While Poe lived only about 6 years in Philadelphia, what can his house, and other writers’ homes and haunts, tell us about the history of this literary city?
Inspired by Ruth Scott Blackson’s Through the Pale Door and its emphasis on material culture, literary and public historian, Hilary Iris Lowe will interrogate the meaning of authors’ houses. She will explore what they can tell us about the literature that we love (or abhor), the places that inspire creativity, the process of making museums out of homes, the tensions between fiction and architectural preservation, and perhaps, most importantly, the literature that’s worth reading and remembering. Lowe will compare Poe’s homes with those of Mark Twain—two writers who couldn’t be more different—but who populate similar roles as American literary icons. Their houses tell us a great deal about the history of literary commemoration in the U.S. and what drives anyone to preserve or visit a literary home. As part of this interrogation, Lowe will ask: “Where is literary Philadelphia?” and hopes that Hidden City’s participants can help her find it.
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