Although Edgar Allan Poe is recognized as the originator of the mystery story genre and as a master of the short story, literary critics and the general public have debated the extent of both his genius and his madness since his death in 1849. Poe rose from destitute beginnings as an orphan to a childhood of relative comfort when a wealthy businessman took him in. As a young man, however, he descended through poverty and mental illness to an early death at the age of forty. In his short career, he produced dozens of poems, stories, and critical essays that reflect his brilliant creative intellect.
At twenty, Poe moved to Baltimore to live with his impoverished aunt and her daughter, where he eventually married his fourteen-year-old cousin, Virginia. Poe was obviously devoted to his young wife, and idealized images of her appear in many of his female characters. It is difficult to suppose, however, that they had a close relationship, since she was many years younger than he was and chronically ill with tuberculosis. Although Poe wrote for various newspapers and magazines during this time, making great strides in literary criticism and developing his short-story style, he achieved no monetary success.
His sensitive personality and a hereditary tendency to neurosis contributed to a tragic mental decline; however, this only seems to have reinforced the brilliant imagery and fascinating morbidity that he achieved in his tales. Many critics speculate that Poe also suffered from alcoholism and opium addiction. The fantastical quality of his work earned him a devoted posthumous following in France, but he was generally disparaged by his American contemporaries.
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