"Still, it is easy enough to see that Poe must appear a clouded and legendary figure to those who derive their knowledge of him from the hysterical reports of the women who thought they loved him or he loved them, whose chief object in writing was to inform the world, not of Poe, but of themselves; and the works of slovenly and violent biographers, all terribly prejudiced on one side or the other, without the slightest notion of sifting evidence, and chiefly and passionately concerned with Poe's drinking proclivities."
-Vincent O'Sullivan, writing in "The Academy" magazine, May 31, 1902
Mr. O'Sullivan managed to say in one sentence what I've been trying to express on this blasted blog for months. (I wish there was some way to make his golden words mandatory preliminary reading for everyone who picks up a biography or magazine article about Poe.)
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