American writer and editor Rufus Griswold wrote a not-so-nice obituary in the New York Tribune. He had never forgotten about a negative review Edgar gave one of his books several years earlier. “Edgar Allan Poe is dead,” the obituary began. “He died in Baltimore the day before yesterday. This announcement will startle many, but few will be grieved by it.” Among other things, Griswold insisted that Edgar had few or no friends, and that he was an angry person who was jealous of other people’s success. In a collection of Edgar’s works and in other publications, Griswold made up stories that damaged Edgar’s reputation even further. He said Edgar roamed the streets talking to himself. Readers of Edgar’s stories knew that he often wrote shocking descriptions of death or violence, and that he sometimes wrote from the point of view of a crazy person.
