Poe and Women presents essays by scholars who investigate the various ways in which women—Poe's female contemporaries, critics, writers, and artists, as well as women characters in Poe adaptations—have shaped Edgar Allan Poe's reputation and revised his depictions of gender.

Edgar Allan Poe notoriously identified “the death . . . of a beautiful woman” as “the most poetical topic in the world.” Despite this cringeworthy claim, it is widely known that Poe drew creative inspiration from female authors and that women figure prominently among the artists and critics fascinated by the writer’s creative legacy. Filling a major gap in scholarship on Poe, this volume investigates the varied ways that women have influenced perceptions of Poe through biography, criticism, editorial work, and creative adaptation. Covering a timeframe from the mid-nineteenth century to the present, Poe and Women addresses a range of topics, including accounts of Poe written by female contemporaries, the scholarly efforts of women in establishing Poe’s worldwide reputation, and the revision of antebellum gender constructs in popular adaptations of Poe’s work. This collection will appeal not only to Poe specialists but also to anyone interested in the writer’s ongoing relevance to gender discussions inside and outside the academy.

Introduction

Amy Branam Armiento and Travis Montgomery

Part I: Recognition

1. “The Vast Pantheon of Speculation”: Edgar Allan Poe and His Women Biographers Sandra Tomc
2. Spiritual Dialogues: Lydia Maria Child, Edgar Allan Poe, and the Politics of Unity

Adam Bradford

3. Fifty Years of Women’s Scholarship on Poe

Amy Branam Armiento

4. Transnational Poe: Women Scholars Abroad

Clara Petino

Part II: Revision

5. “Can You See Me?”: Poe’s Female Characters and the Struggle for Self-Definition on Film

Alexandra Reuber

6. “And She Grew Strangely”: Poe, Women, and Comics

John Edward Martin

7. “Sort of E. A. Poeish”: Edgar Allan Poe and Female Pulp Writers

Kevin Knott

8. Traces of Poe’s House of Usher in the Work of Contemporary Women Horror Writers

Melanie R. Anderson

Afterword: Maureen Cobb Mabbott and The Collected Works of Edgar Allan Poe

Travis Montgomery