A Poe lecture that Griswold would love
Came across this listing for a lecture in Baltimore tonight:
Michael Largo, author of "Genius and Heroin" and who observed in the 1980s how creative geniuses are prone to destructive behavior, speaks at the Maryland Historical Society on Edgar Allan Poe. In a talk titled "Feeding Poe's Muse: The Secret Obsessions of Edgar Allan Poe," Largo will entertainingly show how Poe's genius was entwined with self-ruin. Poe's favorite cocktails will be served. 6 to 8 p.m. Thursday; The Maryland Historical Society, 201 W. Monument Street, Baltimore; $30 to $50.410-685-3750 ext. 319; www.mdhs.org
This is the kind of thing that serves only to perpeutate the untrue myth that Poe was a self-destructive drunk and drug addict. Listen up: Poe was NOT a drug addict. He did NOT smoke opium. Poe did have a drinking problem. However, he was certainly not a raving drunk, nor did he drink himself to death. Many of the accounts of Poe's drunkenness describe him as being UNable to function after drinking just a little bit. Take a look at Poe's corpus. He was constantly writing. He would have been unable to write had he been a souse. I know the description of Largo's talk does not say that Poe was a drunk and drug addict, but it certainly implies it. These are the kinds of lies that Rufus Griswold published about Poe after his death. And the stories just won't seem to go away.
Poe was a dedicated professional writer who never got a break. His genius as a fiction writer, poet and literary critic challenged the way we read literature. "Self-ruin" wasn't Poe's problem. Poverty was. Had Poe made a third of what the hacks around him were making, perhaps he could have taken better care of his health and lived a longer, even more productive life.
Or you can believe the crap that Poe was some kind of destructive rock star whose "genius was entwined with self-ruin." Poe was not Jim Morrison, folks.
Wish I could go to Largo's talk, just to heckle, but check out that price: it'll cost you $30-$50 to hear this bullshit. That's some pricey crap. Figures it's in Baltimore.
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