Edgar Allan Poe

Edgar Allan Poe em 1913 - Fonte: Wikimedia Commons

Edgar Allan Poe (nascido em 10 de janeiro de 1809, na cidade de Boston, EUA) foi um escritor, poeta, editor e crítico literário.

Desavenças com Rufus Griswold, que veio a ser seu executor literário

Após sua morte, em 7 de outubro de 1849, a obra de Poe ficou nas mãos do reverendo Rufus W. Griswold, pessoa com a qual Edgar A. Poe havia tido desavenças.

Os motivos para as desavenças foram críticas de Poe a uma antologia que Griswold publicou, o fato de Rufus ter sido contratado para substituir Allan como editor na revista Grahams recebendo um salário maior, e ainda uma disputa pela atenção da poetisa Frances Sargent Osgood.

Dois dias após a morte de Poe, Rufus Griswold publicou o seguinte texto na edição norturna do jornal New York Tribune:

“Edgar Allan Poe está morto. Ele morreu em Baltimore anteontem. Este anúncio vai surpreender muitos, mas poucos ficarão de luto por ele. O poeta era conhecido, pessoalmente ou pela reputação, em todo o país; tinha leitores na Inglaterra, e em vários dos estados da Europa Continental; mas tinha poucos ou nenhum amigo; e os lamentos pela sua morte serão propostos principalmente pela consideração de que nele a arte literária perdeu uma das suas estrelas mais brilhantes porém errática.”

Embora Griswold diga que Poe é conhecido e lido em todo o país e até na Europa, ele diz que Poe tinha poucos ou nenhum amigo, e que poucas pessoas ficariam de luto por sua morte. Chama Poe de estrela brilhante porém errática.

No mesmo mês Griswold publicou um texto mais longo e mais negativo em relação ao recém falecido Edgar. E essas declarações vinham do executor literário de Poe, o próprio Rufus.

Entre 1850 e 1859 foram publicados os quatro volumes da obra “The Works of the Late Edgar Allan Poe” editada por Rufus. Nessa obra está incluso um texto chamado “A Memoir” em que Griswold fala sobre a vida de Poe.

O texto de Rufus foi considerado válido por décadas, e mencionado como fonte e referência para outras biografias. Esse texto continha inverdades e exageros, mentiras que se repetem até hoje.

Em 1941, com a publicação de “Edgar Allan Poe: A Critical Biography” escrita por Arthur Hobson Quinn, uma biografia mais real de Poe foi apresentada ao mundo.

Saiba mais em eapoe.org

Obras literárias

Editions Authorized by Poe:

During his lifetime, Poe published four collections of his poetry. A posthumous collection, edited by Rufus Wilmot Griswold, incorporates some additional manuscript changes, although Griswold did not have access to a few other important corrections and is therefore less than definitive. These collections are listed chronologically. Poe also sent Griswold revised versions of several poems for his important anthology of American poetry, which ran through many editions. Within each of the following items, there is descriptive information as well as a list of poems which links to the appropriate text.

• "Tamerlane and Other Poems"   (1827 — Poe’s first published collection of poetry, TAOP)
• “Wilmer” manuscript collection   (about 1828 — several poems in manuscript, WMS)
• Al Aaraaf, Tamerlane and Minor Poems   (1829 — Poe’s second published collection of poetry, ATMP. The copy of this book Poe presented to John Neal is ATMP-JN)
• Poems, by Edgar A. Poe   (1831 — Poe’s third published collection of poetry, POEMS)
• The Poets and Poetry of America   (The selections from Poe’s poetry vary somewhat through editions: 1st edition, 1842; 8th edition, 1847; and 10th edition, 1850, PPA)
• Philadelphia Saturday Museum   (February 25 and March 4, 1843 — Poe supplies seventeen poems for this biographical article attributed to H. B.Hirst. The article was first printed on February 25, 1843, and reprinted on March 4, 1843.)
• Herring copy of Al Aaraaf, Tamerlane and Minor Poems   (1845 — Poe’s personal copy of ATMP, reclaimed from his cousin, Elizabeth Herring, with numerous corrections and changes, ATMP-EH, primarily made in preparation for RAOP)
• The Raven and Other Poems   (1845 — Poe’s fourth published collection of poetry, RAOP)
• J. Lorimer Graham copy of The Raven and Other Poems   (1845-1849 — Poe’s personal copy of RAOP, with numerous corrections and changes, RAOP-JLG)
• Richmond Examiner proof sheets collection   (about September 1849 — several poems for which the contents are recorded but the manuscripts or printed proof sheets apparently lost)
• The Works of the Late Edgar Allan Poe, edited by Rufus Wilmot Griswold   (1850 — volume II: Poems and Miscellanies, WORKS)

Later Collected Editions:

After Griswold’s death in 1857, there were several alternate attempts to collect Poe’s works. The most important of these were collections edited by John H. Ingram, also in four volumes (initially published in 1874-1875), the ten-volume set edited by Edmund C. Stedman and George E. Woodberry (initially published in 1894-1895), and the seventeen-volume set edited by James A. Harrsion (published in 1902). (Although at least one of these editions bears the title of The Complete Works of Edgar Allan Poe, none of them are, in fact, actually complete. In some instances, they also contain works that have since been identified as not being by Poe.) Individual volumes of poems were generally selected from the larger collections.

• The Works of Edgar Allan Poe, edited by John H. Ingram   (Edinburgh: Adam and Charles Black, 1874-1875 — The poems are collected in volume 3)
• The Works of Edgar Allan Poe, edited by Edmund C. Stedman and George E. Woodberry   (Chicago: Stone and Kimball, 1894-1895 — The poems are collected in volume 10)
• The Complete Works of Edgar Allan Poe, edited by James A. Harrison   (New York: T. Y. Crowell, 1902 — The poems are collected in a single volume, volume 7)

Modern Scholarly Editions:

The most widely recognized scholarly edition of Poe’s poems is that edited by Thomas Ollive Mabbott, (published in 1969, just after Mabbott’s death). This edition is thoroughly annotated, with introductory material, notes and variants.

• The Complete Poems of Edgar Allan Poe, edited by James Howard Whitty   (Cambridge: 1911)
• The Poems of Edgar Allan Poe, edited by Killis Campbell   (Boston: Ginn and Company, 1917)
• The Collected Works of Edgar Allan Poe, edited by Thomas Ollive Mabbott   (Cambridge: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1969 — Volume 1: Poems)