From Ecstasy to Anguish

Celebrate Poe

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Welcome to Celebrate Poe - Episode 316 - From Ecstasy to Anguish

Many years ago, when I was working at the Poe Museum in Richmond, I remember the brilliant curator, Chris Semptner talking about a French writer who was greatly influenced by Poe and translated Poe’s works into French. Chris seemed to be very excited at the connection, but to be honest, I forgot the writer’s name and basically did not give a second thought to this French writer until last week.

Anyway, I recently bought through Amazon the Bob Dylan Encyclopedia by Michael Gray. Some of the online copies were VERY expensive, and the one I got did have a mark on the back - but the book was huge - with over 700 pages - so I did mind spending 13.00 for a used copy when the other copies were going for well over 100 dollars. The book was about all things Bob Dylan - ever down to insignificant songs the he was planning to write - and a real pleasure to browse - from Paul McCartney to the Band to Highway 61 Revisited to The Times They Are a Changin’ - I could go on all day. It was like reliving my youth.

As you can imagine, I have spent a great deal of time just browsing the book’s entries - and am not even close to finishing - but I ran into a picture of that French writer that I was briefly exposed to years ago - the writer who is famous for his translation of Poe’s works into French. The man’s name was Charles Baudelaire, and the article said he was greatly influenced by Edgar Allan Poe, and that Bob Dylan, in turn, was greatly influenced by this Charles Baudelaire. So you could say that this Charles Baudelaire could be viewed as a missing link between Poe and Dylan. Baudelaire’s importance to the popularity of Poe in Europe cannot be underestimated.

Thank you for experiencing Celebrate Poe.