Literary compliment – Mark Twain and Edgar Allan Poe

Works of American writer Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849) were not very well received at the time when Poe was alive. Poe's stories and poems were especially despised by writer and journalist Mark Twain (1835-1910) who once in a letter to his friend wrote:

“To me his prose is unreadable—like Jane Austin’s. No, there is a difference. I could read his prose on salary, but not Jane’s. Jane is entirely impossible. It seems a great pity that they allowed her to die a natural death.

Another thing: you grant that God and circumstances sinned against Poe, but you also grant that he sinned against himself—a thing which he couldn’t do and didn’t do.”

 

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Student of a Generation!

American writer Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849) was seventeen years old when he entered the University of Virginia. Already the first day he managed to gamble his annual scholarship and really soon he owed $ 2500 to local notorious gamblers.

At that time, Poe was already a true alcoholic, and this evil addiction later drove him to his death.

During the first semester, in almost all sessions he was drunk and he was not sober even during the exam period. It is remembered that, on examinations, he appeared in this state.

It is interesting that he passed all exams with best grades thus earning the title of the best student in his generation.

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