Poe's lock on culture

You can't escape Edgar Allan Poe. He died in 1849, and he was a pretty good writer but not the world's greatest writer; nevertheless, he has a hold on our imaginations that, in itself, is worth examining. Why are we so caught up with this guy?

Philip Horne writes in Telegraph: What Poe represents is perhaps a doubt about the all-explaining power of rationality. His ironic, knowing version of Gothic repeatedly plunges us into abysses of the unknown, making us doubt the reality of… well, of reality.

A lot of what we think we know about Poe is untrue: he wasn't mad, and he wasn't a drug addict, for instance. But he does look sort of crazy, and there was the marriage to his young cousin, and he was a bit of a drinking man. And let's face it, some of the stories, the good ones, do grab a hold in your mind. Nothing like a good premature burial, or being walled up in the cellar (a more proactive premature burial), or a little Arsene Lupin-ish ratiocination to get the blood flowing, so to speak.

Horne's article is informative about the history of the image of Poe. You probably should read it before watching John Cusack (!) play the part of the author in the upcoming The Raven. Edgar Allan Poe's stranglehold on popular culture.