What has been termed the “enigma” of Edgar Allan Poe remains very much with us, even though he died in 1849. Some aspects of this enigma, which amount to slanting the truth, or to outright lies, originated with Poe himself. Others were supplied by persons who knew him, by others who supposed that they knew about his personal circumstances and career, or by still others who falsified the record because they took suspect “facts” at face value. Consequently, a “Poe legend” emerged, which retains widespread currency today. One may not exaggerate in remarking that a biography, brief or lengthy, of Poe is published nearly every year, although exceedingly few facts about his life and career have been discovered since the late 1930s/early 1940s, and much must remain speculative about that life. The most reliable biography continues to be Arthur H. Quinn's Edgar Allan Poe: A Critical Biography, which dates from 1941, but which as a factual narrative account of Poe's life maintains its value.

An introductory book about Poe, such as this, requires sensible biographical treatment. Much in his life was anything but sensational; more often it became downright drudging, but drudgery did not suppress or distort Poe's amazing creativity. Whether personal circumstances provided the mainspring in his creativity may, however, be questionable. Poe is often associated with the South because he spent most of his first twenty years in and around Richmond, Virginia.