Monday, January 19, 2015

1/19/1809 Edgar Allan Poe is born

January 19, 1809.  Edgar Allan Poe is born in Boston, Massachusetts.  In forty mostly miserable years he managed to invent the mystery story (including such now-cliches as the master detective, the narrating assistant, the least-likely suspect, the roman a clef, the obvious clue, the inverted mystery, and on and on).  He also earned some credit for the formation of horror and science fiction, and wrote a pretty good poem about a birdie.

1 comment:

  1. Born just a few weeks before a fella who would read Poe's stories for fun when he was in the White House---Abraham Lincoln!

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