Give Up, Give In, Or Get The Hell Away If You Can

Sometimes I wonder if the most divisive and jagged trench in the horror field might be Edgar Allan Poe.

How do writers respond to Poe? M. P. Shiel cries out in glee, and works hard to Poe-verize himself until he limps from the burden. Walter de la Mare grows beyond Poe quickly, to develop his own obsessions and his own voice. Clark Ashton Smith combines Poe with other people (William Beckford, George Sterling, Charles Baudelaire) to reduce Poe's toxicity. Ambrose Bierce and M. R. James follow their own pathways as if Poe had never existed, and all the better for themselves. Baudelaire... well, it's complicated.

But it seems clear to me that certain writers grab other writers by the throat, and shake them until the others give up, give in, or get the hell away if they can. Edgar Allan Poe, E. T. A. Hoffmann, and Sheridan Le Fanu seem to have been the most ferocious of the shakers in the field, but others have always lurked in the shadows. (John Webster?)

Poe seems to have been the deadliest of all of the shakers. If you managed to get away from him, count yourself lucky.