Mark Your Calendars! Richard Kopley Talk January 16th!

Edgar Allan Poe National Historic Site
532 North Seventh Street, Philadelphia
Press Release

Secrets of the Purloined Letter

For Poe’s 201st birthday, delve into “The Purloined Letter”, which Poe himself
regarded as his best tale of “ratiocination” (detective story). Join the Edgar Allan Poe National Historic Site for a talk by renowned Poe scholar Richard Kopley.

Richard Kopley is Professor of English at Penn State, DuBois. He is the author of The Threads of The Scarlet Letter, editor of Poe’s Pym: Critical Explorations, and, most recently, Poe and the Dupin Mysteries. Kopley is the former president and an honorary member of the Poe Studies Association.

Saturday, January 16th, 2pm
German Society Library
7th and Spring Garden Streets
Philadelphia, PA 19123
Free.

For more information call (215) 597-8780
www.nps.gov/edal

Flyer is attached here.

Review: The Great Poe Debate

In October 2007, Philadelphia writer Ed Pettit issued a gallant challenge: grab a shovel, head down to Baltimore, and remove the bones of Edgar A. Poe so that they may be buried in Philadelphia.

As you can imagine, Baltimoreans were inflamed – none more so than Jeff Jerome, curator of Baltimore’s Edgar Allan Poe House and Museum. Threats of fisticuffs ensued, and over a year later, arguments over who was most deserving of the rotting corpse of Poe culminated in “The Great Poe Debate.” The third combatant was an upstart from Boston, Poe’s neglected birthplace, named Paul Lewis, a professor at Boston College.

The January 13 debate, hosted by the Philadelphia Free Library, conclusively established Poe’s legacy as distinctly Philadelphian. The competing outsiders cried foul, blaming the bias of the home crowd advantage. The re-match was scheduled and set in Boston just under a year later.

Since the first debate, Jerome has overseen several Baltimore events for Poe’s bicentennial, culminating with a funeral held in October. Pettit has continued to provoke national attention for Philadelphia’s claim to Poe with speaking engagements and his “Ed and Edgar” blog. Lewis successfully petitioned for the dedication of “Edgar Allan Poe Square” in Boston and was elected vice-president of the Poe Studies Association. Clearly, all three are qualified to discuss Poe.

The second round of the Great Poe Debate was held at the Boston Public Library with the same three representatives. Lewis argued that Poe was not only born in Boston, but owed the city for inspiring his distinctive writing theory by directly opposing Bostonian literary ideals. Jerome noted Baltimore’s impressive loyalty to Poe since the memorial placed at his downtown grave in 1875, as well the family connection to Charm City. Pettit said that Poe’s time in Philadelphia marked his most productive writing period, inspired by a subgenre termed “Philadelphia Gothic.”

Boston-area writers fueled Poe’s creative thinking, said Lewis, who also noted that Poe’s mother Eliza performed on a stage in Boston only blocks from where the debate took place. Jerome noted that, though Poe struggled in Baltimore, it is where he published his first true horror story, “Berenice,” which established the tradition he would follow for the remainder of his prose career. Pettit emphasized that Poe’s time in the City of Brotherly Love included the birth of the modern detective story and most of the classic Poe tales still read today, including “The Tell-Tale Heart” and “The Black Cat.”

The debate was moderated by Charles Pierce, a writer for the Boston Globe and contributor to NPR and other outlets – who showed a clear partiality towards Boston. The city’s poet laureate Sam Cornish served as a celebrity judge, but declined making a final decision – further proving that Poe belongs not to one city, but to everyone.

The debate was all in good fun, of course – no one was literally looking to remove Poe from his grave. Instead, the debate focused on which city had earned the right to identify with Poe. Even so, debaters came out ready for a battle – Pettit himself walked to the stage to the Rocky theme song and wearing a boxing-style robe with Poe’s face on the back. Jerome attempted to bribe the audience with T-shirts.

A crowd of over 350 Poe supporters filled the Rabb Lecture Hall, some coming from as far away as Charleston, South Carolina.

Representatives from Richmond, New York, and other Poe-affiliated cities were not available.

The event was the kick-off to the exhibit “The Raven in the Frog-Pond,” which explores and redefines Poe’s connection with the city of his birth. Lewis served as curator, with the assistance of students from Boston College and independent scholars. The exhibit continues at the Boston Public Library through March 2010.

Special thanks to Rob Velella for reporting!

TONIGHT!! The Great Poe Debate!

Boston Public Library! 7:00pm! Will someone attending please post a report?

In celebration of the opening of the exhibition, The Raven in the Frog Pond, the Great Poe Debate presents advocates for Baltimore, Boston, and Philadelphia, all of whom will make the case for their city's claim to the Poe legacy.

MLA Cometh!

The MLA is upon us! It is held at the Philadelphia Marriott and the PSA has, as usual, some intruiging offerings:

Sunday, December 27th:
Poe at Home

5:15–6:30 p.m., 405, Philadelphia Marriott

Program arranged by the Poe Studies Association

Presiding: Terry Whalen, Univ. of Illinois, Chicago

1. “Domesticating Poe,” Brian Neff, Penn State Univ., University Park

2. “The Detective’s House,” Matthew Levay, Harvard Univ.

3. “‘Our Seclusion Was Perfect’: At Home with Dupin and His Companion,” Kelly Ross, Univ. of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

For abstracts, visit www2.lv.psu.edu/PSA/

Poe on the Move

12:00 noon–1:15 p.m., 401, Philadelphia Marriott

Program arranged by the Poe Studies Association

Presiding: Susan Elizabeth Sweeney, Coll. of the Holy Cross

1. “Traveling the Cultural Galaxy: Poe’s Invention of the American Literati,” J. Gerald Kennedy, Louisiana State Univ., Baton Rouge

2. “Poe’s Nomadology,” Robert Tally, Texas State Univ.

3. “Poe in Outer Space, with the Ladies,” Monika Maria Elbert, Montclair State Univ.

For abstracts, visit www2.lv.psu.edu/PSA/

Pym, Poe and the Purpose of Detail

Have you ever read the title page to the original 1838 version of Pym? Thoughts Welcome!

The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket.

Comprising the Details of a Mutiny and Atrocious Butchery on Board the American Brig Grampus, on Her Way to the South Seas, in the Month of June 1827. With and Account of the Recapture of the Vessel by the Survivors; Their Shipwreck and Subsequent Horrible Sufferings from Famine; Their Deliverance by Means of the British Schooner Jane Guy; the Brief Cruise of This Latter Vessel in the Antarctic Ocean; Her Capture, and the Massacre of Her Crew Among a Group of Islands in the Eighty-Fourth Parallel of Southern Latitude; Together with the Incredible Adventures and Discoveries Still Farther South To Which That Distressing Calamity Gave Rise.

Poe Cottage Fundraiser!

An Evening with Edgar Allan Poe and His Cottage

December 11, 2009

6:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.

National Arts Club

15 Gramercy Park South

New York, New York 10003

Please print out this email and return it to Kathleen McAuley at the address below, or call with your information:

______ ticket(s) at $100 per ticket

______Additional Donation - We hope to see you at the Benefit Evening, however, if you are unable to attend, consider making a donation in support of the Edgar Allan Poe Cottage.

Name:____________________________________

Address:

Telephone: _____________________

Email:_________________________

Method of Payment:

__check (Payable to The Bronx County Historical Society)

__money order

__VISA

__Master Card

Credit Card #:_____________________________________ Exp.___________

Card ID# (found on the back of the card) _________

Signature ________________________________

Please direct any questions about the Poe Cottage Fundraiser to:

Kathleen A. McAuley
Director of Museums
The Bronx County Historical Society
3309 Bainbridge Avenue
Bronx, New York 10467

phone: (718) 881-8900
fax: (718) 881-4827

email: kmcauley@bronxhistoricalsociety.org

PSA Conference Photos!