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The primary purpose of the “fugirive” Poe bibliography is to bring together recent books, essays, and miscellaneous publications (since about 1960) rhat do nor focus on Poe but which discuss the author within a larger perspective or with a special angle of vision. Although this bibliography also lists a few works dealing specifically with Poe that have been overlooked in other bibliographies, the entries here are principally brief items buried in longer works under different headings, or in works that were on first publication not readily accessible. For materials and other assistance with this issue of the column, I am indebted to J. Lasley Dameron, B. H. Stewart, and Craig Werner.
Altcheler, Joseph A. “Magic in Poetry,” Harper’s Weekly, 26 January 1907, p. 117. [Cites the passage “On desperate seas . . . that was Rome” from “To Helen” as exemplary of “poetical genius in its highest form,” along with passages from Keats, Coleridge, and Browning.]
Anon. “Discovery: John Dickson Carr’s ‘Lost Story,‘” Ellery Q7ueen’s Mystery Magazine,” 73, No. 431 (1979), 62. [Introductory comments upon scholarly searches for undiscovered Poe materials, mentioning in particular the Dupin tales.]
————————. “Tell Tale Poe at Schuylkill Campus,” The Call[Schuylkill Haven, Pa.], 25 October 1979, p. 9. [Reviews a Boston Chamber Repertory Theatre production of Ted Davis’ play and comments that Poe’s tales were not ghost stories but presentations of “bizarre and often grotesque fears and fantasies of the human imagination.”]
Ashley, Michael, ed. Mrs. Gaskell’s Tales of Horror and Mystery. (London: Victor Gollancz; New York: Charles ScriLner’s Sons 1978). [Introduction argues that in the later nineteenth century, most male writers followed the leads of Poe and Le Fanu, while women authors kept vital a puritan strain of the horror story.]
Barron, Neil. Anatomy of Wonder: Science Fiction (New York and London: R. R. Bowker, 1976). [In “Bibliography: Science Ficrion from Its Beginnings to 1870” are synopses of “Balloon Hoax,” “Valdemar,” “Mellonta Tauta,” “Murders,” Pym, “Ragged Mountains,” and “Hans Pfaall.” The historical essay states that science fiction “prototypes merge not only with formal satire” but with the detective story (Poe and Asimov), the psychological tale of horror (Hoffmann), and the ghost story (Melville and Fitz-James O‘Brien). Notes Verne’s debt to Poe (whose scientific accuracy he lacked) and places in science fiction tradition the Campanella and Holberg titles mentioned in “Usher.”]
Bell, Millicent. “Pioneer,‘’ New York Times Book Review, 17 April 1980, pp. 10-14. [Reviewing Mary A. Hill’s Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Bell notes the Gothic qualities and the imitation of Poe in “The Yellow Wallpaper.”]
Bloch, Robert. “The Man Who Collected Poe,” Famovs Fantastic MyJteries, 12 (Octorber 1951), 98-105. [Bloch acknowledges [page 35:] his and other fantasy writers’ debt to Poe, and his story attempts to capture Poe’s manner, especially in “Usher.”]
Contento, William. Index to Science Fiction Anthologies and Collections (Boston: G. K. Hall, 1978). [Under Poe, whose middle name is misspelled, “Metzengerstein,” “King Pest,” “William Wilson,” “MS. Found in a Bottle” are listed as science fiction.]
Cooley, Thomas. The Norton Sampler: Short Essays for Composition (New York: W. W. Notton, 1979). [Cooley states in prefatory remarks that Poe’s dictum about there being no long poem influenced his own choice of brief essays.]
Derleth, August. “H. P. Lovecraft’s Novels,” in At the Movntains of Madness and Other Novels, by H. P. Lovecraft (Sauk City, Wis.: Arkham House Publishers, 1964), pp. ix-xi. [Terse discussion of publication and film history of The Case of Charles Dexter Ward, mentioning Hollywood’s titling its production Edgar Allan Poe’s Havnted Palace, with Vincent Price cast as the lead.]
Edington, A. C. and Carmen. The Studio Murder Mystery (New York: Reilly and Lee, 1929). [Ch. 13 features a walk by “Captain of Deteaives” Smith, the loneliness of which reminds him of Poe’s raven croaking “Nevermore,” with all its implications for his own spiritual isolation.]
Fowles, John Daniel Martin (Boston: Little Brown & Co., 1977; rpt. New York: New American Library, 1978). [On p. 648 Daniel sees a flock of ravens, which he, like Poe, perceives “not as symbols of freedom and survival, but as harbingers of ill-omen and death“ — an interesting conception of Poe by a popular recent novelist.]
Gardner, John. On Moral Fiction (New York: Basic Books, 1978). [Perceptive comments on Poe’s theory of beauty arguing that it has nothing to do with morality or truth.]
Gohdes, Clarence. The Periodicals of American Transcendentalism (Durham, N.C.: Duke Univ. Press, 1931). [Comments on Poe’s not-so-high esteem among the Harbinger critics, notably Dwight, because he did “not write for Humanity.”]
Haining Peter, ed. Gothic Tales of Terror. 2 vols. (New York: Taplinger, 1972; rpt. Harmondsworth & Baltimore: Penguin Books, 1973). [The editor states that Poe “perhaps more than any other writer bridged the gap between the old Gothic tale and the modern horror story” (vol. 1) and “between the haunted castle and the unknown fears of the mind” (vol. 11). Poe’s “Cask” and “Shadow” are included in the selections.]
Hayter, Alethea. Opi7vm and the Romantic Imagination (Berkeley & Los Angeles: Univ. of California Press, 1968; rpt. in papercover, 1970). [Ch. 6, “Poe,” emphasizes that Poe’s interest in opium was literary, and not the consequence of personal addiction. Moreover, his weird interiors descend from the Gothic novel, not from familiarity with opium trances. Hayter’s knowledge of previous scholarship is formidable, although she neglects R. W. Church’s unpublished M. A. thesis done in the early 1930’s at the University of Virginia.]
Kaplan, Justin. Walt Whitman: A Life (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1980). [Numerous references point up Whitman’s view of Poe’s place in American letters, note resemblances between the two writers’ tales, and detail Poe’s impact upon the younger author.]
Ljungquist, Kent. ‘‘lack Burden’s ‘Kingdom by the Sea,’ ‘’ Notes on Contemporary Literature, 10 (1980), 4-5. [“Annabel Lee” underscores “Burden’s adolescent idealism” in All the King’s Men.]
McCormack, W. J. Sheridan Le Fanu and Victorian Ireland (Oxford and New York: Oxford Univ. Press, 1980). [Poe, the Gothic Novel, and Emerson significantly influenced Le Fanu. McCormack may err in detecting Hogg’s Confessions and Poe’s “William Wilson” as comparison pieces for Le Fanu’s “Spalatro,” which more clearly derives from Mrs. Radcliffe’s The Italian.]
Moers, Ellen. The Dandy: Brnmmell to Beerbohm (New York: Viking Press, 1960). [Brief though significant comments about [column 2:] Poe’s impact upon Baudelaire, the publication of the latter’s translations of Poe’s works after much difficulty, and Poe’s influence upon Dorian Gray.]
Munn, H. Warner. “HPL: A Reminiscence,” Whispers, 4 (1979), 88-95. [Briefly comments how Lovecraft’s At the Mountains of Madness well “utilized Poe’s Arthsur Gordon Pym and the ideas I was able to give him by turning over the material I had already written thinking I could complete Poe’s unfinished tale.”]
Norris, Frank. The Literarv Criticism of Frank Norris, ed. Donald Pizer (Austin: Univ. of Texas Press, 1964; rpt. New York: Russell & Russell, 1976). [Norris several times comments upon Poe’s place in American literary tradition and about his being a constructionist in fiaion, along with Stockton and Kipling, as opposed to explorers (Flaubert, Eliot, Hardy) whose emphasis is upon development of character, a quality that makes the latter greater artists.]
Oatff, Joyce Carol. “Bleak Craft,” New York Times Book Review, 30 September 1979, pp. 9, 29. [Surveying Paul Bowles’ collected stories, Oates remarks that his horror is “far more persuasive than anything in Poe.”]
Parker, Hershel. “Edgar Allan Poe,” Norton Anthology of American Literatsure (New York & London: W. W. Norton, 1979), 1, 1202-1207. [Biographical and critical introduction to the seleaions, which include verse, fiction, and criticism. Unlike many others, Parker attempts a balanced survey of all Poe’s writings rather than emphasizing just one type. A noteworthy feature of the tales represented is the use of the original printed versions for copy-text.]
Parks, Edd Winfield. William Gilmore Simms as Literary Critic (Athens, Gal: Univ. of Georgia Press, 1961). [Simms’ opinions of Poe’s verse and especially his tales are laudatory. He smarted from Poe’s criticism of his novel, The Partisan.]
Paulding, James Kirke. The Letters of James Kirke Paulding, ed. Ralph M. Aderman (Madison: Univ. of Wisconsin Press, 1962). [References to Poe appear in the introduction, and this edition makff convenient Paulding’s letters of advice to the young Poe on the writing of fiaion. Paulding advised Poe to turn from tales to the novel as a more lucrative occupation.]
Pickard, John B. John Greenleaf Whittier: An Introduction and an Interpretation (New York: Barnes & Noble, 1961). [Places Poe with Dickinson, Emerson, and Whitman — all far greater poets than Whittier because of their greater artistry in theme and form.]
Prawer, S. S. “Book into Film: Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Times Literary Supplement, 21 December 1979, pp. 161-164. [Poe and Baudelaire both used the city as a source of terror — because of its “jostling crowds“ — which differs from Stevenson’s concept of urban threats. Poe is cited as the catalyst for many terror films, with particulars devoted to the impact of “The Sphinx” upon Eisenstein.]
Praz, Mario. “Introductory Essay,” Three Gothic Novels, ed. Peter Fairclough. (Harmondsworth and Baltimore: Penguin Books, 1968), pp. 7-34. [The novel of “terror and wonder” influenced Poe, among others; more particularly, Frankenstein anticipates Poe’s “The Imp of the Perverse.”]
Ridgely, Joseph V. William Gilmore Simms (New York: Twayne, 1962). [Poe as criric, notably of The Partisan and “Grayling,” is given his due.]
Scholes, Robert, and Eric S. Rabkin. Science Fiction: History, Science, Vision (London, Oxford, New York: Oxford Univ. Press, 1977) . [Poe’s innovations in science fiction writing include his “metaphysical fiction,” which speculates “about the nature of the universe” (“Eiros and Charmion” foreshadowing Borges), and his contributions to the tradition of doppelganger tales (“William Wilson” aligning with Hoffmann) .]
Sewall, Richard B. The Life of Emily Dickinson. 2 vols. (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1974; rpt. in I vol., 1980). [Explodes rhe notion that Henry Vaughan Emmons gave Dickinson [page 36:] a volume of Poe’s poems, remarking several times that she probably knew little or nothing of his work. Compare Aurelia G. Scott, “Emily Dickinson’s ‘Three Gems,‘” NEQ, 16 (1943), 627-628.]
Sinclair, Andrew. “Perpetual Anxieties,” Times Literary Supplement, 27 December 1980, p. 741. [Rehearses the circumstances leading up to and through much of Ingram’s biographical labors in a review of John Carl Miller’s Poe’s Helen Remembers, an edition of the Sarah Helen Whitman-lagram correspondence. The review emphasizes the “black comedy for biographers” evident in this book.]
Starrett, Vincent, ed. The Moonstone, by Wilkie Collins (New York: Heritage Press, 1959). [Although Poe’s tales were well enough known to Collins for him to imitate them, the editor argues that Collins did not model any of his own work upon Poe’s detective fiaion.]
Theroux, Paul. “The Brass Plaque Said ‘Borges,‘” New York Times Book Review, 22 July 1979, pp. 3, 18. [The interviewer noticed a volume of Poe’s poems on the bookshelves; Borges stated that Pym is Poe’s greatest book.]
Thompson, G. R. ed. Romantic Gothic Tales: 1790-1840. (New York, Hagerstown, San Francisco, and London: Harper & Row, 1979). [In an Introduction and Bibliography that number among the best concise aids to comprehending literary Gothicism, Poe is ranked high. “Usher” represents the apogee of Poe’s self-torturing characters.]
Tomlinson, Gerald. “Detectiverse: Queentessential Poepourri,” Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, 73, No. 430 (1979), 131. [A comic poem honoring the fiftieth anniversary of the publication of Queen’s Roman Hat Mystery, mentioning “The Gold-Bug” and “Cask.”]
Trent, William P. William Gilmore Simms (Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1892). [Numerous references to Poe. There is an interesting speculation that “sobering influences of the North” made Poe and Simms the “two greatest Southern writers before 1861.” Poe the not always favorable critic of Martin Faber, The Partisan, The Damsel of Darien, and the famous “Grayling” is emphasized.]
Turner, Arlin. Nathaniel Hawthorne: A Biography (New York and Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press, 1980). [Poe is placed, regarding his outlook on American literature, among contemporary writers. Poe the tale-writer rather than Poe the critic of tales wins Hawthorne’s admiration.]
Walsh, Thomas. “Everard Meynell’s ‘Life of Francis Thompson,‘” Bookman, 38 (1914), 674-677. [Noting the influence of De Quincey’s Confessions upon Thompson, the reviewer remarks that the poet’s circumstances in life and authorship, as respects opium, resembled those of Coleridge and Poe — an erroneous assumption that maintains the Poe of sensational legend.]
Whicher, George Frisbie. This Was a Poet: A Critical Biography of Emily Dickinson (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1938; rpt. Ann Arbor: Univ. of Michigan Press, 1957). [Contrasts Dickinson’s conceptions of the relationship of truth to beauty with Poe’s — to his disadvantage. Life for her was not the tragedy of man but a continual pilgrim’s progress. She cared little for Poe’s work]
Wrong, E. M. ed. Crime and Detection (London: Oxford Univ. Press, 1926). [With a few slaps at American detective fiction in prefatory remarks, Wrong gives highest accolades to Poe, as creator of the mode (“Murders” and “The Purloined Letter” head this volume). He adds that Doyle stands only slightly lower on the scale of creators in this vein. Wrong errs in stating that just one of Poe’s detective tales concerned murder.]
Yannella, Donald, and Kathleen Malone Yannella. “Evert A. Duyckinck’s ‘Diary: May 29 -November 8, 1847,‘” Studies in the American Renaissance (1978), pp. 207-258. [Notes that the diarist and Cornelius Matthews visited the Weehawken scenes of the “Mary Rogers affair” and the Poe household in Fordham — after which Duyckinck dreamed of Poe as evil.]
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Associated Article(s) and Related Material:
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[S:0 - PSDR, 1980]