Transatlantic cultural bridge Eminescu-Poe

Interview with Prof. Amy Branam Armiento

Please tell us a bit about your background. When or how did you discovered Edgar Allen Poe’s poems?

 I grew up in rural Indiana during the 1980s and 1990s. I came across Poe's "The Raven" in a collection of great works kept on a bookshelf behind our piano—our family's "culture nook," if you will. I enjoyed the poem, but I was drawn more to Lord Byron in my late teens. However, once I read more of Poe's tales, I was hooked! 

 What’s or was your connection with that Poe’s institute? What did you do there? What is the mission of that institute?

 I have been a member of the Poe Studies Association's executive committee since 2011. Our mission is to "support the scholarly and informal exchange of information on the life, works, times, and influence of Edgar Allan Poe." Currently, I am both the immediate past president and treasurer. Over the years, I have served in every position on the executive committee, and I look forward to "retiring" after our 2025 conference in Paris. For more information about the organization, please visit https://www.poestudiesassociation.org 

 How did you learn about Romanian poet Mihai Eminescu? What’s the connection between the two poets, if any?! 

I first learned about Poe's connections to Romania generally, and Eminescu particularly, when The Edgar Allan Poe Review published a special edition titled "Essays from the Romanian Bicentennial Conference" in Fall 2010. Minodora Barbul, Ana Olos, Liviu Cotrău, and Ecaterina Hanţiu opened my eyes to the connections between our literary traditions and between Poe and Eminescu in particular. The more I read Eminescu's poetry the more I find myself enamored with the parallels between these two men. As I learn more about Eminescu's life and poems, I feel that Ana Olos's reasons for Poe's appeal to Romanians would also explain Eminescu's potential appeal to Americans: “the impressive variety of his work” and “the ‘cult’ generated by the story of his short, unhappy and troubled life.” What can be done to make them more relevant in today’s world, when people read less poems? I think, as Liviu Cotrău notes, that these poets' cultivation of the “the highly popular ‘poète maudit’ stance” works well to keep Poe in our nation's consciousness, and I think the same can be said for Eminescu. In a sense, these "bad boys" of poetry—with their brooding countenances and handsome looks—draw people's attention. Once they are curious about learning more about the men, they may take the time to look up a poem or read online biographies. Love, heartbreak, and sadness transcend time and place, and I think that their works speak to readers today. Of course, as Poe points out in his "The Philosophy of Composition," it helps if the poem is short! Fortunately, both writers have written many poems that are not too long for an audience used to scrolling, swiping, and clicking.

 Could Eminescu and Poe’s work build a cultural bridge between the two countries? How?

 Absolutely! In Poe Studies specifically, we are apt to discuss "international Poe" and talk about those writers who are instrumental in spreading his works across the world. We often speak of Baudelaire's role, and now other names have entered the conversation such as Jorge Luis Borges (Argentina) and Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis (Brazil). Tracing these literary influences can bring our cultures together, and I think this work begins with professors and their students. This work then leads to international conferences and collaborative projects that transcend national borders. I am excited to see the attention placed on the relationship between Poe and Eminescu, and I look forward to exploring these connections more while also discovering more about how Eminescu is distinct from Poe. Without my connection to Poe, I would not know about Eminescu, and it is inspiring to think about all of the people who have discovered Poe because they know Eminescu. 

 Thank you