta , is an area ripe for exploration. Here, he blends his narrative genius with speculative visions of science, creating stories that can be viewed as precursors to the modern science fiction genre.

Poetic Techniques and Innovations

Poe was not just a storyteller; he was a poet par excellence. His poems, such as Annabel Lee , The Bells , and Ulalume , are studies in rhythm, sound, and emotion. They oscillate between the melancholic and the macabre, making them enduring pieces of poetic art. Researching his poetic techniques, innovations, and influences can be a fulfilling journey for anyone interested in poetic forms and structures.

Literary Criticism and Theories

As a critic, Poe had strong opinions on art, literature, and the role of the critic. His reviews, essays, and theories on writing are illuminating, offering a peek into the mind of a literary genius. Exploring Poe’s literary criticism can provide insights into 19th-century literary standards, Poe’s influences, and his expectations from literature and fellow writers.

Poe’s cultural impact is another intriguing facet to consider. His influence is not limited to American literature but spans globally, impacting various art forms. From cinema adaptations to his influence on subsequent writers and even musicians, Poe’s legacy is extensive and multifaceted.

The very nature of Poe’s work – its depth, diversity, and enduring relevance – makes it a goldmine for research. Whether one is analyzing the structural aspects of his poems, dissecting the themes of his tales, or tracing the influences of his personal life on his works, the opportunities for scholarly exploration are virtually limitless.

In conclusion, Edgar Allan Poe’s literary contributions are not mere tales to be read and forgotten. They are intricate webs of narrative brilliance, emotional depth, and symbolic complexity. For literature students and scholars, every Poe story or poem presents a unique research challenge, beckoning them to delve deeper, question more, and embark on an endless journey of literary discovery.

How to Choose Edgar Allan Poe Research Paper Topics

Selecting a topic for a research paper on Edgar Allan Poe is like being a kid in a candy store. The options are vast, intriguing, and tempting. But with so many directions to pursue, how does one choose a topic that’s not only engaging but also academically rewarding? Let’s embark on this journey of selection with some structured steps and key considerations.

• Identify Your Interest: Begin by determining which of Poe’s works or themes particularly captivate you. Is it the eerie atmosphere of “The Fall of the House of Usher” or the relentless psychological torment in “The Tell-Tale Heart”? Your genuine interest will make the research process more enjoyable and your paper more passionate.
• Consider the Scope: While it’s tempting to pick a broad topic like “Poe’s contribution to American literature,” it might be too vast for a detailed study. Instead, opt for more narrow focuses, such as “Poe’s influence on the detective fiction genre.”
• Historical Context: Poe’s writings did not emerge in a vacuum. Understanding the socio-political and cultural context of his time can offer a fresh lens to view his works. Topics like “Poe and the American Romantic Movement” or “Societal Reflections in Poe’s Gothic Tales” can be compelling.
• Analytical versus Argumentative: Determine the nature of your paper. An analytical paper on “The Symbolism in The Raven ” differs from an argumentative paper asserting “Poe’s Representation of Women as Symbols of Death and Decay.”
• Relevance to Modern Times: Exploring how Poe’s themes resonate with contemporary issues can be enlightening. For instance, examining the portrayal of mental health in his stories in light of current psychological understanding can be a rich research area.
• Cross-disciplinary Approaches: Don’t restrict yourself to purely literary angles. Poe’s works can be explored from psychological, sociological, or even philosophical perspectives. A topic like “Freudian Analysis of Poe’s Protagonists” can be intriguing.
• Comparative Studies: Comparing Poe with other contemporaries or authors from different eras can shed light on literary evolutions and contrasts. Topics such as “Poe and Hawthorne: A Study in Dark Romanticism” can offer dual insights.
• Unexplored Angles: While much has been written about Poe’s famous works, venturing into his lesser-known stories, poems, or essays can be rewarding. Delving deep into these uncharted territories can present fresh perspectives.
• Consider Available Resources: Ensure that there are enough primary and secondary sources available for your chosen topic. While original interpretations are valuable, building upon or contrasting with existing scholarship enriches your research.
• Seek Feedback: Before finalizing your topic, discuss it with peers, professors, or literature enthusiasts. Fresh eyes can offer new perspectives, refine your focus, or even present angles you hadn’t considered.

In conclusion, choosing a research paper topic on Edgar Allan Poe requires a blend of personal interest, academic viability, and originality. Remember that the goal is not just to explore the enigmatic world Poe created but to add a unique voice to the ongoing discourse about his works. Armed with passion and a structured approach, you’re set to select a topic that will not only enlighten readers but also deepen your appreciation of Poe’s literary genius.

How to Write an Edgar Allan Poe Research Paper

Crafting a research paper on Edgar Allan Poe is a journey into the heart of 19th-century American Gothic literature. Known as the master of macabre, Poe’s works are rich in symbolism, psychological insights, and intricate narratives. To bring justice to such depth in a research paper, a systematic approach is necessary. Here’s a step-by-step guide to help you navigate the hauntingly beautiful world of Poe and create a compelling paper.

• Deep Reading: Before everything else, immerse yourself in the selected work(s) of Poe. Read it multiple times, noting the nuances, literary techniques, and recurrent themes. This isn’t just casual reading; it’s about diving deep into the text.
• Thesis Statement: A research paper isn’t merely a summary. It needs a central argument or perspective. Craft a clear, concise thesis statement that conveys the essence of your paper. For instance, “Through The Fall of the House of Usher , Poe explores the thin boundary between sanity and madness.”
• Outline Your Thoughts: Structure is vital when delving into Poe’s intricate narratives. Create an outline with clear sections, including introduction, literature review, methodology (if applicable), main arguments, counterarguments, and conclusion.
• Historical and Biographical Context: To understand Poe, it’s imperative to understand his life and times. Infuse your paper with insights about Poe’s tumultuous life, his contemporaries, and the broader socio-cultural milieu of his era.
• Literary Analysis: Delve into the literary aspects of the work. Explore Poe’s use of symbolism, metaphor, allegory, and other devices. Analyze his narrative structures, use of unreliable narrators, or the rhythm and meter in his poems.
• Interdisciplinary Insights: Don’t limit your analysis to a purely literary perspective. Draw insights from psychology (especially when discussing tales like The Tell-Tale Heart ), philosophy, or even the sciences.
• Engage with Scholars: Your interpretations should be in dialogue with established Poe scholars. Reference critical essays, research papers, and academic discourses that align or contradict your arguments. This lends credibility to your work.
• Address Counterarguments: A well-rounded research paper acknowledges differing views. If there are prominent interpretations that contradict your thesis, address them. It shows academic integrity and a comprehensive understanding of the subject.
• Effective Conclusion: Wrap up by reiterating your thesis and summarizing your main arguments. Also, hint at the broader implications of your findings or suggest areas for future research.
• Proofreading and Citations: After pouring so much effort into your analysis, don’t let grammatical errors or incorrect citations mar your paper. Review your work multiple times, use citation tools, and adhere to the desired formatting style (MLA, APA, etc.).

In summary, writing a research paper on Edgar Allan Poe is an intricate dance between analysis and appreciation. While the process requires a meticulous approach, it’s also an opportunity to immerse oneself in the rich tapestry of Poe’s imagination. Remember, it’s not just about producing an academic paper, but also about connecting with one of the literary world’s most enigmatic figures. Embrace the challenge, and let Poe’s haunting allure guide your pen.

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Navigating the mysterious and captivating world of Edgar Allan Poe is no simple endeavor. The depth, symbolism, and emotional charge in his writings require a unique blend of understanding, analysis, and passion. For students tasked with crafting a research paper on Poe, the weight of doing justice to such a literary giant can feel overwhelming. This is where iResearchNet steps in, bridging the gap between student ambition and academic excellence. Here’s what sets our services apart when it comes to delivering a custom Edgar Allan Poe research paper.

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Embrace the Dark Allure of Poe with iResearchNet

Dive into the shadowy realms of Edgar Allan Poe’s universe, a world filled with intricate tales of love, despair, horror, and the supernatural. As you traverse this intricate literary landscape, let the expertise of iResearchNet guide and support you. While the gothic beauty of Poe’s works is undeniably captivating, the task of analyzing and interpreting them can be daunting. Why wander alone in these literary labyrinths when you can have a seasoned guide by your side?

By choosing iResearchNet, you’re not just selecting a service; you’re opting for a partnership. A partnership that understands the nuances of Poe’s writings, recognizes the depths of his narratives, and captures the essence of his stories in every line written. Each tale, from the heart-wrenching Annabel Lee to the haunting Masque of the Red Death , demands more than just a surface-level reading. It calls for a deep dive into the very soul of the narrative, a task that our expert writers are perfectly poised to undertake.

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Article contents

Poe, edgar allan.

• Thomas Wright
• https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190201098.013.612
• Published online: 26 September 2017

At the beginning of the twenty-first century, Edgar Allan Poe was more popular than ever. The Raven and a number of his Gothic and detective tales were among the most famous writings in the English language, and they were often some of the first works of literature that young adults read. They had also entered the popular imagination—football teams and beers were named after them, and they had inspired episodes of the animated television show The Simpsons and a number of rock songs. Poe also continued to exercise a profound influence over writers and artists. Two of the most popular authors of the second half of the twentieth century, Stephen King and Isaac Asimov, acknowledged Poe as an important precursor. Countless novels published at the end of the twentieth century, such as Peter Ackroyd's The Plato Papers: A Prophesy (1999) and Mark Z. Danielewski's House of Leaves (2000), also bear definite traces of his influence. The Argentinean author Jorge Luis Borges, whose own works are greatly indebted to Poe, once called him the unacknowledged father of twentieth-century literature, and Poe's influence shows no signs of diminishing. Despite his enormous popularity and influence, Poe's canonical status is still challenged by certain commentators. Harold Bloom, for instance, regards Poe's writings as vulgar and stylistically flawed. Bloom follows in a long line of Poe detractors, many of whom have been amazed by the fact that what T. S. Eliot called his “puerile” and “haphazard” productions could have influenced “great” writers such as the French poets Charles Baudelaire and Stéphane Mallarmé

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Last Update: August 7, 2024 Navigation: Main Menu Poe's Works Bookshelf Editorial Policies Searching

Articles and Essays, 1827-1850

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Broadly stated, copyright regulations allow for most material printed before 1923 to be in the public domain. Anyone seeking to use this material should consult the appropriate copyright laws, as suitable. The principles of fair use generally allow for references and judicious quotation (properly credited), particularly for scholarly articles, student papers, and other educational purposes.

It should be noted that information and views expressed in these articles and essays reflect the research and opinions of the authors.

Items here are generally listed chronologically, although some sequences of closely related subjects are grouped together. Reprinted items are listed under the earliest date of publication.

~~ 1827-1829 ~~

• [Notice of Poe's poem “Al Aaraaf”] (1829) by Anonymous, Gazette and Daily Advertiser (Baltimore, MD), May 18, 1829 (Although Burton R. Pollin lists this item among reviews of Poe's work, it hardly makes any comment at all, being mostly an excerpt of the poem itself. The Poe Log notes that it appears in the advertising columns.)
• [Notice of Poe's poem “Fairyland”] (1829) by John Neal, Yankee and Boston Literary Gazette , September 1829
• [Mention of Poe's poem “Fairy-Land”] (1829) by N. P. Willis, American Monthly Magazine , November 1829
• [Notice of Poe's Al Aaraaf, Tamerlane and Minor Poems ] (1829) by John Neal, Yankee and Boston Literary Gazette , December 1829

~~ 1830-1839 ~~

• [ Review of Poe's Al Aaraaf, Tamerlane and Minor Poems ], by John Neal, Ladies' Magazine and Literary Gazette (Boston, MA), January 1830
• [ Review of Poe's Al Aaraaf, Tamerlane and Minor Poems ], by John Hill Hewitt, Minerva and Emerald (Baltimore, MD), about January 1830? (transcript from the undated clipping of the original manuscript as reprinted by Richard Barksdale Harwell, 1949)
• [ Review of Poe's Al Aaraaf, Tamerlane and Minor Poems ], by Anonymous, clipping from an unidentified Baltimore newspapper, about May 1830.
• [ Review of Poe's Poems (1831) ], by Anonymous, New-York American, for the Country (New York, NY), May 6, 1831, vol. XI, whole no. 1063
• [ Review of Poe's Poems (1831) ], by George P. Morris (?) ( The New-York Mirror , May 7, 1831)
• [ Review of Poe's Poems (1831) ], by Anonymous (possibly L. A. Wilmer), Saturday Evening Post , May 21, 1831 (Although Burton R. Pollin lists this items among the reviews of Poe's poems, it is hardly a comment of any substance, being primarily a reprint of his poem “To Helen.”)
• [ Review of Poe's Poems (1831) ], by Anonymous (possibly L. A. Wilmer), Aktinson's Casket , May 1831 (Although Burton R. Pollin lists this items among the reviews of Poe's poems, it is hardly a comment of any substance, being primarily a reprint of three of his poems. The brief introductory statement is reprinted from the Saturday Evening Post .)
• [ Review of Poe's Poems (1831) ], by Anonymous (possibly John Neal), Morning Courier and Enquirer , July 8, 1831
• [ Review of the Southern Literary Messenger for July 1835 ] by Anonymous, Daily National Intelligencer (Washington, DC), August 21, 1835
• [ Review of the Southern Literary Messenger for August 1835 ] by Anonymous, Daily National Intelligencer (Washington, DC), September 7, 1835
• [ Review of the Southern Literary Messenger for August 1835 ] by Anonymous, Charleston Daily Courier (Charleston, SC), August 29, 1835
• [ Review of the Southern Literary Messenger for September 1835 ] by Anonymous, Morning Courier and Enquirer (New York, NY), October-November 1835 (as reprinted in the National Banner and Nashville Whig for November 9, 1835)
• [ Review of the Southern Literary Messenger for December 1835 ] by James F. Otis (?), National Intelligencer (Washington, DC), December 4, 1835
• [ Review of the Southern Literary Messenger for January 1836 ] by Anonymous, Newbern Spectator (New Bern, NC), January 15, 1836
• [ Review of the Southern Literary Messenger for February 1836 ] by James Frederick Otis, Daily National Intelligencer (Washington, DC), February 17, 1836 (includes comments about the Poe's criticisms as well as his tale “The Duc de L'Omellette” and his poem “The Valley Nis.”)
• [ [Review of the Southern Literary Messenger for April 1836 ], by Anonymous, New-York Spectator , June 23, 1836 (includes a notice of Poe's essay on “Maelzel's Chess-Player”)
• [ Review of the Southern Literary Messenger for August 1836 ] by Anonymous, Charleston Daily Courier (Charleston, SC), September 8, 1836
• [ [Review of the Southern Literary Messenger for August 1836 ], by Anonymous, Boston Atlas , November-December 1836 (as reprinted in the National Banner and Nashville Whig , December 5, 1836) (comments on Poe's poem “The City of Sin,” quoting a portion)
• [ Review of the Southern Literary Messenger for February 1837 ] by Anonymous, Daily Commercial Advertiser (Buffalo, NY), March 25, 1837 (includes a comment about the second installment of Pym )
• [ Review of The Gift for 1836 ] by William D. Gallagher, Cincinnati Mirror, and Chronicle (Cincinnati, OH), August 22, 1835
• [ Review of The Gift for 1836 ] by Anonymous, Charleston Daily Courier (Charleston, SC), October 21, 1835
• “ The Successful Novel!! ,” by Theodore Sedgwick Fay, New York Mirror (New York, NY), April 9, 1836 (a parody of Poe's satire “Lion-izing”)
• [ Review of Poe's Narrative of A. G. Pym ] by Anonymous, Knickerbocker (New York, NY), August 1838
• [ Review of Poe's Narrative of A. G. Pym ” by Anonymous, United States Gazette (Philpadelphia, PA), August 2, 1838
• [ Review of Poe's Narrative of A. G. Pym ] by Anonymous, Waldie's Select Circulating Library (Philadelphia, PA), August 7, 1838
• [ Review of Poe's Narrative of A. G. Pym ] by George P. Morris (?), New-York Mirror (New York, NY), August 11, 1838
• [ Review of The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym ] by Anonymous, Albion, a Journal of Politics and Literature (New York, NY), August 18, 1838
• [ Review of Narrative of A. G. Pym ] by William Evans Burton, Burton's Gentleman's Magazine (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania), September 1838
• [ Review of Poe's Narrative of A. G. Pym ] by Anonymous, Snowden's Ladies' Companion (New York, NY), September 1838
• [ Review of Poe's Narrative of A. G. Pym ] by Anonymous, Monthly Review (London, UK), October 1838
• [ Review of Poe's Narrative of A. G. Pym ] by Anonymous, The Atlas (London, UK), October 20, 1838
• [ Review of Poe's Narrative of A. G. Pym ] by Anonymous, The Era (London, UK), October 21, 1838
• [ Review of Poe's Narrative of A. G. Pym ] by Anonymous, Spectator (London, UK), October 27, 1838
• [ Review of Poe's Narrative of A. G. Pym ] by Anonymous, Weekly Dispatch (London, UK), October 28, 1838
• [ Review of Poe's Narrative of A. G. Pym ] by Anonymous, New York Review (New York, NY), October 1838
• [ Review of Poe's Narrative of A. G. Pym ] by Anonymous, New Monthly Magazine (London, UK), November 1838
• [ Review of The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym ] by Anonymous, Monthly Review (London, UK), December 1838
• [ Review of The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym ] by Anonymous, Family Magazine (Cincinati, OH), December 1838
• [ Ode XXX — To Edgar A. Poe ” by Lambert A. Wilmer (under the pseudonym of Horace in Philadelphia), Saturday Evening Post (Philpadelphia, PA), August 11, 1838, p. 1, cols. 5-6
• [ Review of the American Museum for November ] by Anonymous, Virginia Free Press , January 10, 1839 (with a comment about “The Psyche Zenobia”)
• [ Review of Burton's Gentleman's Magazine for July and August] by Anonymous, Natchez Weekly Courier (Natchez, MS), August 30, 1839
• [ Review of the Burton's Gentleman's Magazine for October ] by “R.” The Globe (Washington, DC), September 16, 1839 (with a brief comment on “The Fall of the House of Usher.”)
• [ Review of Poe's Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque ] by John Frost, Alexander's Weekly Messenger (December 18, 1839)
• [ Review of Poe's Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque ] by L. F. Tasistro, New York Mirror (December 21 and 28, 1839)

~~ 1840-1849 ~~

• “ E. A. Poe's New Work ,” by James E. Heath, Southern Literary Messenger (Richmond, VA), vol. 6, no. 1, January 1840, p. 126, col. 1
• “ [Notice of Poe's Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque ],” by Morton McMichael, Godey's Lady's Book (Philadelphia, PA), vol. 20, no. 1, January 1840, p. 46, col. 1
• “[ Review of Burton's Magazine for March ],” by A. B., Daily National Intelligencer (Washington, D.C.), March 16, 1840
• “[ Review of Burton's Gentleman's Magazine for May ],” by Anonymous, Daily National Intelligencer (Washington, DC), May 8, 1840
• “ [Review of Graham's Magazine for May ],” by Anonymous, Baltimore Sun (Baltimore, MD), May 10, 1841
• “ [Review of Graham's Magazine for July ],” by Anonymous, Boston Morning Post (Boston, MA), June 24, 1841
• “ [Review of Graham's Magazine for September ],” by Anonymous, Boston Morning Post (Boston, MA), vol. XX, no. 50, August 27, 1841
• “ [Review of Graham's Magazine for September ],” by Anonymous, Evening Post (New York, NY), August 30, 1841
• “ [Review of ‘A Chapter on Autography]’ ,” by Edwin Percy Whipple, Boston Quarto Notion (Boston, MA), December 18, 1841
• “ Mr. Poe's Autography ,” by Edgar A. Poe (???), Public Ledger and Daily Transcript (Philadelphia, PA), December 23, 1841
• “[Mr. Poe's Autography],” by J. S. Du Solle, Spirit of the Times (Philadelphia, PA), late December 1841 (???)
• “ Mr. Edgar A. Poe and the Defenders of His Chapter on Autography ,” by Edwin Percy Whipple, Boston Quarto Notion (Boston, MA), January 3, 1841
• “Mr. Poe's Autography,” by J. S. Du Solle, Spirit of the Times (Philadelphia, PA), January 10, 1842
• “ Autographs ,” by Anonymous, New-York Mirror (New York, NY), vol. 20, no. 1, January 1, 1842, p. 3, col. 1
• “[ Review of Graham's Magazine for February ]” by Anonymous, Boston Morning Post (Boston, MA), January 29, 1842
• “[ Review of Graham's Magazine for March ]” by Anonymous, New York Tribune (New York, NY), February 26, 1842
• “[ Review of Graham's Magazine for April ]” by Anonymous, New York Tribune (New York, NY), March 29, 1842
• “[ Review of Graham's Magazine for April ]” by J. E. Snodgrass, Baltimore Saturday Visiter (Baltimore, MD), April 2, 1842
• “[ Review of Graham's Magazine ]” by Anonymous, Brother Jonathan (New York, NY), April 9, 1842
• “[ Review of The Gift for 1843 ]” by Anonymous, Charleston Courier (Charleston, SC), October 4, 1842
• “ Edgar A. Poe ” (1842) The Poets and Poetry of America (1st edition)
• “ Edgar A. Poe ” (1847) The Poets and Poetry of America (8th edition)
• “ Edgar A. Poe ” (1850) The Poets and Poetry of America (10th edition)
• “ Edgar Allan Poe ” (1855) The Poets and Poetry of America (16th edition)
• “ Edgar Allan Poe ” (February 25, 1843) (this version does not survive as a full issue. See notes on the article for an more complete explanation.)
• “ Edgar Allan Poe ” (March 4, 1843) (this version mostly matches the earlier form, but with one additional block of text, one additonal poem, and several minor changes in text. See notes on the article for an more complete explanation.)
• [ Notice of “Notes Upon English Verse” ], by Anonymous, Boston Post (Boston, MA), March 6, 1843
• “ [Review of The Gift for 1843 ] , by Anonymous, Foreign and Colonial Quarterly Review (London, UK), April 1843
• “ Editor's Table ” by Lewis Gaylord Clark, Knickerbocker Magazine (New York, NY), July 1843 (This portion of the “Editor's Table” includes makes some comment about Poe)
• “ Prose Romances of Poe ” by George Lippard, Citizen Soldier , July 26, 1843
• [ Review of Poe's Prose Romances ], by Anonymous, Pennsylvania Inquirer and National Gazette (New Orleans, LA), July 26, 1843
• [ Review of Poe's Prose Romances ], by Anonymous, Ladies' National Magazine (Philadelphia, PA), September 1843
• “ American Biography: Edgar Allan Poe ” by Joseph E. Snodgrass, Baltimore Saturday Visiter , July 29, 1843.
• “ Mr. Poe's Lecture ” by Anonymous, Philadelphia Saturday Museum , November 25, 1843
• “ Mr. Poe's Lecture ” by George Lippard, Citizen Soldier , November 29, 1843
• “ [Review of Poe's Lecture] ” by Academicus, Delaware State Journal , January 2, 1844
• “ Lecture by Mr. Poe ” by George Lippard, Citizen Soldier , January 10, 1844
• “ The Ghost of a Grey Tadpole ” a parody with Poe's name, but actually by Thomas Dunn English, Republican and Daily Argus (Baltimore, MD), February 1, 1844
• “ Our Contributors — Edgar Allan Poe ”  (February 1845, Graham's Magazine )
• Part I (January 20, 1845, Evening Mirror (New York))
• Part II (January 21, 1845, Evening Mirror (New York))
• “Edgar A. Poe”  (February 1, 1845, New-York Weekly Tribune )   (excerpts of the article, with Poe's poems “To Helen” and “The Haunted Palace.” The short introduction reads: “This number of Graham's Magazine has a likeness of E DGAR A. P OE , with a critique upon that critic and a brief outline of his career thus far, by James Russell Lowell. [/] This article is frank, earnest, and contains many just thoughts, expressed with force and point. We quote the following ... ”)
• “Edgar A. Poe” (1847) (a copy of the Graham's article, with two minor corrections by Lowell, signed and dated, possibly for use in Poe's proposed book on “Literary America.”)
• “ Edgar A. Poe ” ( Works of the Late Edgar Allan Poe , 1850)
• “ Premature Burials ” by Anonymous, New England Farmer and Horticultural Register (January 22, 1845)
• “ [Notice of Poe's Lecture on the Poets and Poetry of America] ” by N. P. Willis, Evening Mirror , February 27, 1845
• “ [Review of Poe's Lecture on the Poets and Poetry of America] ” by Horace Greeley (???) New-York Daily Tribune , March 1, 1845
• “ [Review of Poe's lecture on the] Poets and Poetry of America ” by N. P. Willis, Evening Mirror , March 1, 1845
• “ Plagiarism ” by Outis New-York Evening Mirror , March 1, 1845
• “[ Review of Poe's Tales ]” by Lawrence Labree, Rover , June 28, 1845
• “ [Review of Poe's Tales ] ” by Margaret Fuller, New York Daily Tribune , July 11, 1845
• “ [Review of Poe's Tales ] ” by Charles Anderson Dana, Harbinger (New York, NY), July 12, 1845
• “[ Review of Poe's Tales ]” by Anonymous, Spectator (London, UK), August 2, 1845 (a very brief review)
• “[ Review of Poe's Tales ]” by William Jerden (?), Literary Gazette , August 9, 1845 (a very brief review)
• “[ Review of Poe's Tales ]” by Anonymous, Atlas (London, UK), August 9, 1845 (a brief review, primarily quoting from “A Descent into the Maesltrom”)
• “ [Review of Poe's Tales ] ” by Freeman Hunt, Hunt's Merchants' Magazne and Commercial Review , August 1845, 13:205
• “[ Review of Poe's Tales ]” by Anonymous, The Critic (London, UK), September 6 and 20, 1845, pp. 378-380 and 420-422
• “[ Review of Poe's Tales ]” by George H. Colton, American Review , September 1845
• “ [Review of Poe's Tales] ” by Anonymous, Graham's Magazine , September 1845
• “ [Notice of Poe's Tales ” by William Gilmore Simms, Southern and Western Magazine , December 1845
• “ [Review of Poe's Tales ” by Anonymous, Literary Annual Register and Catalogue Raison of New Publications , London: E. Churton, 1845
• “[ Review of Poe's Tales ]” by Martin Farquhar Tupper, Literary Gazette , January 31, 1846 (a more extended review, with substantial extracts)
• “[ Review of Poe's Tales ],” by William Henry Smith, Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine (Edinburgh), November 1847 (the portion about Poe's Tales is included in a review of the American Library)
• “[ Review of Poe's Tales ],” by E. D. Forgues, La Revue des deux mondes (Paris, France), October 13, 1846 (an English translation of the article originally written and published in French)
• “ The Intellectual History, Condition, and Prospects of the Country ” by Rufus Wilmot Griswold, Daily National Intelligencer (Washington, DC), August 30, 1845, p. 2, cols. 1-2
• “ Literary: ‘Old Kit’ and James Russell Lowell ” by Lawrence Labree, Illustrated Magazine of Literature and Art , October 11, 1845
• “ A Failure ” by Cornelia Wells Walter, Daily Evening Transcript , October 17, 1845 (this item is a comment on Poe's performance at the Boston Lyceum)
• “ Edgar A. Poe ” by “*P*,” Daily Evening Transcript , October 18, 1845 (this item is a comment on Poe's performance at the Boston Lyceum)
• “ Mr. Poe's Poem ” by Anonymous, Boston Courier (Boston, MA), October 18, 1845 (this item is a comment on Poe's performance at the Boston Lyceum)
• “ Quizzing the Bostonians ” by Cornelia Wells Walter, Daily Evening Transcript (Boston, MA), October 30, 1845 (this item is another comment on Poe's performance at the Boston Lyceum)
• “[ Review of Poe's The Raven and Other Poems ]” by George Pope Morris, Evening Mirror (New York, NY), November 21, 1845, vol. III, no. 349, p. 2, cols. 3-4
• “[ Review of Poe's The Raven and Other Poems ]” by Margaret Fuller, New-York Daily Tribune , November 26, 1845, vol. V, no. 197, p. 1, cols. 4-5
• “ [Notice of Poe's The Raven and Other Poems ” by Lawrence Labree, Illustrated Magazine of Literature and Art , December 6, 1845
• “ [Review of Poe's The Raven and Other Poems ] ” by John Sullivan Dwight, Harbinger (New York, NY), December 6, 1845
• “ [Review of Poe's The Raven and Other Poems ]” by Lewis Gaylord Clark, Knickerbocker Magazine , January 1846, vol. 27, no. 1, pp. 69-72
• “ [Review of Poe's The Raven and Other Poems ] ” by Freeman Hunt, Hunt's Merchants' Magazne and Commercial Review , January 1846, 14:107
• “ [Review of Poe's The Raven and Other Poems ] ” by Lucius Alonzo Hine, Quarterly Journal and Review (Cincinnati, OH), January 1846, pp. 92-96
• “[ Review of Poe's The Raven and Other Poems ]” by Jesse Clement, Western Literary Messenger , January 10, 1846
• “ [Review of Poe's The Raven and Other Poems ] ” by Thomas Kibble Hervey, Athenaeum (London, UK), February 28, 1846
• “[ Review of Poe's The Raven and Other Poems ]” by Anonymous, The Critic (London, UK), April 4, 1846
• “[ Review of Poe's Raven and Other Poems ]” by William Gilmore Simms, Southern Patriot (Charleston, SC), March 2, 1846
• “[ Review of Poe's Raven and Other Poems ]” by William Jerden (?), Literary Gazette , March 14, 1846 (a brief review)
• “ Hypercriticism ” by Anonymous, Alexandria Gazette , January 26, 1846, vol. 47, no. 22, p. 1, col. 5 (reprinted from the Hartford Review )
• “ Plagiarisms, &c ” by Anonymous, Saturday Evening Post , March 14, 1846
• “ Mr. Poe and the New York Literati ” by C. F. Briggs, Evening Mirror (New York), May 26, 1846 (reprinted in the Weekly Mirror , May 30, 1846)
• “ Mr. English's Reply to Mr. Poe ” by Thomas Dunn English, Evening Mirror (New York), June 23, 1846 (reprinted in the Weekly Mirror , June 27, 1846) (Originally printed in the New York Morning Transcript , June 23, 1846)
• “ In Reply to Mr. Poe's Rejoinder ” by Thomas Dunn English, Evening Mirror (New York), July 13, 1846
• [ Comment on Poe's Literati of New York City ], by Anonymous, Daily Picayune (New Orleans, LA), July 15, 1846
• “ From Our Correspondent ” by William Gilmore Simms, Southern Patriot (Charleston, SC), March 2, 1846 (This letter to the newspaper includes a comment about Poe, among others)
• “Mr. Poe” by N. P. Willis, Home Journal (New York, NY), January 9, 1847
• “ Edgar A. Poe ” (1847) The Prose Writers of America (1st edition, issued March 3, 1847)
• “ Edgar A. Poe ” (1851) The Prose Writers of America (4th edition, issued May-June, 1851)
• “ Edgar A. Poe ” by Phillip Pendleton Cooke ( Southern Literary Messenger , Jan. 1848)
• “ Poe's Last Poem ” [Review of “Ulalume”] by Henry Beck Hirst (???), Philadelphia Saturday Courier , January 22, 1848
• [ Report on Poe's Lecture on “The Universe” ] by John H. Hopkins ( Evening Express (New York), February 4, 1848)
• [ Announcement of Poe's Lecture on “The Universe” ] by N. P. Willis (?) ( Home Journal (New York, NY), February 12, 1848)
• “ Mr. Poe's Lecture [on ‘The Universe’] ” by Anonymous ( Literary World (New York), February 5, 1848)
• “ To the Author of ‘The Raven’ ,” by Miss Harriet B. Winslow Graham's Magazine , April 1848 (a poem)
• “ Hints for Authors ” by Thomas Dunn English, John-Donkey (New York, NY), June 1, 1848 (with the satirical “A Tale of Tadpole”)
• “ [Notice of The Moral for Authors ” by Anonymous, Daily Morning Post (Pittsburgh, PA), June 18, 1848
• “ [Review of Poe's Eureka ] ” by Anonymous ( New York Morning Express (New York, NY), July 12, 1848)
• “[ Notice of Poe's Eureka ]” by Anonymous, Evening Post (New York, NY), July 15, 1848
• “[ Review of Poe's Eureka ]” by Anonymous, Albion (Albion, NY), July 15, 1848
• “ [Review of Poe's Eureka ] ” by Epes Sargent (?), Evening Transcript (Boston, MA), July 20, 1848, p. 2, cols. 1-2
• “[ Notice of Poe's Eureka ]” by Anonymous, Buffalo Courier (Buffalo, NY), July 24, 1848
• “ [Review of Poe's Eureka ” by John H. Hopkins (?), Literary World (New York, NY), July 29, 1848, p. 502, cols. 1-3
• “ [Notice of Poe's Eureka ” by Anonymous, Brooklyn Daily Eagle and Kings County Democrat (Brooklyn, NY), July 31, 1848, p. 2, col. 4
• “ [Review of Poe's Eureka ] ” by Anonymous ( New Church Repository and Monthly Review (New York, NY), August 1848)
• “ [Review of Poe's Eureka ] ” by Anonymous ( Daily Tribune (New York, NY), August 3, 1848)
• “ Mr. Poe's Eureka ” by N. P. Willis (?) ( Home Journal (New York), August 12, 1848)
• “ [Review of Poe's Eureka ] ” by Anonymous, Gazette of the Union, Golden Rule, and Odd Fellows's Family Companion (New York, NY), August 26, 1848)
• “ [Review of Poe's Eureka ] ” by Freeman Hunt, Hunt's Merchants' Magazine and Commercial Review , August 1848, 19:237
• “ [Review of Poe's Eureka ] ” by Anonymous, United States Magazine and Democratic Review , vol. XXIII, whole no. 122, August 1848, p. 192
• “[ Review of Poe's Eureka ]” by Anonymous, Cheltenham Chronicle and Gloucestershire Graphic (Cheltenham, UK), October 5, 1848
• “ [Review of Poe's Eureka ]” by John Milton Emerson, The Indicator (Amherst College), February 1849
• “ Literary and Political Police ” by George Lippard, Quaker City , December 30, 1848
• “ Mr. Poe's Lecture ,” Norfolk Beacon (Norfold, VA), September 17, 1849
• “ [Mr. Poe's Lecture] ” by John M. Daniel ( Richmond Semi-Weekly Examiner (Richmond, VA), September 25, 1849)
• “ Death of Edgar A. Poe ,” Baltimore Patriot and Commercial Gazette (Baltimore, MD), vol. 70, no. 83, October 8, 1849, p. 2, cols. 2-3
• “ Death of Edgar A. Poe ” (October 9, 1849, New York Daily Tribune )
• “Death of Edgar A. Poe” (October 16, 1849, New York Daily Tribune , California edition)
• “ Edgar A. Poe ” (October 10, 1849, New York Daily Tribune )
• “ Death of Edgar Allan Poe ” (October 20, 1849, New York Weekly Tribune ) (with some additional material omitted from the first edition but printed in the Tribune for October 10, 1849)
• “ [Obituary of Edgar A. Poe] ” by Anonymous Semi-Weekly Union (Washington, DC), October 9, 1849 (A brief obituary, probably with information supplied by J. E. Snodgrass)
• “ [Notice of Poe's Death ” by Anonymous, Evening Post (New York, NY), October 9, 1849
• “ [Obituary of Edgar A. Poe] ” by John M. Daniel ( Richmond Semi-Weekly Examiner (Richmond, VA), October 12, 1849) (Although the obituary is unsigned, Daniel was the editor of the Examiner , and much of it is essentially recycled, along with the Examiner article of October 19, into the article printed under his name in the Southern Literary Messenger for March 1850)
• “ Characteristics of Edgar A. Poe ” by John M. Daniel ( Richmond Semi-Weekly Examiner (Richmond, VA), October 19, 1849) (Although the article is unsigned, Daniel was the editor of the Examiner , and much of it is essentially recycled, along with the Examiner obituary of October 12, into the article printed under his name in the Southern Literary Messenger for March 1850)
• “ Death of Edgar Poe ” by Nathaniel P. Willis, Home Journal , October 20, 1849.
• “ Death of Edgar A. Poe ” ( Works of the Late Edgar Allan Poe , 1850)
• “Edgar Poe” ( Hurry-Graphs; or, Sketches of Scenery, Celebrities, & Society, Taken from Life , London: Henry G. Bohn, 1851)
• “ Memoir of Edgar A. Poe ” by Henry Beck Hirst, M’Makin's Model American Courier (Philadelphia, PA), October 20, 1849
• “ [Edgar A. Poe] ” by George Lippard, Quaker City (Philadelphia, PA), October 20, 1849, vol. 2, no. 5, p. 2, cols. 3-4
• “ Death of Edgar A. Poe ” by Anonymous, Richards’ Weekly Gazette (Ahtens, GA), October 20, 1849
• “ [Death of E. A. Poe] ” by Anonymous (possibly the editor, James Clark), Huntingdon Journal (Huntington, PA), October 23, 1849
• “ Edgar A. Poe ” by Benjamin Lindsey, Jr., Daily Mercury (New Bedford, MA), October 20, 1849 (reprinted in the Weekly Mercury for October 26, 1849)
• “ Death of Poe ” by E. H. N. Patterson, Oquawka Spectator (Oquawka, Illinois), October 24, 1849
• “ Miserrimus ” by Richard H. Stoddard, Daily Tribune (New York, NY), October 27, 1849 (a poem)
• “ The Late Edgar A. Poe ” by John R. Thompson ( Southern Literary Messenger , November 1849)
• “ Literary Fame ” by E. H. N. Patterson, Oquawka Spectator (Oquawka, Illinois), November 7, 1849
• “ The Late Edgar A. Poe ” by Rufus Wilmot Griswold, Literary American (New York, NY), November 10, 1849 (these few paragraphs reprinted in Griswold's memoir of Poe first published in 1850)
• “ Edgar Allan Poe ” by Anonymous, Daily Tribune (New York, NY), November 13, 1849 (a poem)
• “ On the Death of Edgar A. Poe ” by Sarah T. Bolton, Home Journal (New York), November 17, 1849 (a poem)
• “ Edgar Allan Poe ” by Anonymous, New York Semi-Weekly Tribune (New York), November 17, 1849 (a poem)
• “ Reminiscences of Edgar A. Poe ” by Frances S. Osgood, Saroni's Musical Times (New York), December 8, 1849
• “[ Preview notice of The Works of the Late Edgar Allan Poe ]” by Charles F. Briggs, Holden's Dollar Magazine (New York), December 1849
• “ [Review of The Works of the Late Edgar Allan Poe ] ” by Anonymous, New-York Spectator , January 17, 1850
• “ [Review of The Works of the Late Edgar Allan Poe ] ” by George Ripley, New-York Daily Tribune , January 19, 1850
• “ [Review of The Works of the Late Edgar Allan Poe ] ” by Evert A. Duyckinck, Literary World (New York, NY), January 26, 1850
• “ [Review of The Works of the Late Edgar A. Poe ] ”, by Anonymous, Albion, a Journal of Politics and Literature (January 19, 1850)
• “ [Review of The Works of the Late Edgar A. Poe ] ”, by Anonymous, American Artisan (New York, NY) (March 9, 1850)
• “ [Review of The Works of Edgar A. Poe ” by George Washington Peck, American Whig Review (New York, NY), vol. 5, no. 3, March 1850, pp. 301-315
• “ The Literati ” by Anonymous, Public Ledger and Daily Transcript (Philadelphia, PA), September 16, 1850 (brief review of volume 3 of The Works of the Late Edgar Allan Poe , edited by R. W. Griswold)
• “ The Literati ” by Anonymous, Oneida Morning Herald (Utica, NY), September 16, 1850 (brief review of volume 3 of The Works of the Late Edgar Allan Poe , edited by R. W. Griswold)
• “ [Review of The Literati ] ” by Evert A. Duyckinck, Literary World (New York, NY), September 21, 1850
• “ [Review of Literati ” by Freeman Hunt, Hunt's Merchants' Magazne and Commercial Review , September 1850, 23:363
• “ [Review of The Literati ] ” by Charles Jacobs Peterson, Peterson's Magazine (Philadelphia, PA), November 1850
• “ Edgar A. Poe ” by Henry Clay Preuss, Richmond Enquirer (Richmond VA), January 29, 1850 (the first version of this poem)
• “ Caelicola ” by Thomas Holley Chivers, Peterson's Magazine (Philadelphia, PA), February 1850 (a poem)
• “ [[An]] Estimate of Edgar Poe ” by Anonymous, Home Journal (New York, NY), February 2, 1850 (chiefly reprinting a letter from the Newark Daily Advertiser )
• “ Edgar Allan Poe ” by John M. Daniel, Southern Literary Messenger , March 1850
• “ The Late Edgar Allan Poe ” by George Rex Graham, Graham's Magazine (March 1850)
• “Graham's Estimate of Poe,” Boston Notion (May 4, 1850)  (reprinted from Graham's )
• “[Introduction]” by George Rex Graham, Poems [ by Edgar Allan Poe ] (New York: H. M. Caldwell, 1850) (used along with Willis's article as a memoir)
• “ Estimates of Edgar A. Poe ” by Nathaniel P. Willis and John R. Thompson, Home Journal (March 30, 1850)
• “ The New School of Poetry ” by Anonymous, Literary Union (Syracuse, NY), vol. 1, no. 4, April 1850, pp. 181-195
• “ Cryptography — Mr. Poe as a Cryptographer ” by Rev. Warren H. Cudworth, Lowell Weekly Journal (April 19, 1850)
• “ Edgar A. Poe ” by John Neal, Portland Daily Advertiser (Portland, Maine), April 26, 1850
• “ The Valley of Diamonds, Part XVI ” by Thomas Holley Chivers, Georgia Citizen (Macon, GA), July 12, 1850 (an early article in which Chivers claims that Poe stole the idea of “The Raven” from his own poem “To Allegra Florence in Heaven”)
• “ Edgar Allan Poe ” by Rufus Wilmot Griswold ( International Magazine , October 1850) (issued almost simultaneously with the “Memoir,” but lacking the “Preface” material.)
• “ Preface and Memoir ” ( Works of the Late Edgar Allan Poe , 1850)
• “ Editorial: To the Rev. Rufus Wilmot Griswold ” by George Rex Graham, Graham's Magazine (November 1850)
• “Edgar Poe Again” by Mrs. M. Louise Crossley, Sunny South (Atlanta, GA) (vol. V, whole no. 215, August 23, 1879, p. 2, col. 5) (reprints Graham's letter in full, with a brief introduction)
• “ Edgar Allan Poe ” by Thomas Powell, The Living Writers of America , New York: Stringer and Townsend, 1850

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Edgar Allan Poe by Richard Kopley LAST REVIEWED: 01 August 2024 LAST MODIFIED: 27 October 2016 DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780199827251-0050

Born to a gifted actress and a less talented actor, Edgar Allan Poe (b. 1809–d. 1849) was orphaned in 1811 and taken in by the Allans of Richmond. Over time, tensions with John Allan grew, culminating with young Poe’s withdrawal from the University of Virginia in 1826 for incurring gambling debts and leading to his 1827 voyage to Boston. Poe published Tamerlane and Other Poems (1827), then joined the army, eventually serving as a cadet at West Point, and, after deliberately causing his own court-martial, lived in Baltimore with his aunt Maria Clemm, his cousin Virginia, and his brother, Henry (who died in 1831). Having published Al Aaraaf, Tamerlane, and Minor Poems (1829) and Poems (1831), Poe shifted to fiction, and in 1835 he became an editor of Richmond’s Southern Literary Messenger . He published short stories, poems, and criticism, and he began to write his novel The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym . Owing to his drinking, however, he lost his job in 1837 and ventured, with his new wife, Virginia, and his aunt (now his mother-in-law), to New York City—where he published Pym (1838)—and then to Philadelphia. In 1842 Virginia developed tuberculosis, his drinking intensified, and his poverty continued—indeed, he declared bankruptcy late that year. Yet, also during the Philadelphia period, he served as a magazine editor and wrote some of his greatest stories. His collection Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque was published in 1840, and he soon thereafter created the modern detective story. In 1844 Poe and his family moved to New York City, where he achieved his greatest fame with “The Raven” in 1845. Also, he published The Raven and Other Poems (1845) and Tales (1845). But his drinking interfered with his editing the Broadway Journal , and he became involved in literary and legal conflicts. He and his family moved to Fordham, and Virginia died there in January 1847. In 1848 he published his cosmological prose-poem, Eureka , and in 1849 he returned to Richmond and became engaged to a wealthy widow, Elmira Royster Shelton, whom he had known in his youth. But he clearly was unhappy with the arrangement. Exactly what happened in Baltimore is not known, but on 3 October 1849 he was found inebriated and “rather the worse for wear”; he died in the Washington College Hospital four days later. Rufus Griswold, his literary executor, wrote an infamously hostile obituary, from which Poe’s reputation has never fully recovered. Certainly, Poe had his share of mortal frailties, but he also created immortal works of literature.

A wide variety of full-length studies of Poe are available; a selection is offered here. The introductory works are Fisher 2008 , Hammond 1983 , Hayes 2009 , and Symons 1978 . All are written with ease, brevity, and clarity. The most rewarding for the new student of Poe is surely Fisher 2008 . The ambitious full-length studies are Allen 1934 , Hoffman 1972 , Quinn 1998 , and Silverman 1991 . For the authority of its research, Silverman 1991 is clearly the book to read. But Hoffman 1972 , with its lively, idiosyncratic interpretation of Poe’s writings, is a delight. And Allen 1934 and Quinn 1998 furnish important and interesting foundational work, which helped shape decades of Poe studies.

Allen, Hervey. Israfel: The Life and Times of Edgar Allan Poe . New York: Farrar & Rinehart, 1934.

If its prose is sometimes a bit overheated and the detail occasionally imagined, this volume, which updates and corrects the two-volume 1926 version, is still a worthwhile, spirited, and engaging presentation of Poe’s life.

Fisher, Benjamin F. The Cambridge Introduction to Edgar Allan Poe . Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2008.

DOI: 10.1017/CBO9780511816888

Slender, clear, even-handed, accessible introduction to Poe. This is a very good place to start for its brief and cogent considerations of his life, his context, his work, and its reception.

Hammond, J. R. The Edgar Allan Poe Companion . London: Macmillan, 1983.

A convenient introduction, featuring a brief biography, an analysis of his works in various genres, and handy orienting tools—a Poe dictionary and a listing of people and places in Poe’s works.

Hayes, Kevin J. Edgar Allan Poe . London: Reaktion, 2009.

This brief, recent account of Poe’s life opens with his influence and his participation in literary contests and then takes a more traditional chronological trajectory. The attitude conveyed is a mixture of pity and admiration.

Hoffman, Daniel. Poe Poe Poe Poe Poe Poe Poe . 1st ed. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1972.

Lively, personal, compelling study of Poe and his works, written con brio . The author offers a series of jaunty and provocative close readings with attention to a range of matters, from the hoaxical to the heroic.

Quinn, Arthur Hobson. Edgar Allan Poe: A Critical Biography . Foreword by Shawn Rosenheim. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1998.

The classic biography of Poe, written with ample research and evident affection. It includes a generous sampling of the letters and a deft blending of the life and the work. Sympathetic and appreciative, this volume continues to be a substantial contribution. Originally published in 1941.

Silverman, Kenneth. Edgar Allan Poe: Mournful and Never-Ending Remembrance . New York: HarperCollins, 1991.

Thoroughly researched standard biography of Poe, readable and reliable. It ably relates the life to the work but sometimes offers restrained admiration. The approach is psychoanalytic, with a thoughtful emphasis on Poe’s lifelong mourning.

Symons, Julian. The Tell-Tale Heart: The Life and Works of Edgar Allan Poe . New York: Harper & Row, 1978.

This work offers two separate overviews—one of Poe’s life and one of Poe’s works. The writing is straightforward, the interpretation tilted toward the psychoanalytic and without great regard for the academic.

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34 Poe and His Global Advocates

Department of English, Bringham Young University

• Published: 05 April 2018
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This essay explores Edgar Allan Poe’s extraordinary relationships with various literary traditions across the globe, posits that Poe is the most influential US writer on the global literary scene, and argues that Poe’s current global reputation relies at least as much on the radiance of the work of Poe’s literary advocates—many of whom are literary stars in their own right—as it does on the brilliance of Poe’s original works. The article briefly examines Poe’s most famous French advocates (Baudelaire, Mallarmé, Valéry); glosses the work of his advocates throughout Europe, Asia, and the Americas; and offers a concise case study of Poe’s influence on and advocacy from three twentieth-century writers from the Río de la Plata region of South America (Quiroga, Borges, and Cortázar). The essay concludes by reading the relationships between Poe and his advocates through the ancient definition of astral or stellar influence.

To claim that no other US writer has had as much influence on world literature as Edgar Allan Poe is not to practice hyperbole. To stake this claim in the active voice that it deserves: Poe is the most influential US writer in the world. The United States has certainly produced other writers whose works have influenced literature on a global scale, but we (as scholars, readers, consumers) would be hard-pressed to find another US author whose global presence is as broad and whose international impact resonates as deeply as Poe’s. Poe is ubiquitous. His works and his image manifest themselves in highbrow (literature, critical theory, art, classical music, and cinema), popular (B movies, T-shirts, comic books, various genres of popular music, and all sorts of kitsch), and social media cultures (YouTube videos, blogs, Twitter accounts, and countless memes) across the world. Most Poe audiences—regardless of the language(s) in which they access Poe—come to Poe in more than one way, and these varied avenues to Poe speak to the lasting power of his works themselves and to the rejuvenating power of what translation studies scholar André Lefevere calls “refractions,” “rewrites,” or “rewritings” of literary works. Lefevere argues that translators, literary critics, creators of anthologies, and literary historians are all rewriters of texts and that their works or rewritings wield significant power that keeps “original” works or source texts and their authors alive in the literary marketplace and in our literary canons. 1 Linking this type of rewriting with the creative responses to Poe that poets and fiction writers have created since Poe’s death in 1849 reveals the almost incalculable strands of influence Poe’s works and his persona have generated.

Although the scope of this essay does not allow me to prove quantitatively my claim about Poe’s global impact with raw data, a brief list of the distinct threads of Poe’s influence on world literature and culture, along with my analysis, substantiate my declaration. Poe’s invention of the detective genre, alone, puts him on a short list of globally influential US writers. The influence of Poe’s Dupin tales and other stories of ratiocination, the weight of his tales of terror, the power of his pre-Freudian explorations of the human psyche, the resonance (both formal and narrative) of his melancholy poetry, the timeliness of his attempts at early science fiction, and the longevity of his theory of effect on the way we think about short fiction all combine to make a clear case for Poe’s position as the most influential US writer. 2 In short, Poe came fairly early in the US literary tradition, he wrote in more genres than many influential US writers, and, importantly, his disparate works have led to his being championed by some of the most significant writers in various global literary traditions from the middle of the nineteenth century until now.

My argument rests on this last point—on the championing of Poe and the advocacy for his literature that numerous writers who are considered important, or even essential, to their own literary traditions have adopted from the late 1840s onward. Poe influenced these writers, but they also influenced him (or, stated more directly, they influenced his reputation and his overall image) by giving his work and his life special attention in their own literary corpora. 3 These literary stars act as advocates who “plead for,” “speak on behalf of,” “support, recommend, [and] speak favorably of” Poe. 4 Their advocacy continually refreshes and maintains Poe’s image while spreading Poe’s work across divides of both time and space.

Considering the reciprocal relationship between Poe and his global advocates allows us to reread the opening paragraph of Rufus Griwold’s now infamous obituary for Poe as ironic or unintentional foreshadowing:

EDGAR ALLAN POE is dead. He died in Baltimore the day before yesterday. This announcement will startle many, but few will be grieved by it. The poet was well known, personally or by reputation, in all this country; he had readers in England, and in several of the states of Continental Europe; but he had few or no friends; and the regrets for his death will be suggested principally by the consideration that in him literary art has lost one of its most brilliant but erratic stars. 5

Several positive obituaries and rebuttals to Griswold’s caustic commentary demonstrate that Poe did, in fact, have plenty of friends when he died in 1849. 6 However, Griswold’s nod to Poe’s growing reputation outside of the United States unwittingly points toward the friendships that would later salvage Poe’s reputation from Griswold’s character assassination. These “foreign” friends or advocates treated Poe’s work with a seriousness and his image with a reverence that, in the former case, would not be seen in his own country until at least the modernist period and, in the latter case, might never be equaled on Poe’s home turf. Many of them were vivid literary stars who brought a stability to Poe’s reputation, raising it to the astral level regardless of Griswold’s attempt to diminish Poe’s brilliance by qualifying it as erratic.

In the following pages, I offer both a sweeping and a specific analysis of Poe and his global advocates. In the first section, I examine in broad terms, beginning with France and then glossing East Asia and Latin America, how Poe’s writings and his persona resonated with key literary figures from disparate nations throughout the globe, how these writers became strong advocates for Poe, and how their advocacy made Poe a central figure in many of their specific literary traditions and a cardinal presence on the global literary map. For most of this section, I approach authors from literary and linguistic traditions outside of my own training and expertise, and although I cite some of the primary texts in their source languages, most of the scholarship with which I engage in this section is in English. This section hints at the extensive reach of both Poe’s global influence and the world’s influence on Poe, inherently reveals the linguistic limits of any single-authored project on Poe’s global presence, and demonstrates that the significance of the relationships between Poe and these particular writers has reached a level in which entire bodies of literary criticism in the source languages and in English are dedicated to their analysis. I then offer a case study of three particular writers who were Poe advocates in the Río de la Plata region of South America, a literary and linguistic tradition I know well, as a detailed example of Poe’s reciprocal influence and the positive power of his advocates. I conclude by examining the ancient concept of astral influence, describing these advocates as literary stars, and arguing that, in both the broad and the specific cases, Poe’s current global reputation relies at least as much on the radiance of the advocacy as on the brilliance of his original works.

Global Advocates from France and Beyond

Poe’s global advocates have received increased attention in the English-language academy since the middle of the twentieth century. While T. S. Eliot wondered aloud about what the French saw in Poe in a Library of Congress lecture in 1948 and walked away seeing Poe with new eyes, 7 other scholars have produced several important treatises on Poe and France over the last century, including Célestin Pierre Cambiaire’s 1927   The Influence of Edgar Allan Poe in France (which predates Eliot’s musings), Patrick F. Quinn’s 1957   The French Face of Edgar Poe , and many works by Lois Davis Vines. 8 Poe’s relationship with both Spanish American letters and peninsular Spanish literature has received serious treatment since 1934, when John Eugene Englekirk published what was, at the time, an exhaustive book on Poe and his Spanish-speaking advocates on both sides of the Atlantic— Edgar Allan Poe in Hispanic Literature . 9 In more recent decades, several edited collections have reiterated the importance of the French and Spanish/Spanish American Poe connections while casting broader nets that demonstrate Poe’s resounding influence and its reciprocal responses across Asia, the Americas, Europe, northern Africa, and various islands throughout the world’s oceans: Benjamin Franklin Fisher’s 1986   Poe and Our Times: Influences and Affinities ; Lois Davis Vines’s 1999   Poe Abroad: Influence, Reputation, Affinities ; Barbara Cantalupo’s 2012   Poe’s Pervasive Influence ; and my and Margarida Vale de Gato’s 2014   Translated Poe all expose and examine Poe’s impact on disparate world sites and literary traditions and the enormity and intensity of the efforts of his global advocates. 10

French poet Charles Baudelaire serves as the archetypal Poe advocate. Although not Poe’s first foreign reader or his first French translator, Baudelaire took to Poe with an alacrity rarely seen in a relationship between two literary giants. Their literary affinity became the relationship that delivered Poe to a truly global audience, and it still serves as the most powerful example of a major literary figure in his own right dedicating a significant amount of time, effort, and love to the spreading of Poe’s work and the cultivation of his image. Literary advocacy can take many forms, and in the case between Baudelaire and Poe, we could describe Baudelaire as a disciple, a translator, and a biographer/literary critic of Poe—all particular parts that other Poe advocates tend to play as well, although not every advocate adopts all three roles.

Baudelaire’s Poe discipleship might best be captured in the oft-quoted passage from Mon cœur mis à nu [ My Heart Laid Bare ] in which he resolved: “Faire tous les matins ma prière à Dieu, réservoir de toute force et de toute justice, à mon père, à Mariette et à Poe , comme intercesseurs;” [“To pray every morning to God, the source of all power and all justice; to my father, to Mariette and to Poe , as intercessors.”] 11 This resolution, made during Baudelaire’s final years of life, demonstrates both his intimate relationship with Poe (as he places the dead author on the same level as his own dead father and his family’s deceased servant who had cared for him in his youth) and his elevation of Poe to the very position which Baudelaire himself had spent his adult life fulfilling for Poe—the role of the advocate. The Oxford English Dictionary ’s first and oldest definition of the noun “advocate” describes the word in clearly religious terms as follows: “1. Christian Church . A person or agent believed to intercede between God and sinners; spec. Christ or the Virgin Mary.” 12 While Baudelaire places Poe in the position of a spiritual advocate as an intermediary between himself and God, Baudelaire had already placed himself as a literary advocate, first between Poe and France and then between Poe and the world, for almost two decades according to the OED ’s more common definition of the term: “Advocate: 4. gen . a. A person who pleads for or speaks on behalf of another; a person who supports, recommends, or speaks favorably of another.” 13

Baudelaire’s advocacy for Poe is most visible through his massive translation project of Poe’s prose and his treatment of Poe’s persona in his biographical sketches of the US writer. As Vines notes, “[b]etween 1848 and his premature death in 1867, Baudelaire published translations of forty-four of Poe’s tales, The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym, Eureka , and other prose pieces while continuing to write” his own works. 14 He also wrote a lengthy biographical piece on Poe that opened his famous 1856 collection of Poe translations, Histoires extraordinaires . 15 In all, the French poet “devoted” a total of “1,063 pages [ . . . ] to Poe.” 16 In short, Baudelaire maintained a career within a career as a Poe advocate, and the global impact of his Poe advocacy is incalculable. The various essays in Poe Abroad and Translated Poe reiterate how Baudelaire, his translations, and/or his writings on Poe’s biography served as founding elements of Poe’s rising reputation across Europe (especially in Portugal, Spain, and Romania) and the Americas (from Mexico to Argentina, from Nicaragua to Brazil, and most literary traditions in-between). Each of these literary polysystems embraced Poe, but by comparing story titles, which stories appear (and often in which order), and basic details from Poe biographies available in these places in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, we know that this Poe is primarily Baudelaire’s Poe. As Poe’s primary advocate, he also served as a filter that influenced which type of Poe these traditions initially received and which type of Poe they originally revered. Even in the twenty-first century, Baudelaire’s proclivity for the darker, guilt-ridden, or mysterious Poe tales that he published in Histoires extraordinaires and Nouvelles histoires extraordinaires still reveals itself through the way contemporary readers and scholars view Poe in these traditions.

Staying closer to Baudelaire’s home, his work with Poe also brought about profound effects on several French writers who wrote in his wake—especially Stéphane Mallarmé and Paul Valéry. Mallarmé continued the Poe translation project where Baudelaire had left off and translated a small number of Poe’s poems into verse and a large number into prose. 17 In another move of discipleship, he purportedly moved to London with the expressed purpose of improving his English so that he could better understand Poe’s works. 18 Mallarmé’s own poem, “Le tombeau d’Edgar Poe,” advocates for Poe by chastising Poe’s “blasphemous” detractors in his and Mallarmé’s own century and by marking eternity as Poe’s territory. 19 Valéry, in contrast, was more interested in Poe as thinker and gravitated toward pieces such as “The Philosophy of Composition,” the Dupin tales, and Eureka . His own Monsieur Teste develops a character who can be read as an extension or exaggeration of Poe’s C. Auguste Dupin or as an attempt at capturing self-consciousness. 20 By approaching Poe’s thoughts on thought rigorously, Valéry acts as a different kind of Poe advocate who assigns a seriousness to Poe that, as we have already seen with Eliot’s “From Poe to Valéry,” affects Poe’s reputation and his standing back in his own country.

In short, France was and is a special place for Poe advocacy, and this first wave, or set of three waves, of French advocacy for Poe functions as a clear example of how translation studies theorist Itamar Even-Zohar describes the integration of “translated literature” into a “central position” in a particular “literary polysystem.” 21 Even-Zohar argues that

to say that translated literature maintains a central position in the literary polysystem means that it participates actively in shaping the center of the polysystem. In such a situation it is by and large an integral part of innovatory forces, and as such likely to be identified with major events in literary history while these are taking place. This implies that in this situation no clear-cut distinction is maintained between “original” and “translated” writings, and that often it is the leading writers (or members of the avant-garde who are about to become leading writers) who produce the most conspicuous or appreciated translations. 22

The overwhelming success of Baudelaire’s translations of Poe inserted Poe firmly into the French literary tradition, making Poe (not just Baudelaire) influential on Mallarmé, Valéry, and the French Symbolists. These latter writers’ work as Poe translators, as poets, and as thinkers further wrote Poe into the French literary polysystem, where his writings and persona continue to influence new generations of French writers. We cannot, however, separate this Poe influence from these “leading writers” who did happen to be “members of the avant-garde who . . . bec[a]me leading writers.” 23 In other words, Poe–Baudelaire–Mallarmé–Valéry are so entangled that it can be difficult to distinguish between Poe’s influence per se on French literature and art versus Poe’s influence via his three most famous French advocates. One thing, however, remains certain: without the advocacy there would be no French Poe. A Poe in France would certainly exist, but Poe’s position as a writer central to the French literary tradition relies on the pointed and painstaking advocacy of these three writers who, themselves, form essential parts of the French canon. 24

The early start date, deep national impact, and widespread global influence of Poe’s relationship with his French advocates make this particular example of Poe advocacy remarkable, but Poe’s good fortune with significant writers on the global scene is not singular to France. Essential writers in several disparate literary traditions discovered (some through the French and some on their own), enjoyed, and advocated for Poe. In some cases, these advocates played more than one part—translator, biographer, literary critic, anthologizer, poet, fiction writer—in their advocacy for Poe, whereas in other circumstances individual advocates adopted single roles. Poe Abroad and Translated Poe demonstrate time after time how Poe influenced important literary figures and how these writers then became Poe advocates in numerous ways and at various levels of intensity.

In the rest of Europe and in Russia, important national writers continually advocated for Poe. Elvira Osipova describes Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s publication of Dmitry Mikhailovsky’s Russian translations of “The Black Cat” and “The Tell-Tale Heart” in the former’s magazine Vremya as an important “turning point” in Poe’s well-documented Russian reception, 25 and both Osipova and Eloise M. Boyle examine the reciprocal relationship between Poe and the Russian Symbolist poets Konstantin Bal’mont and Valery Brjusov. 26 Liviu Cotrău calls two of Poe’s early translators in Romania—Mihai Eminescu and Ion Luca Caragiale—“Romania’s best poet and best playwright, respectively” and demonstrates how these authors both translated Poe via Baudelaire. 27 This early interest by important Romanian authors in a French Poe cast the US writer as a significant figure and led to an extensive tradition of Poe translation and retranslation in Romania that has flourished throughout the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. 28 Margarida Vale de Gato examines how Fernando Pessoa, “the leading figure of Portuguese modernism,” continually returned to Poe “in his prolific unpublished papers” and published three of his translations of Poe’s poems. 29 And this list could continue. Whether early in Poe’s global reception (e.g., Baudelaire), much later in that reception (e.g., the postmodern German writer Arno Schmidt), or somewhere in between (e.g., late nineteenth-century Swedish writers Ola Hansson and August Strindberg), many European writers who were key movers in their own national literary traditions “supported” and “spoke for” Poe by translating, responding to, and/or rewriting his works.

Poe’s influence in East Asia began later than his influence in Europe, and although that influence might seem less reciprocal than the Poe–Europe relationship (with the influence running from Poe to the local writer rather than from the East Asian writer back to Poe’s reputation), Japan stands out as one site of two-way influence and powerful Poe advocacy. 30 Takayuki Tatsumi demonstrates Poe’s lasting influence in Japan from the Meiji period (1868–1912) through the contemporary Heisei period, noting that Poe was particularly influential during the twentieth century and that Japanese artists of that century actively responded to Poe rather than passively receiving his influence: “from the Taisho period (1912–1926) through the Showa period (1926–1989), Poe was deeply imbibed, further developed, and creatively rewritten by a number of talented Japanese writers.” 31 Along this path, Poe was privileged enough to be translated or adapted by “the distinguished novelist Aeba Kōson” and “noted journalist” Morita Shiken during the earlier Meiji period as a part of Japan’s major shift from archaic, formal written expression to modern, conversational writing; 32 to be translated by Sato Haruo and Tanizaki Jun’Ichiro and rewritten by Akutagawa Ryūnosuke—all “major Romantic and even decadent writers of the Taisho period” 33 —and to be taken up by the popular detective writer Edogawa Rampo of the Showa period, who “established the Japanese literary subgenre of detective fiction” and whose penname references Poe. 34 Tatsumi clearly demonstrates the reciprocal relationship between Poe and Rampo in specific terms that we can apply to the Poe–Japan relationship more generally: “While it is true that Poe’s arabesque, grotesque, and ratiocinative tales exerted great influence upon Rampo’s Ero-Gro-Nonsense detective fiction, it is also true that Rampo’s powerful and creative misreadings of his precursor compel us today to reread the earlier tradition through the prism of his modern re-creations.” 35 Poe has influenced several of Japan’s important writers, these writers have advocated for his work (particularly his fiction), and their own work now influences how the contemporary Japanese audience reads Poe.

Significant writers from various nations in Latin America have also adopted Poe into their literary systems and served as his faithful advocates. At several moments over the last one hundred and forty years or so, the literary relationships between specific Latin American writers and Poe have been nearly as productive as the reciprocal or symbiotic relationship between Poe and Baudelaire. Not surprisingly, some of the earliest relationships between Poe and his Latin American advocates were also mediated by Baudelaire, but scholars have demonstrated that Poe’s long-term connections with the Spanish American literary tradition rely on a three-headed source of Poe in English, French, and Spanish and that his relationship with Brazilian letters includes English-, French-, and Portuguese-language texts. 36 Poe’s presence in Brazil, as Carlos Daghlian argues, “developed independently from the American author’s renown in the Spanish-language countries of the continent[,]” and it began with the “good fortune of being discovered by Brazil’s most outstanding writer, Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis.” 37 Machado translated Poe’s “The Raven” in 1883, and both the bird and its author have been significant figures in Brazilian literature ever since. While Machado introduced Brazil to Poe, many other Brazilian writers and translators have advocated for Poe either in their own works or as Poe translators, and at times their “supplications” have taken new and interesting routes. For example, the acclaimed postmodern novelist Clarice Lispector translated eighteen of Poe’s tales for a collection aimed specifically at teenage readers. 38 Although Lispector’s own novels are known for their narrative complexity, Lenita Esteves demonstrates how Lispector’s translations of Poe’s stories partially “abridge” Poe’s texts while both “simplif[ying]” Poe’s language and shifting it to “a more colloquial register,” 39 serving as a powerful and peculiar example of how one of Poe’s advocates speaks both “favourably” and “on behalf of” him to a very specific audience: Brazilian teens. This audience, it appears, has openly received Lispector’s message about Poe since her translated collection was in its twenty-second edition in 2014. 40

Spanish America’s advocacy for Poe has been even more tireless than Brazil’s, with key figures from the late nineteenth century through the early twenty-first century praising, responding to, and interacting with Poe. Adaptations/translations of three of Poe’s tales were circulating in Peru as early as the late 1840s, and Poe’s works were being translated in various Spanish American locales during the 1860s and 1870s. 41 However, Poe truly entered Spanish American letters with force in the late 1880s and early 1890s as a part of the modernista movement headed by the Nicaraguan poet Ruben Darío. The Venezuelan poet Juan Antonio Pérez Bonalde had translated Poe’s “The Raven” in 1887, 42 just a year before Darío’s collection Azul openly launched Spanish American modernismo and six years before Darío consecrated Poe as one of the “special” or “rare ones” in his 1893 text “Los raros.” 43 Pérez Bonalde’s translation was not the first in the Spanish language, but its rigor and its timing made it an extremely effective tool for promoting Poe across the Spanish-speaking world, and it remains the Spanish-language version of Poe’s most famous poem, even though other Spanish-language translations of “The Raven” that follow in its wake do a better job of re-creating Poe’s odd rhyme and meter. 44 Pérez Bonalde’s translation, coupled with Darío’s Baudelaire-influenced praise for Poe as the ultimate artist for art’s sake—“un sublime apasionado, un nervioso, uno de esos divinos semilocos necesarios para el progreso humano, lamentables cristos del arte, que por amor al eterno ideal tienen su calle de la amargura, sus espinas y su cruz” [“a passionate sublime being, a nervous man, one of those divine partially madmen necessary for human progress, lamentable Christs of art who for the love of an eternal ideal have their via dolorosa , their thorns, and their cross”] 45 —cast Poe as one of modernismo ’s primary icons and fountains of influence. This particular Poe, Englekirk argues, “was to fertilize the intellect and imagination of Central and South America more than any other American author,” and as he avers, “almost all of the followers of Modernism were directly or indirectly influenced by Poe.” 46 This influence spans the American continent from Mexico to Central America and from the equatorial nations of Colombia and Venezuela down to the southern cone. Several Poe pieces appeared in periodicals in Spanish America before the modernistas , and his presence significantly increased via the translation work of his French advocates, but the advocacy of Pérez Bonalde and Darío—the former as translator and the latter as image-curator—fused Poe and Spanish American modernismo in a way that was beneficial to both parties while permanently inscribing both the movement itself and its foreign poet-prophet into Spanish American literary history.

The reciprocal relationship of influence and advocacy between Poe and his Spanish American advocates remained strong through the twentieth century and continues today. Poe was a significant influence on the writers of the so-called Boom—especially on the Argentine Julio Cortázar and the Mexican Carlos Fuentes—and on major authors after the Boom like the Chilean Roberto Bolaño. Contemporary Spanish American writers also continue to sing his praises. For example, in 2008 Mexican author Jorge Volpi and Peruvian writer Fernando Iwasaki coedited a new edition of Cortázar’s Poe translations in which they engaged sixty-seven current Spanish American and peninsular writers (including themselves) with Poe, inviting each contemporary author to write a brief introduction for one of Poe’s tales. This edition clearly shows Poe’s influence on the Boom and on the generation that followed. It also demonstrates the Poe advocacy of writers from both eras since, along with Cortázar’s translations and the sixty-seven contemporary introductions, the volume begins with an essay from Fuentes and another from the Peruvian Nobel laureate Mario Vargas Llosa as prologues. 47

Perhaps the most pointed example of extended Poe advocacy in Spanish America comes from the Río de la Plata region of Argentina and Uruguay. This example spans the twentieth century from the latter part of the modernista era well through the Boom via the works of Horacio Quiroga, Jorge Luis Borges, and Julio Cortázar—each author a major figure in Spanish American literary history, each indebted to Poe, and each a powerful advocate for Poe who helped to solidify his presence in the national/regional traditions of the Río de la Plata and in the broader literary polysystem of Spanish America.

A Trinity of Advocates

Quiroga, Borges, and Cortázar, each in his own right, continue to wield significant influence over the literature of the Río de la Plata region and over Spanish American letters in general several decades after their respective deaths in 1937, 1986, and 1984, and each writer served and continues to serve as a powerful Poe advocate for Spanish-language readers. Grouping the three authors as a trinity rather than simply a trio might appear problematic on the surface since they did not hold a singular purpose, literary or otherwise. Indeed, Borges was a rather harsh critic of Quiroga’s writing, and Cortázar, while heavily influenced by and indebted to Borges’s poetics, clearly disagreed with his fellow Argentine’s politics. In their advocacy for Poe, however, these three literary giants find some common ground, although they each played distinct roles as Poe advocates. Each of these writers was influenced by Poe, and each one spent a significant amount of time responding to Poe. Quiroga’s advocacy can best be defined in terms of discipleship; Borges’s advocacy for Poe was multilayered, but many of his interactions with Poe (whether articles, prologues, or anthologized pieces) can all fit under the broader umbrella of the work of the literary critic; and Cortázar’s advocacy, although also multifaceted, remains most visible through his translations of the vast majority of Poe’s prose. The disciple, the critic, and the translator all spoke for, supported, and recommended Poe to their reading public. This trinity’s advocacy for Poe is matched only by the earlier trinity of Baudelaire, Mallarmé, and Valéry, whose French advocacy for Poe—to the bemusement of Borges and to the pleasure of Cortázar—had already placed Poe in a space of privilege in the Río de la Plata by the beginning of Quiroga’s career. 48

Quiroga’s Poe discipleship began early and continued throughout his publishing career, and Quiroga advocated for Poe via imitation of, conversation with, and prescription of the techniques and themes of his literary master. In the realm of imitation, Quiroga’s first attempt to re-create the horrors of revenge (felt both by the seeker of vengeance and by the victim) in Poe’s famous “The Cask of Amontillado” appeared as a brief prose entry entitled “El tonel de amontillado” in Quiroga’s first published book—a modernista collection of poetry titled Los arrecifes de coral that Quiroga published in 1901. 49 The very title reveals the lack of distance between this tale and Poe’s text since it is simply a translation of the title of Poe’s most famous revenge story. Quiroga’s piece begins: “Poe dice que, habiendo soportado del mejor modo posible las mil injusticias de Fortunato, juró vengarse cuando éste llegó al terreno de los insultos. Y nos cuenta cómo en una noche de carnaval le emparedó vivo, a pesar del ruido que hacía Fortunato con sus cascabeles” [“Poe says that, having tolerated in the best way posible the thousand injustices of Fortunato, he swore to avenge himself when Fortunato entered the territory of insult. And he tells us how in a night of carnival he walled Fortunato up alive, despite the noise that Fortunato made with his bells.”] 50 After this brief summary of Poe’s story, which strangely inserts Poe into the role of Montresor, Quiroga’s tale, in less than three hundred words, has a lime-covered Fortunato relate his “aventura anterior” [“previous adventure”] to the story’s narrator, Montresor—first in front of a large mirror and then in the catacombs where he attempts to reverse Poe’s tale by taking revenge on the narrator. 51 In Quiroga’s next rendition of this tale, “El crimen del otro” from 1904, he changes the setting to turn-of-the-century Montevideo, but he once again repeats Poe’s plotline as the narrator buries his friend—named Fortunto—alive. 52 In this rendering, the narrator does not seek revenge so much as try to rid himself of a friend whom he has driven mad by introducing him to the writings of Edgar Allan Poe. Although both of these stories interrogate the character of Montresor more than Poe’s source text, they do so only through a direct rewriting that relies overwhelmingly on Poe’s characters and plotline.

After these first two attempts, Quiroga repeatedly captures the horror of “Cask” and other Poe tales in several stories that seek to create Poe’s effect in new settings with original characters who have their own story arcs. As Caroline Egan has argued, two of these stories—“La lengua” and “Una bofetada” [“A Slap in the Face”]—subtly converse with “Cask” and the theme of revenge, 53 but several of Quiroga’s most famous stories create a Poe-like horror without even faintly referencing any of Poe’s source texts. For example, Quiroga’s “El almohadón de pluma” [“The Feather Pillow”] from 1907, “La miel silvestre” from 1911, and “El hijo” [“The Son”] from 1928 each creates a nervous tension that builds to a painful and horrific climax that leaves the reader both shocked and satisfied. 54 In all three cases, Quiroga relies on his own characters, settings, and plotlines rather than on Poe’s creations to develop this sense of horror. “La gallina degollada” [“The Decapitated Chicken”], perhaps Quiroga’s most masterful piece of horror fiction, finds a middle ground between his own creation and Poe’s influence. This 1909 tale creates a horrendous scene in which four sick brothers whose parents have treated them like animals kill their younger, healthy sister. 55 The setting and the plot are Quiroga’s, and while this story almost allows for a reading of the killing in terms of revenge that might put it in conversation with other Poe stories, it appears to more pointedly reference Poe’s “The Murders in the Rue Morgue” since the boys, like the orangutan in Poe’s tale, imitate common human actions that create terrible outcomes. In Poe’s story, the orangutan’s aping of his master shaving leads to the vicious death of two women—a mother and a daughter (M 2: 565–568). In Quiroga’s story, the boys’ imitation of the decapitating and bleeding of the family’s evening meal—a chicken—leads to their sister’s brutal death and to the metaphorical destruction of their parents, who have placed all of their hopes in their one healthy child while neglecting their four disabled sons. 56 With a brilliant stroke, Quiroga taps into the latent horror of Poe’s initial detective story to create an effect that significantly veers away from the feeling of awe surrounding Dupin’s intellect toward a localized terror that Quiroga hones and masters during his prolific career.

Finally, along with imitating and then conversing with Poe’s works and methods, Quiroga eventually prescribed them to aspiring writers. In his 1925 article “El manual del perfecto cuentista,” Quiroga taps into Poe’s theory of effect by explaining that authors must know the end of a story before they write that story’s introduction. 57 In his 1928 article “Decálogo del perfecto cuentista,” he approaches the hopeful writer in even more didactic terms by listing ten rules for writing. His first rule, “[c]ree en un maestro—Poe, Maupassant, Kipling, Chejov—como en Dios mismo” [“believe in a master—Poe, Maupassant, Kipling, Chekov—as in God himself”], reiterates his belief in following established models and reifies his Poe discipleship in the latter portion of his career. 58 His fifth rule echoes Poe’s theory of effect and the concept that authors must know where they want to arrive before they can start writing. 59

Quiroga’s discipleship functions as advocacy for Poe through both his fiction and his writing instructions. Englekirk notes that younger Spanish American writers in the 1930s were absorbing Poe via “Quiroga’s genius,” but his “Poesque spirit” 60 was still visible over sixty years later in an article by Bolaño from the late twentieth century. In a piece called “Consejos sobre el arte de escribir cuentos” [“Advice on the Art of Writing Short Stories”], Bolaño takes up Quiroga’s model for offering tips on how to write short fiction, names Quiroga as one of the authors an aspiring writer needs to read, and claims that “[l]a verdad de la verdad es que con Edgar Allan Poe todos tendíamos de sobra” [“[t]he honest truth is that with Edgar Allan Poe, we would have more than enough good material to read.”] 61 Quiroga, the Poe disciple, continues to speak for and recommend Poe both directly and indirectly.

Borges sustained a lengthy and complex literary relationship with Poe that included several types of advocacy. He translated two of Poe’s stories (“The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar” and “The Purloined Letter”) with his friend and writing partner Adolfo Bioy Casares, anthologized the former in Antología de la literatura fantástica and the latter in Los mejores cuentos policiales (two anthologies with major staying power that have each been reprinted several times since their original publication dates in the early 1940s), 62 responded to Poe’s Dupin tales with a detective trilogy of his own, conversed with several of Poe’s themes and creative ideas in his other fictional works, mentioned Poe in over 130 articles, and discussed Poe in scores of interviews and question/answer sessions. John T. Irwin has thoroughly examined Borges’s conscious conversation with Poe’s detective fiction in The Mystery to a Solution: Poe, Borges, and the Analytic Detective Story , and I have analyzed Borges’s relationship with Poe beyond their detective stories in Borges’s Poe: The Influence and Reinvention of Edgar Allan Poe in Spanish America . 63 Here, I would simply like to focus on Borges as a literary critic and public intellectual whose returns to Poe kept the US writer in the Argentine literary spotlight throughout the twentieth century.

Borges was an insatiable reader, and Poe was one of the writers whom Borges first encountered in his youth in his father’s library and whom he reread time and again throughout his long life. 64 After going blind in the mid-1950s, Borges continued to reread Poe by having the latter’s works read to him aloud by his mother (Leonor Acevedo de Borges), his students, his friends, and his second wife, María Kodama. 65 For example, as late as 1985, Borges claimed that he could no longer count the times that he had read and reread Poe’s “The Pit and the Pendulum” and suggested that he would continue rereading it in the future. 66 Borges could not stop reading Poe, and he could not stop writing and talking about him either. Borges wrote only two articles dedicated specifically to Poe—“La génesis de ‘El cuervo’ de Poe” in La Prensa in 1935 and “Edgar Allan Poe” in La Nación in 1949—but he mentioned Poe in over 130 other solo-authored pieces, often framing his discussions of detective fiction, US literature, translation, and several other subjects around Poe. 67 His references to Poe reached disparate reading audiences in Argentina, the Río de la Plata region, and Spanish America from the popular and local/national readers of the daily papers La Prensa and La Nación , to the middle-class and typically female audience of the household magazine El Hogar , to the highbrow and international readership of the literary journal Sur . Borges perennially returned to Poe in his public persona as well. He taught Poe in the classroom, mentioned Poe in lectures at university campuses and in public forums throughout the Americas and Europe, and talked about Poe in several interviews that were broadcast to wide audiences over the radio.

Borges, unlike Quiroga and Cortázar, was more willing to openly criticize Poe. He did not admire everything that Poe wrote, he was particularly critical of Poe’s poetry, and he occasionally questioned Poe’s taste. However, his praise for Poe as the inventor of the detective genre and as a powerful writer of the fantastic not only kept Poe in front of Borges’s local, regional, and international readerships, but it also created a new version of Poe in the Río de la Plata region and Spanish America in general. Despite Quiroga’s reciprocal relationship with Poe’s fiction, most Río de la Plata and Spanish American readers still considered Poe a poet during the last years of Quiroga’s life and the early years of Borges’s career. Borges’s advocacy permanently shifted Poe’s image from dark poet-prophet to masterful story writer. Borges was the type of advocate who admitted that Poe had weaknesses but championed him nonetheless. In this sense, Borges’s advocacy for Poe also resonates with the religious definition of the noun “advocate” since he acted as an agent between Poe and the reader in spite of what he saw as some of Poe’s literary “sins.” Borges did not ignore Poe’s problems, but he felt that the positive far outweighed the negative and asked that Poe’s readers judge Poe for his strengths and forgive him for his weaknesses.

Like Borges, Cortázar maintained a long and multilayered relationship with Poe that began in his youth and flourished during his adult life. Cortázar also read Poe as a child, and according to various personal accounts, he had to do so on the sly because his mother thought he “was too young.” 68 “[S]he was right,” Cortázar later claimed, and his earliest encounters with Poe’s texts purportedly scared him to the point of illness. 69 These early readings of Poe thrust Cortázar into the realm of the fantastic, a space that he thoroughly enjoyed as a reader and consistently recreated in his own work, particularly his short fiction. Several of Cortázar’s most famous short pieces—“Casa tomada” [“House Taken Over”], “Lejana” [“The Distances”], “La noche boca arriba” [“The Night Face Up”], “La isla al mediodía” [“The Island at Noon”], and “El ídolo de las Cíclades” [“The Idol of the Cyclades”]—function within this supernatural mode while others such as “Axolotl” or “Carta a una señorita en París” [“Letter to a Young Lady in Paris”] turn from the fantastic toward magical realism. 70 The theme of the double appears throughout Cortázar’s tales, and he often employs it in ways that resemble works by Poe. “Lejana,” for example, creates a powerful inversion of Poe’s “William Wilson” as Cortázar’s protagonist—Alina Reyes—literally loses herself in an open battle of wills against her double. 71 Cortázar’s first published story under his own name, “Casa tomada,” itself plays the double since one of the most common yet influential interpretations of the tale reads it as an Argentine doubling of Poe’s “The Fall of the House of Usher.”

Although Cortázar’s stories spread Poe’s themes and approaches to new audiences, he advocated for Poe most powerfully as a translator. In a 1983 interview with Jason Weiss, Cortázar claimed that when translating Poe he learned to appreciate Poe’s language, regardless of the critiques that various English-speaking readers had offered: “I explored his language, which is highly criticized by the English and the Americans because they find it too baroque, in short they’ve found all sorts of things wrong with it. Well, since I’m neither English nor American, I see it with another perspective. I know there are aspects which have aged a lot, that are exaggerated, but that hasn’t the slightest importance next to his genius.” 72 Cortázar spent two years in the early 1950s translating that genius into Spanish before becoming a famous writer in his own right, and he returned to, refined, and republished those translations over the next two decades, even though he had already made an international name for himself as a novelist and story writer.

Before the 1956 release of Cortázar’s two-volume set of Poe’s prose translations, Obras en prosa , no single Spanish-language translator in the Americas or on the Iberian Peninsula had tackled the majority of Poe’s fiction. 73 Poe’s poetry was readily available in Spanish translation, and many of his stories were also available, but the fictional titles were spread throughout disparate periodicals across Spain and the Americas, found in short collections in which a single translator would offer a dozen or so stories, or combined into larger collections that contained translations by several different translators. For example, the Argentine translator Carlos Olivera offered thirteen of Poe’s tales in Spanish as Novelas y cuentos in 1884; an anonymous collection of translations of twelve Poe tales appeared in Buenos Aires in 1903 under the Hispanicized Baudelaire title Historias extraordinarias ; and Armando Bazán edited a substantial Poe collection, Obras completas , that included, along with several poems, over forty prose pieces translated by five different translators. 74 Cortázar’s volumes, in contrast, include all of Poe’s short fiction, Pym, Eureka , and hundreds of pages of Poe’s other prose pieces. He republished both volumes in 1969, and then in 1970, he split the first volume into two, revised the translations, and published this new two-volume set as Cuentos, 1 and Cuentos, 2 . 75 Finally, in 1973, he revised and rereleased the second volume of his Obras en prosa as Ensayos y críticas . 76

Out of all of these translations and repackagings, the 1970 two-volume set of the stories has had, by far, the most significant impact. The Madrid publishing house Alianza has republished these two volumes over thirty times in Madrid and Buenos Aires, and these two books (often released as inexpensive paperback “libros de bosillo” or “pocket books”) are now almost synonymous with Poe in the Spanish-speaking world. In the introduction to their 2008 rerelease of Cortázar’s translations in their Edición comentada , Volpi and Iwasaki venerate this particular two-volume set, claiming that each of the sixty-seven writers whom they have chosen to introduce Poe’s stories have come to Poe via Cortázar’s two-volume edition of the tales and stating that their goal is to celebrate Poe’s bicentennial by “rescatando aquellos míticos tomitos azules” [“rescuing those mythic little blue volumes.”] 77 In short, Cortázar advocated for Poe by translating what he saw as Poe’s “extraordinary genius” 78 into Spanish, regardless of any perceived shortcomings with Poe’s language. His translations provided previously unprecedented access to that genius to millions of new readers through a single translation filter, and many of those readers, who are also writers, continue to distribute Cortázar’s Poe to future generations.

The Influence of the Stars

Throughout this essay, I have referred to both the general definition and the more specific, Christian definition of the noun “advocate.” I would like to end by playing with an older and more specific definition of the noun “influence.” The O xford English Dictionary shows that “influence” was used as a noun for almost three hundred years before it was used as a verb and that the oldest usage of the noun referred to a phenomenon between heavenly bodies and human bodies:

2. a. spec . in Astrol. The supposed flowing or streaming from the stars or heavens of an etherial fluid acting upon the character and destiny of men, and affecting sublunary things generally. In later times gradually viewed less literally, as an exercise of power or “virtue,” or of an occult force, and in late use chiefly a poetical or humorous reflex of earlier notions. b. transf . The exercise of personal power by human beings, figured as something of the same nature as astral influence. Now only poet . 79

My use of “influence” throughout this essay, of course, typically refers to the “b” definition of the noun or to the common definitions of the verb, which the Oxford English Dictionary defines as “1. trans. To exert influence upon, to affect by influence. a. To affect the mind or action of; to move or induce by influence; [ . . . ] b. To affect the condition of, to have an effect on.” 80 The ancient and astral definition of the noun, however, also seems relevant. Baudelaire symbolically raised Poe into the heavens as a celestial advocate between himself and God, and Poe’s work and his image certainly appear to have had an elevated effect “upon the character and destiny of” many of his readers that could be compared to a “supposed flowing or streaming” from above. However, it took Baudelaire, Borges, Rampo, Bal’mont, Pessoa, and many other significant writers to elevate Poe to this level. These Poe advocates, literary stars during their own lifetimes, made him into a literary star who could then influence us, and his and their astral influence continue to affect other literary stars as well as the mere mortals or “sublunary” beings that we, Poe readers and scholars, tend to be.

One of these stars, Vargas Llosa, describes Poe as a fortunate writer, not in life, but in his posthumous rise to prominence through the work of two amazing advocates: “Aunque su vida estuvo marcada por la desgracia, Edgar Allan Poe fue uno de los más afortunados escritores modernos en lo que concierne a la irradiación de su obra por el mundo” [“Even though his life was marked by misfortune, Edgar Allan Poe was one of the most fortunate modern writers in what concerns the irradiation of his work throughout the world”] because he was translated by both Baudelaire, the “poeta más grande del siglo XIX” [“greatest poet of the nineteenth century”], and Cortázar, “uno de los mejores escritores de nuestra lengua y un traductor excepcional” [“one of the best writers in our language and an exceptional translator.”] 81 To Vargas Llosa’s shortlist, we could add the names of dozens of other literary stars from distinct traditions who have served as Poe advocates. Some of these stars, Baudelaire-Mallarmé-Valéry and Quiroga-Borges-Cortázar, have formed guiding constellations that direct readers to Poe, while others have acted as solitary beacons that radiate Poe’s works and image. The advocacy of these literary stars—via translation, discipleship, rewriting, literary criticism, and other creative and critical endeavors—keeps Poe in orbit to shine down on future generations of readers and on occasional rising stars.

1. André Lefevere , Translating Literature: Practice and Theory in a Comparative Literature Context (New York: MLA, 1992), 6–7, 13–14. Lefevere uses the terms “rewrites” and “refractions” rather than “rewritings” in other works to describe the same concept. See “Why Waste Our Time on Rewrites? The Trouble with Interpretation and the Role of Rewriting in an Alternative Paradigm,” in The Manipulation of Literature: Studies in Literary Translation , ed. Theo Hermans (New York: St. Martins, 1985), 215–243 ; and “Mother Courage’s Cucumbers: Text, System and Refraction in a Theory of Literature,” in The Translation Studies Reader (3rd ed.), ed. Lawrence Venuti (New York & London: Routledge, 2012), 203–219.

This list could go on to include Poe’s hoaxes, his biting satires, and his contributions to science via Eureka: A Prose Poem .

3. I see this type of reciprocal influence functioning in two ways. The first way is fairly intuitive—translators, critics, anthologizers, biographers, and others openly affect how we understand and interpret the writers they approach in their work. The second way is less intuitive and recalls Jorge Luis Borges’s descriptions of influence in his famous essay “Kafka y sus precursores” [“Kafka and His Precursors”] in which Borges argues that newer writers influence the works of older writers by changing us, the readers, so that we see the work of a newer writer in the work of an older writer and, thus, experience the strange, anachronistic sensation of seeing Kafka in a poem by Robert Browning or in a text by Søren Kierkegaard and feeling that these earlier texts are actually Kafkaesque. See “Kafka y sus precursores,” in Obras completas (Buenos Aires: Emecé Editores, 2007), 2:107–109 and “Kafka and His Precursors,” in Selected Non-Fictions , ed. and trans. Eliot Weinberger (New York: Penguin, 1999), 363–365.

5. Rufus Wilmot Griswold , “Death of Edgar A. Poe,” New-York Daily Tribune , October 9, 1849, p. 2, cols. 3–4, Edgar Allan Poe Society of Baltimore, http://www.eapoe.org/papers/misc1827/nyt49100.htm .

6. See, for example, George R. Graham , “The Late Edgar Allan Poe,” Graham’s Magazine (Philadelphia), March 1850, 36:224–226, http://www.eapoe.org/papers/misc1827/18500301.htm ; Henry B. Hirst , “Edgar Allan Poe,” McMakin’s Model American Courier , vol. XIX, no. 33 (whole no. 969), October 20, 1849, p. 2, cols. 3–4, http://www.eapoe.org/papers/misc1827/hbh18491.htm ; or Nathaniel Parker Willis , “Death of Edgar Poe,” Home Journal (New York), October 20, 1849, p. 2, cols. 2–4, http://www.eapoe.org/papers/misc1827/18491020.htm .

7. Thomas Stearns Eliot , “From Poe to Valéry,” in The Recognition of Edgar Allan Poe , ed. Eric W. Carlson (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1966), 205–219.

8. Célestin Pierre Cambiaire , The Influence of Edgar Allan Poe in France (New York: G. E. Stechert & Co., 1927) ; Partick F. Quinn , The French Face of Edgar Poe (Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1957) ; Lois Davis Vines , Valéry and Poe: A Literary Legacy (New York: New York University Press, 1992). Also see Vines’s chapters in Poe Abroad: Influence, Reputation, Affinities , ed. Lois Davis Vines (Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 1999) ; and “Poe Translations in France,” in Translated Poe , ed. Emron Esplin and Margarida Vale de Gato (Bethlehem, PA: Lehigh University Press, 2014), 47–54.

9. John Eugene Englekirk , Edgar Allan Poe in Hispanic Literature (New York: Instituto de las Españas en los Estados Unidos, 1934). There are many other titles that tackle Poe’s relationship with specific national or regional literary traditions—books on Poe and Scandinavia, Poe and Germany, Poe and Japan, or Poe and Russia, for example.

10. Benjamin Franklin Fisher , ed., Poe and Our Times: Influences and Affinities (Baltimore: Edgar Allan Poe Society, 1986) ; Lois Davis Vines , ed., Poe Abroad: Influence, Reputation, Affinities (Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 1999) ; Barbara Cantalupo , ed., Poe’s Pervasive Influence (Bethlehem, PA: Lehigh University Press, 2012) ; Emron Esplin and Margarida Vale de Gato , eds., Translated Poe (Bethlehem, PA: Lehigh University Press, 2014).

11. Charles Baudelaire , Œuvres complétes (Paris: Éditions du Seuil, 1968), 642 ; Christopher Isherwood , trans., My Heart Laid Bare , in Intimate Journals (New York: Howard Fertig, 1977), 61.

Oxford English Dictionary Online , s.v. “advocate.”

14. Lois Davis Vines , “Poe Translations in France,” in Translated Poe , 48. Vines also notes that Baudelaire translated four of Poe’s poems (48–49).

Vines, “Poe Translations in France,” 49.

Vines,“Poe Translations in France,” 49.

19. Stéphane Mallarmé , “Le tombeau d’Edgar Poe,” Œuvres complétes. (Paris: Gallimard, 1998), 38.

Vines avers that “[t]he unpublished manuscript of an early draft of Valéry’s Evening with Monsieur Teste bears the title ‘Memoirs of Chevalier Dupin’ ” (51).

21. Itamar Even-Zohar , “The Position of Translated Literature within the Literary Polysystem,” in The Translation Studies Reader (3rd ed.), ed. Lawrence Venuti (New York: Routledge, 2012), 162–167.

Even-Zohar, “The Position of Translated Literature,” 163.

Poe’s centrality to the French literary canon is clearly demonstrated by the fact that he was the first non-French writer included in the Bibliothèque de la Pléiade and the fifth writer, regardless of language, included in this monumental series. The Pléiade edition of Poe, which uses Baudelaire’s translations, was first published in April 1932, only six months after the series published its first book—the first volume of Baudelaire’s complete works. See “Le catalogue—Par année de parution,” La Pléiade, http://www.la-pleiade.fr/Le-catalogue/Par-annee-de-parution, for historical details about books published in this series.

25. Elvira Osipova , “The History of Poe Translations in Russia,” in Translated Poe , 73.

26. Osipova, 73 , and Eloise M. Boyle , “Valery Brjusov and Konstantin Bal’mont,” in Poe Abroad , 177–182. For a monograph-length study of Poe in Russia, see Joan Delaney Grossman , Edgar Allan Poe in Russia: A Study in Legend and Literary Influence (Würzburg: Jal-Verlag, 1973).

27. Liviu Cotrău , “Edgar Allan Poe in Romanian Translation,” in Translated Poe , 77.

Cotrău, “Edgar Allan Poe in Romanian Translation,” 77–84.

29. Margarida Vale de Gato , “Poe Translations in Portugal: A Standing Challenge for Changing Literary Systems,” in Translated Poe , 9–10.

Essays in Poe Abroad, Poe’s Pervasive Influence , and Translated Poe demonstrate Poe’s presence in China and South Korea, but more research into the literary traditions of these two nations would need to be conducted in order to discover whether important artists in these two countries who are influenced by Poe also act as Poe advocates.

31. Takayuki Tatsumi , “The Double Task of the Translator: Poe and His Japanese Disciples,” in Translated Poe , 171. For more on Poe’s relationship with Japan, see Noriko Mizuta Lippit’s pair of essays in Poe Abroad , several essays in Poe’s Pervasive Influence , and Scott Miller’s analysis of Japanese translations of “The Black Cat” in Translated Poe , 261–270 and 416–417.

Tatsumi, “The Double Task of the Translator,” 167–168.

Tatsumi, “The Double Task of the Translator,” 168–171.

Tatsumi, “The Double Task of the Translator,” 171–172.

Tatsumi, “The Double Task of the Translator,” 172, emphasis in the original.

36. For Spanish America, see Esplin , “From Poetic Genius to Master of Short Fiction: Edgar Allan Poe’s Reception and Influence in Spanish American from the Beginnings through the Boom,” Resources for American Literary Study 4 (2007): 31–54. For Brazil, see Carlos Daghlian , “Poe in Brazil,” in Poe Abroad , 130–134.

Daghlian, “Poe in Brazil,” 130.

38. Clarice Lispector , trans., Histórias Extraordinárias , by Edgar Allan Poe (Rio de Janeiro: Ediouro, 1998). This book appeared in a series for youth readers entitled Clássicos para o Jovem Leitor .

39. Lenita Esteves , “The Unparalleled Adventure of One Edgar Poe in the Brazilian Literary System,” in Translated Poe , 157.

Esteves, “The Unparalleled Adventure,” 158.

For details about the early reception of Poe in Spanish America, see Esplin, “From Poetic Genius to Master of Short Fiction,” 33–38.

42. Juan Antonio Pérez Bonalde , trans., “El cuervo” by Edgar Allan Poe , 1887, in J. A. Pérez Bonalde: Estudio preliminar de Pedro Pablo Paredes , ed. Pedro Pablo Paredes (Caracas: Academia Venezolana, 1964), 2:151–157.

43. Rubén Darío , Azul , 1888 (Buenos Aires: Espasa- Calpe, 1945) ; Darío , “Los raros,” 1893, in Obras completas (Madrid: Afrodisio Aguado, 1950), 2:245–517.

See Esplin, “From Poetic Genius to Master of Short Fiction,” 35–38 and 43–46, for a comparative analysis of Pérez Bonalde’s translation, “El cuervo,” and Carlos Obligado’s more meticulous version of the poem from 1932.

Darío, “Los raros,” 267, my translation.

Englekirk, Edgar Allan Poe in Hispanic Literature , 146.

47. Fernando Iwasaki and Jorge Volpi , eds., Cuentos completos: Edición comentada , by Edgar Allan Poe , trans. Julio Cortázar , prologues by Carlos Fuentes and Mario Vargas Llosa (Madrid: Páginas de Espuma, 2008).

48. Borges notes in several texts that he thinks it is strange that Poe, a writer born in Boston, makes his way to Argentina via France. See, for example, Borges , “Prólogo de prólogos,” in Obras completas (Buenos Aires: Emecé, 2007), 4:13 ; and Borges , “Sobre los clásicos,” in Páginas de Jorge Luis Borges: Seleccionadas por el autor (Buenos Aires: Celtia, 1982), 231. Cortázar, contrastingly, calls Baudelaire “el doble de Edgar Allan Poe” [“the double of Edgar Allan Poe”] and claims to have kept a copy of Baudelaire’s Poe translations nearby while translating Poe into Spanish. See Ernesto González Bermejo , Conversaciones con Julio Cortázar (Barcelona: Editora y Distribuidora Hispano Americana, 1978), 35–36.

49. Horacio Quiroga , “El tonel de amontillado,” 1901, in Todos los cuentos (Madrid: Allca, 1997), 813. The few prose pieces from Los arrecifes de coral appear in Todos los cuentos from pages 807–824.

Quiroga, “El tonel de amontillado,” 813, my translation.

Quiroga, “El tonel de amontillado,” 813.

52. Quiroga , “El crimen de otro,” 1904, in Todos los cuentos , 871–879.

53. Caroline Egan , “Revivification and Revision: Horacio Quiroga’s Reading of Poe,” The Comparatist 35 (2011): 239–248.

54. Quiroga , “El almohadón de pluma,” “La miel silvestre,” and “El hijo,” in Todos los cuentos , 97–102, 122–128, and 752–757. The Quiroga titles for which I provide English translations all come from Margaret Sayers Peden , trans., The Decapitated Chicken and Other Stories , by Horacio Quiroga (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1976).

55. Quiroga , “La gallina degollada,” 1911, in Todos los cuentos , 89–96 ; Peden , trans., “The Decapitated Chicken,” in The Decapitated Chicken and Other Stories , 49–56.

Quiroga, “La gallina degollada,” 94–95; “The Decapitated Chicken,” 55–56 .

57. Quiroga , “El manual del perfecto cuentista,” in Todos los cuentos , 1189–1191.

58. Quiroga , “Decálogo del perfecto cuentista,” in Todos los cuentos , 1194–1195 , my translation.

Quiroga, “Decálogo del perfecto cuentista,” 1194–1195.

Englekirk, Edgar Allan Poe in Hispanic Literature , 368.

61. Roberto Bolaño , “Consejos sobre el arte de escribir cuentos,” in Entre paréntesis (Barcelona: Editorial Anagrama, 2004), 324–325 ; Bolaño , “Advice on the Art of Writing Short Stories,” trans. David Draper Clark , World Literature Today 80, no. 6 (2006): 48–49. Although published in 2004, Bolaño begins the essay by noting that he is forty-four years old, showing that he wrote the essay in 1997 or 1998.

62. Jorge Luis Borges and Adolfo Bioy Casares , trans., “La verdad sobre el caso de M. Valdemar,” by Edgar Allan Poe , in Antología de la literatura fantástica , 1940, eds. Jorge Luis Borges , Bioy Casares , and Silvina Ocampo (Buenos Aires: Sudamericana, 1971), 371–379 ; Borges and Bioy Casares , trans., “La carta robada,” by Edgar Allan Poe , in Los mejores cuentos policiales , 1943, eds. Borges and Bioy Casares (Buenos Aires: Emecé, 1997), 23–38.

63. John T. Irwin , The Mystery to a Solution: Poe, Borges, and the Analytic Detective Story (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1994) ; Esplin , Borges’s Poe: The Influence and the Reinvention of Edgar Allan Poe in Spanish America (Athens: University of Georgia Press, 2016).

64. Borges often mentioned reading Poe in his childhood. See, for example, Borges and Norman Thomas di Giovanni , “Autobiographical Notes,” New Yorker , September 19, 1970, 42 and 78.

Copies of books by Poe held at the Fundación Internacional Jorge Luis Borges and at Argentina’s national library in the Sala del Tesoro reveal Borges’s continual return to Poe. The books contain notes in Borges’s hand, in Leonor Acevedo de Borges’s hand, and/or in Kodama’s hand.

66. Borges , “Prólogo,” in Edgar Allan Poe, La carta robada , ed. Franco Maria Ricci . (Madrid: Siruela, 1985), 12–13.

67. Borges , “La génesis de ‘El cuervo’ de Poe,” La Prensa (Buenos Aires), August 25, 1935 ; Borges , “Edgar Allan Poe,” La Nación (Buenos Aires), October 2, 1949 , sec. 2. For detailed accounts of Borges’s Poe references, see Esplin , “Jorge Luis Borges’s References to Edgar Allan Poe: An Annotated Bibliography, Section 1,” Poe Studies 48 (2015): 120–160 ; and “Jorge Luis Borges’s References to Edgar Allan Poe: An Annotated Bibliography, Section 2,” Poe Studies 49 (2016): 128–159.

68. Jason Weiss , “Writing at Risk: Interview with Julio Cortázar,” in Critical Essays on Julio Cortázar , ed. Jamie Alazraki (New York: G. K. Hall & Company, 1999), 73. Cortázar makes similar claims in François Hébert’s “An Interview with Julio Corázar,” in Critical Essays on Julio Cortázar , 62.

Weiss, “Writing at Risk,” 73; Hébert, “An Interview with Julio Corázar,” 62.

70. Although originally published in various collections, each of these Cortázar short stories is available in Cortázar , Relatos (Buenos Aires: Editorial Sudamericana, 1970). All of the cited English translations of Cortázar’s stories except “The Island at Noon” are available in Cortázar , Blow-Up and Other Stories , trans. Paul Blackburn (New York: Pantheon, 1967).   “The Island at Noon” appears in Cortázar, All Fires the Fire , trans. Suzanne Jill Levine (New York, Pantheon, 1973), 90–98.

Cortázar, “Lejana,” 437–438; Cortázar, “The Distances,” 26–27.

Weiss, “Writing at Risk,” 73.

73. Julio Cortázar , trans., Obras en prosa by Edgar Allan Poe , 2 vols. (Madrid: Revista de Occidente; Río Piedras: Editorial Universitaria Universidad de Puerto Rico, 1956).

74. Carlos Olivera , trans., Novelas y cuentos , by Edgar Allan Poe (Paris: Garnier Frères, 1884) ; Edgar Allan Poe , Historias extraordinarias (Buenos Aires: Biblioteca de la Nación, 1903) ; and Armando Bazán , ed., Obras completas , by Edgar Allan Poe (Buenos Aires: Claridad, 1944).

75. Cortázar , trans., Obras en prosa by Edgar Allan Poe , 2 vols. (Barcelona: Editorial Universitaria de la Universidad de Puerto Rico, 1969) ; Cortázar , trans., Cuentos , by Edgar Allan Poe , 2 vols. (Madrid: Alianza Editorial, 1970).

76. Cortázar , trans., Ensayos y críticas by Edgar Allan Poe (Madrid: Alianza Editorial, 1973).

77. Volpi and Iwasaki , “Poe & Cía,” in Cuentos completos: Edición comentada , 13.

Weiss, Writing at Risk,” 73.

81. Mario Vargas Llosa , “Poe y Cortázar,” Cuentos completos: Edición comentada , 19–20.

Cantalupo, Barbara , ed. Poe’s Pervasive Influence . Bethlehem, PA: Lehigh University Press, 2012 .

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Englekirk, John Eugene.   Edgar Allan Poe in Hispanic Literature . New York: Instituto de las Españas en los Estados Unidos, 1934 .

Esplin, Emron. “ From Poetic Genius to Master of Short Fiction: A Map of Edgar Allan Poe’s Reception and Influence in Spanish America from the Beginnings through the Boom. ” Resources for American Literary Study 31 ( 2006 ): 31–54.

Esplin, Emron , and Margarida Vale de Gato , eds. Translated Poe . Bethlehem, PA: Lehigh University Press, 2014 .

Even-Zohar, Itamar. “The Position of Translated Literature within the Literary Polysystem.” In The Translation Studies Reader (3rd ed.), edited by Lawrence Venuti , 162–167. New York: Routledge, 2012 .

Fisher, Benjamin Franklin , ed. Poe and Our Times: Influences and Affinities . Baltimore: Edgar Allan Poe Society, 1986 .

Iwasaki, Fernando , and Jorge Volpi , eds. Cuentos completos: Edición comentada , by Edgar Allan Poe . Translated by Julio Cortázar . Prologues by Carlos Fuentes and Mario Vargas Llosa . Madrid: Páginas de Espuma, 2008 .

Lefevere, André . Translating Literature: Practice and Theory in a Comparative Literature Context . New York: MLA, 1992 .

Quinn, Patrick F.   The French Face of Edgar Poe . Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1957 .

Vines, Lois Davis.   Valéry and Poe: A Literary Legacy . New York: New York University Press, 1992 .

Vines, Lois Davis , ed. Poe Abroad: Influence, Reputation, Affinities . Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 1999 .

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