(Wikimedia Commons public domain)
“To vilify a great man is the readiest way in which a little man can himself attain greatness.”
Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849)
He himself fell victim to such vilification. After his mysterious death in Baltimore, his biography was written by a man named Griswold, who had long held a grudge against him but who somehow managed to become the manager of his literary estate. Mr. Griswold set into circulation the image of Edgar Allan Poe as a depraved drug addict, which appears to be quite false and, to some extent, is based upon forged documents.
But, of course, Poe is far from the only person whose reputation has suffered unjustly at the hands of lesser people.
Posted from Richmond, Virginia
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