Marginalia by Edgar Allen Poe (1981, Hardcover)

Description: POE'S MARGINALIA are "Professor" Edgar's extremely skillful imitationsof the aphoristic Euro-tradition in letters-- "one-liners" a modernstandup comic might call them-- brief comments manufactured by Poe, likeminiature word-collages, from things he was reading, & jotted down whilehe consulted, pored over, riffled the pages or mused "for long unweariedintervals, with [his] attention riveted to some frivolous device on themargin or in the typography of a book."AMONG the musty Old World tomes he loved dragging down off the "odd &obscure" shelves of every library he ever entered, Poe would alwaysencounter curious ornaments of learning he could transmogrify intosatirical jabs at local politicos, or charming bits of ancient poetry hecould decorate with words of praise as he vilfied some contemporarypoetaster.THUS, in Edgar's case, these pieces are not truly marginalia in theclassical sense-- those messages that for centuries readers havehandwritten in the margins of books as glosses, spur-of-the-momentcritiques, or insulting schoolboy caricatures of authors, pedagogues orclassmates,-- since the books Poe employed to concoct his remarks fromwere almost always merely borrowed, or perused among the local stacksunder the watchful eyes of public librarians, & therefore out of boundsfor any of his invasive (albeit elegant) penmanship on their printedpages.THE FIRST grab-bag of these tidbits, designed to create in his readers'minds an unassailable impression of"Edgar-The-Most-Well-Informed-Critic-In-America", was opened & scatteredacross the pages of the SOUTHERN LITERARY MESSENGER in 1836, anunbelievably prolific year for Poe that also saw the creation &/orpublication of "Arthur Gordon Pym". "The Sleeper", "Maelzel'sChess-Player", "To Helen", the sonnet "Zante" & a host of new & improvedversions of older works like "Israfel". In a hard-fought-for sparemoment in May, he also found time to marry his beloved Virginia.THE POET continued for over a decade to create & collect his brand ofpithy zingers & erudite literary wisecracks, filling gaps in the pagesof nearly every magazine or newspaper he ever worked for or contributedto.DUBBED "Pinakidia" in the MESSENGER, they appeared at intervals fromthen on, variously labelled "Marginal Notes", "50 Suggestions", & ofcourse "Marginalia".EDGAR knew what he was doing-- designed for the briefest ofattention-spans, these silent "soundbites" insinuate themselvesmarvelously among our postmod, chatline, palmpilot sensibilities-- infact, the only thing that distinguishes them from our own gnomic,latter-day instant-messaging & fast faxes, is their astonishinglycareful construction, clarity of expression & genuinely Poesque wit,pathos & poetry.

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Location: Shelton, Connecticut

End Time: 2024-11-08T16:16:09.000Z

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