The One Thing John Cusack’s “The Raven” Gets Right

There had to have been a market for Poe’s murder stories among women in his time.

The Raven, 2012, directed by James McTeigue, starring John Cusack. Streaming on multiple platforms

As a biopic, The Raven will never get my defense regarding its historical accuracy, if only because it is an imaginative “what if?” story with details I have not yet confirmed as true or false. 

(Even if the Poe of real life didn’t own a pet raccoon like the Poe played by Cusack, at least that weirdness gave us Karl in Bungo Stray Dogs, so, bless this film for that.)

But there is one detail from the film that I can defend, and that is condensing a phenomenon of its time: women readers in the nineteenth-century United States really did like their grisly, gothic murder stories. In the movie, Poe is shown giving a talk to a women’s club, and while my research has not yet taken me to more information about Poe’s public talks, it’s not as if an audience of women readers would not have encountered Poe in popular periodicals catering to them.

For example, Poe’s “The Cask of Amontillado” first appeared in Godey’s Lady’s Book, a very popular journal that just as often published about household decorum and women’s fashion as it did such dark tales. Quoting from my dissertation: 

Poe, writing in Graham’s Magazine in December 1841, was quick to point out, “Mr. GODEY is only known to the literary world as editor and publisher of ‘The Lady’s Book,’ but his celebrity in this regard entitles him to a place in this collection. […] The man who invariably writes so well as Mr. G. invariably does, gives evidence of a fine taste, combined with an indefatigability which will ensure his permanent success in the world’s affairs” (“A Chapter on Autobiography [Part II]” 274).  Poe had so much confidence in Godey’s Lady’s Book that he even chastised Godey for choosing to publish one of his letters in The Times instead.  “All the error about it was yours,” wrote Poe to Godey.  “You should have done as I requested — published it in the ‘Book.’ […] I have never written an article upon which I more confidently depend for literary reputation than that Reply.”  Perhaps as a joke, Poe threatened to sue Godey over the seeming insult (Letter to Louis A. Godey, 16 July 1846). 

It’s all the weirder that Poe would publish “Cask” and other dark tales in Godey’s when the point of the journal was to make wives be better people. I’m not one to criticize how walling up your enemy in a basement until he dies makes you a better person, but hey, different strokes. 

Like I said, I haven’t done enough research, to my chagrin, about Poe’s public speaking performances. The most well known is his tirade at the Boston Lyceum. But reading groups featuring famous authors, composed of audiences made up predominantly of women, was incredibly common in the time period, so it’s not unbelievable, if potentially not historically accurate, to set a scene in your story with Poe at such an event. And it’s a more exciting bit of shorthand than what I expositioned above about Poe publishing in leading women’s journals.