As Mr. Poe's bicentennial week begins (we'll mark his 200th birthday on 19 January) the Poe Wars are getting more contentious by the day, in anticipation of the grand event, the Great Poe Debate in Philadelphia on Monday night (13 January). Ed says the library usually podcasts their events, so hopefully even those of us not able to make it down to Philly on Monday will be able to hear the ruckus (that is, if the shouts don't reach us in real time).
Some leadup press includes Meg Frankowski's piece in the Philadelphia Daily News, "Boston, Philly, Baltimore go toe-to-toe over Poe," a column by Steve Wood in the NJ Courier-Post (with slideshow) and a Baltimore Magazine article by John Lewis. And then there's Philadelphia magazine's "Dead Poet Propriety."
And Ed's last major print volley before the debate is an op/ed in the Philadelphia City Paper, "Goodnight Rocky, Goodnight Ben." He's posted the unedited version here.
My own modest contribution to the Poe battles is the MHS "Object of the Month" for January, which features some newspaper advertisements for a pair of Boston theatrical productions staring Poe's parents (and then examines Poe's later relationship with Boston).
