A new wrinkle in the mystery of Edgar Allan Poe’s Death

Edgar Allan Poe was an American Romantic, the image of the individualist artist who struggled his whole life to support himself so that he could create his work. He was a journalist and a writer in the populist genres. He invented the modern horror and detective tales and he wrote melodic narrative ballad poems that are still recited today. He died under mysterious circumstances in 1849, disappearing for a few days before he was found, ill, disoriented and wearing clothes not his own, in a Baltimore tavern. In the more than 150 years since then, poets, historians and fans have debated the cause of his death, and a young novelist has just reported another wrinkle in the mystery -- evidence that Poe may have died of a brain tumor.

from The New York Observer:
“Poe’s Mysterious Death: The Plot Thickens!,” by Leon Neyfakh
“Last year, the writer Matthew Pearl published a novel called The Poe Shadow, in which a young lawyer sets out to solve one of the great enduring mysteries of American literary history: What killed Edgar Allan Poe?....There are numerous competing theories about Mr. Poe’s death—the Edgar Allan Poe Museum in Richmond, Virginia, even has an exhibit dedicated to all of them. Some Poe experts believe it was the result of drink. Others think he had rabies. A few argue he was poisoned by corrupt political operatives. But Mr. Pearl... told The Observer recently that he has unearthed new information that suggests a less sensational answer: Mr. Poe, it seems, may have died of a brain tumor.”

More on Edgar Allan Poe:
Our biographical profile of E.A. Poe, American Romantic
NEW - Library: Poems by E.A. Poe
Poe, Poe, Poe, Poe, Poe! The Empty House Tour, by Tom Devaney
A new Poe(try) film: The Death of Poe (2006)