Poe As Magazinist

University of South Florida Scholar Commons Graduate Theses and Dissertations Graduate School 2011 Poe as Magazinist Kay Ellen McKamy University of South Florida, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarcommons.usf.edu/etd Part of the American Literature Commons Scholar Commons Citation McKamy, Kay Ellen, "Poe as Magazinist" (2011). Graduate Theses and Dissertations. https://scholarcommons.usf.edu/etd/3242 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at Scholar Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Graduate Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Scholar Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Poe as Magazinist by Kay E. McKamy A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of English College of Arts and Sciences University of South Florida Co-Major Professor: Rosalie Murphy Baum, Ph.D. Co-Major Professor: Regina Hewitt, Ph.D. Lawrence Broer, Ph.D. Elaine Smith, Ph.D. Date of Approval: March 31, 2011 Keywords: short stories, American literature, George R. Graham, early American magazines, Graham‘s Magazine Copyright ©2011, Kay E. McKamy Acknowledgments The idea for this dissertation came from a discussion of early-American magazines in a graduate course with Dr. Rosalie Murphy Baum at the University of South Florida. The dissertation would not have been possible without the professionalism, knowledge, advice, and encouragement of Dr. Baum. Her combination of prodding and praise is exactly what non-traditional students like me need: without her insistence, I would have quit long ago. It would also not have been possible without the extraordinary assistance and cooperation of Dr. Regina Hewitt, Dr. Larry Broer, Dr. Dan Belgrad, and especially Dr. Elaine Smith, whose hours of editing and critiquing were invaluable. I also want to acknowledge the assistance of Lee Davidson at USF; the library staff of Pasco Hernando Community College, especially Christine Lyons and Melanie Cooksey, Assistant Director of the PHCC Library. In addition, I would like to acknowledge the patience of my students and colleagues at PHCC while I simultaneously taught and worked on the dissertation. A special thank you goes to my Editor-sister Connie for the help and guidance she has given me in this project and in my life. My final and most heartfelt acknowledgment is to my four daughters—Kelley, Suzanne, Colleen, and Lauren—for without their understanding and encouragement, I would never have taken the time away from them and my three grandchildren to further my education. i Table of Contents Abstract ........................................................................................................ iii Preface .......................................................................................................... iv Introduction.................................................................................................... 1 Chapter One: The Short Story: a New Genre .................................................. 18 History of the Short Story ............................................................................. 19 Defining the Short Story: Poe‘s Theory, Codified by Matthews ......................... 25 Conditions in the 1830s and 1840s That Encouraged the Short Fiction That Became the Short Story……………………………………………………………32 Chapter Two: Survey of the Criticism ............................................................. 40 Works on the Magazine ................................................................................ 41 Studies on the Short Story ............................................................................ 47 Critical Works on Poe as Author and Critic ..................................................... 56 Chapter Three: George R. Graham‘s Influence on Magazines and Short Fiction ....................................................................... 79 Making Decisions on Content and Contributions ............................................. 87 Promoting an American Literature ................................................................. 89 Advertising His Writers ................................................................................. 91 Paying Contributors ..................................................................................... 93 Securing Full Time Engravers, Quality Illustrations, and Copy for Illustrations ... 95 Declining Years of Graham‘s ......................................................................... 98 Chapter Four: Poe and the Magazines .......................................................... 101 Poe as Magazinist ...................................................................................... 107 Early Reading and Writing Leading to Poe‘s Career in Magazines ................... 110 Poe‘s First Editorial Position ........................................................................ 114 Poe‘s Beginnings as a Critic ........................................................................ 122 Poe‘s Second Editorial Position .................................................................... 129 Poe with Graham‘s Magazine ...................................................................... 137 Poe in New York and with The Weekly Mirror ............................................... 150 Poe with the Broadway Journal ................................................................... 155 Poe‘s Plans for Penn Magazine and The Stylus ............................................. 161 ii Chapter Five: A Comparison of Graham‘s Magazine April 1841 and April 1842 ........................................................................ 168 The Public‘s Taste for the Sentimental and Didactic ...................................... 169 Graham‘s Magazine April 1841 .................................................................... 173 Genres of Short Fiction 1841 ............................................................ 179 Embury, ―Self-Devotion‖ ......................................................... 179 Poe, ―The Murders in the Rue Morgue‖ .................................... 184 Graham‘s Magazine April 1842 .................................................................... 193 Genres of Short Fiction 1842 ............................................................ 205 Embury, ―The Bachelor‘s Experiment ....................................... 205 Poe, ―Life in Death‖ ................................................................ 209 Conclusion………………………………………………………………………………………………214 Afterword .............................................................................................. 217 Notes .............................................................................................. 218 Works Cited .............................................................................................. 248 About the Author ................................................................................ End Page iii Abstract Edgar Allan Poe has long been recognized as one of American literature‘s most intriguing authors, usually for reasons other than his writing. Most literary studies examine one or two of his tales and perhaps one or two comments he made about the short tale. This dissertation will instead look at the work Poe did while involved in the world of early-American magazines for the last seventeen years of his life. It will explore how the magazine world affected his writing and his theories, especially his theories on the genre of the short story, a genre that Poe essentially described and formed in the magazines, but a genre he did not name. Poe worked with many magazines in his career: one magazine, Graham‘s under George Graham, owner and editor, will be examined to see how Poe worked within this medium to shape short fiction. iv Preface I initially experienced the psychological probing, mystery, and horror of Edgar Allan Poe‘s tales in junior high school, where most people first read Poe.1 I did not care for his stories. I did not think they were scary, and I was not comfortable or interested in reading about someone being buried alive. When I became a literature major in college, Poe was not an author represented in my American-literature anthologies. I dismissed him. Then, as a college professor, I began to teach short stories, and students asked to read works by Edgar Allan Poe. I picked up a collection of Poe‘s tales to consider including in a literature course as an enticement to those students who hated to read but loved horror stories. After a little research I found a reason to include Poe in a short-fiction class: his definition of the short story. Eureka!2 Poe was more serious about his writing than I had thought. He reminded me of another writer whom students love to read—Stephen King, also a writer I had never read or assigned in my college literature classes. Poe published his theories of writing in magazines; Stephen King wrote his memoir and advice in On Writing, a book published in 2000. Although Poe was poor almost to the point of starvation and King very wealthy, they have much in common: both had fathers who left3 and never came back when the authors were young; both v wrote shocking horror stories; both chose writing as their careers4 and wrote prolifically; both had trouble with alcohol; both fought for the blending of commercial and literary qualities in literature; and both were denounced by critic Harold Bloom.5

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