Great books edgar allan poe

You’ve edited and written books about Edgar Allan Poe. Please introduce him to readers who may not be familiar with him and make the case that Poe deserves a central place in the pantheon of nineteenth century American writers.

I’d start with the fact that he’s unquestionably the most influential American writer ever, bar none. He invented detective fiction and most of its subgenres – the locked-room mystery, the ratiocinative detective story (think Agatha Christie or Sherlock Holmes), as well as true crime. He was one of the first writers of speculative and science fiction. He deeply influenced horror fiction, not only directly, but through his effect on writers like H.P. Lovecraft and directors like Alfred Hitchcock. He was a pioneer of the literary hoax. In short, you can’t turn on television or pass an airport bookstore without encountering Poe’s work everywhere.

What’s also important is the fact that Poe lived by his literary work as a writer and editor, at a time when doing so was almost impossible. He had to craft a living out of nothing but his wits and industry. He was absolutely an aesthete—he more or less coined the phrase “art for art’s sake”—but he was also deeply attuned to the market. He had to be. His aestheticism and his c

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