Edgar Allan Poe and Jane Austen

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​Two towering literary figures from centuries ago still influence what we read. Both created models for genre fiction: Jane Austen for the modern romance novel, Edgar Allan Poe for the detective story, horror, and psychological suspense. Despite the different kinds of stories they wrote, they had parallel experiences.  
 
Both published in the first half of the 19th century: Jane Austen’s major works came out in the 1810s, Poe’s in the 1830s and 1840s.
 
Both had difficulty getting published and making money from their writing. And they both needed money, Poe more desperately than Austen, whose poverty was genteel.
 
Both published anonymously at first: Poe's first book, Tamerlane and Other Poems, was BY A BOSTONIAN. Austen's Sense and Sensibility was BY A LADY. Jane Austen’s name did not appear on any of her works until after her death. Though Poe published under his own name, he also used several pseudonyms. 

​Both were influenced by Gothic literature, with its gloomy settings, haunted castles, and supernatural elements, but in different ways: Austen poked fun at Gothic fiction in Northanger Abbey, whereas Poe took it to new heights, though depths might be a better word given the frequency of live burial in his writings.

Both died young: Austen at 41, Poe at 40. Each had a biographer or executor who misrepresented the writer’s life and work: a kindly meant distortion by Austen’s nephew and a hatchet job by Poe’s jealous rival, Rufus Griswold. The reputations of Austen and Poe eventually survived the damage done.  
 
Their works now fetch the highest prices at auction. A first edition of Poe’s Tamerlane and Other Poems set a record for an American book with an auction price of $662,500 in 2009. A manuscript of Austen’s unfinished work, The Watsons, went for approximately $1.5 million at auction.  

Mark Twain dissed them both, and in a single sentence. Twain said of Poe: “To me his prose is unreadable—like Jane Austen’s.”
 
Few authors have made it into the pantheon of literary action figures. Shakespeare, Austen, and Poe have that honor, but not Mark Twain. There’s only a bobble head of him.   

​Poe and Austen have both become cultural icons with recognizable images that have appeared on postage stamps and, in Jane Austen's case, even on money. Her image is on a ten-pound note. Poe is the only author with an NFL football team named for one of his poems: "The Raven." That poem is also the subject of a Simpsons’ episode. 

Both writers continue to live in the world of fiction on the page and screen. Austen has inspired countless adaptations, sequels, and fan fiction, and Poe has over 250 writing credits on IMDB (Internet Movie Database).