The German face of Edgar Allan Poe

The question of Poe's competence in the field of German language and literature is central to an understanding of his creative method; critics and readers have always been intrigued by the numerous references to German literature in his works, and his extensive use of German quotations. Did he speak or read the language? Did he know Goethe and Hoffmann in the original? Could he have read Schlegel or Kant in German and been directly influenced by their thinking?This study aims to answer such questions about Poe's relationship to German sources. It examines Poe's Germanic references, quotations and criticism of German writers to trace his complex relationship with German language, literature, and culture, viewing Poe within the discourse of Germanism that surrounded a writer of the Gothic fantastic in the 1830s and '40s. The authors argue that Poe's knowledge of German language and culture consisted largely of second-hand reception of pharases and opinions which he found in English language sources.