Missing Man Formation, old style. The biggest hole in Americana. The homegrown Shakespeare we confuse with Wes Craven and campy Vincent Price movies.

Twice in the last couple of days I’ve encountered the void in American self knowledge represented by Edgar Allan Poe.

Thought I’d share. Very very briefly. First, a Brit or PBS documentary on Sherlock Holmes, subtitled “How He Changed the World.” Mostly true except for leaving out the part about how the first fictional detective who functioned by reasoning rather than beatings was omitted entirely. There was no mention of the predecessor who beat Holmes into print by 40 years. His name was C. Auguste Dupin.

Second, I saw a documentary derived from Museum Secrets called Church Secrets or some such. All about eerie happenings surrounding the death and burial of Edgar Allan Poe. Interesting enough except for the glib summary of Poe’s career as a writer of horror stories. Even the iconic poem The Raven was used as an example of a horror tale.

So I’m calling foul. Here’s a link to a post I did long ago at the original Instapunk. Please read it and take all the links, many of which still work.

If you won’t do it for intellectual curiosity, do it as a birthday present to me. I added another candle to the cake last week. Which I’ve now done 21 more times than Poe had a chance to do. Although I’m convinced my funeral will be just as well attended as his.

Not complaining. I DO know my place. Why I bow today to a master who, were it not for bad luck, would have had no luck at all.