The Mystery of Edgar Allan Poe

FAIN: TR-50533-14

Center for Independent Documentary, Inc. (Newton, MA 02458-1341)
Susan L. Walsh (Project Director: August 2013 to April 2014)
Eric K. Stange (Project Director: April 2014 to present)

Production of a 90-minute documentary film and an educational website exploring the life and work of the 19th-century American writer Edgar Allan Poe.

"The Mystery of Edgar Allan Poe" is a multi-platform project anchored by a 90-minute documentary that explores one of America's most influential, popular, and misunderstood writers. Although he is a cultural icon recognized around the world, Poe is seen by many as a one-dimensional character whose tremendous contribution to American letters is ignored. For many decades critics considered Poe outside the mainstream of American literary tradition when, in fact, he was an astute shaper of literature and popular tastes, a fierce advocate for raising the bar for American literature, an influential critic, and a prolific writer who invented the modern detective story and refined other genres. This film places Poe in the context of his times to better understand America in the 1820s-1840s. Intended for PBS broadcast, we will extend the film's reach through a partnership with Maryland Public TV and its educational website Knowing Poe--a highly successful literacy teaching tool.