LiteratEye #31: Poe”™s Poems Were Hoaxers Focus
by W.J. Elvin IIIFiled under: Literary Hoaxes
Here’s the thirty first installment of LiteratEye, a series found only on The Art of the Prank Blog, by W.J. Elvin III, editor and publisher of FIONA: Mysteries & Curiosities of Literary Fraud & Folly
LiteratEye #31: Poe”™s Poems Were Hoaxers Focus
By W.J. Elvin III
September 18, 2009
A master of macabre prose and poetry, Edgar Allan Poe”™s greatest masterpiece was undoubtedly himself. Fate had its cruel influence, but to a great extent he authored his own construction and destruction.
You might ask: “Isn”™t that true of all of us?” Probably so, to some degree.
But the little lies and exaggerations we construct about ourselves aren”™t likely any match for the mystifications of a man whose life remains a weird puzzle despite study by hundreds of researchers and scholars.
Poe”™s life and work have been very much in the spotlight this year. Events continue in his primary haunts – Richmond, Baltimore, Philadelphia and New York City – and throughout the nation and the world, in honor of his 200th birthday.
If you haven”™t participated, there”™s still time to take part in remembrances. Who knows what you might learn, about Poe or about yourself.
Poe walked in the psyche”™s darkness as easily as most of us walk in broad daylight. And he brought back tales putting a name and words to what we find inexpressible. Or at least that was so in his day. Today the reader probably thinks, “Yep, saw that last week on Warehouse Thirteen.” (The spooky sci-fi series did in fact incorporate Poe into a recent episode).
But then again, he probably didn”™t have anything therapeutic in mind. As portrayed by some students of his life and work, Poe may well have been a diabolical, disdainful and drug-addled trickster who delighted in tormenting his readers. (more…)
