An Interesting Meeting

Edgar Allen Poe And Charles Dickens

"These two great writers met in March of 1842 when Charles Dickens visited Philadelphia to lecture and also talk about the importance of international copyright laws. Poe sent him a letter requesting a meeting along with a two-volume collection of his short stories. Dickens responded to his letter and wrote “My Dear Sir, I shall be very glad to see you whenever you will do me the favor to call. I think I am more likely to be in the way between half past eleven and twelve than any other time.” Dickens was just 30 years old and had already published Pickwick Papers, Nicholas Nickleby, and The Old Curiosity Shop. The relatively little-known Edgar Allan Poe was 32 and had published Tamerlane and Other Poems. The two met twice in Dickens’s hotel room. The meetings were impersonal as they discussed contemporary English and American writers. Poe then came to the point and asked Dickens if he could help publish his Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque in England. Dickens promised to try. Nine months later Dickens wrote Poe admitting failure to get his work published.

Interesting Fact: Six years earlier Poe had married his 13-year old first cousin Virginia Clemm and was living with her and her mother (Poe’s Aunt/ mother in-law) Maria Clemm. Virginia Clemm died of tuberculosis when she was just 24. Because of his wife’s death Poe became despondent and turned to drink to cope. When Dickens returned to America for his second tour, Poe was already dead. Dickens learned that Maria Clemm was ill and living on charity. Dickens visited her, pressed some money into her hand, and later from England contributed $1,000 for her keep." list universe and wikipedia