1/15/25
I've figured out how to get an academic to respond to me--piss them off. Which is to say, just adopt a hint of an attitude, not anything too obvious. Here's what one of them wrote me, this morning:

If you want to prove it, please do. Until then I don’t believe the claims. I’ve spent 25 years researching Poe and have multiple publications on conspiracy theories about Poe’s supposed “thefts.” Unless you can cite publications and document your claims with newspaper publications of the period by Whittier’s brother, this is just one of hundreds of similar claims. The conspiracy theories started in Poe’s time, and it was a common feature of his time to make these kinds of accusations. I suggest you read more and have more respect for other people’s scholarship.

Sounds fair, doesn't it? It isn't, not really. Let me break it down for you.

This person doesn't want proof. She assumes I can't provide it, because what I say is impossible. Therefore, her "please do" is an empty request. "Until then" is a lie, because it implies she will believe it, "then." That's not true--she won't believe it no matter what.

Continuing, her 25 years of researching has been into the Myth of Poe, not the reality of Poe. So 25 years of researching based on fundamentally false assumptions, is useless, or next to useless. You get what you already believe in, with that kind of research.

And, as for the "hundreds of similar claims,"...I know there's a good metaphor, for this. Let's suppose you've dated 30 girls who have been just toying with you. Then you meet your soul-mate, and you tell her, "I've been 'loved' dozens of times, and it always ends up with me getting hurt." She answers, "But you've never been loved like this."

Not to be grandiose, but what I've discovered is not remotely like anything she's ever seen.

Then she throws down the gauntlet, quite confident that I can't meet the challenge: "Unless you can..." Well, I can, and I have. Fifteen years of meticulous research, carefully identifying over 3,000 of Mathew Franklin Whittier's published works, starting with his writing as a child prodigy of 12. Yes, my friend, I can.

Then there are the accusations made in Poe's time. Indeed--and I'm glad she admitted this. I would like to know more. But the ones I do know about, were not false accusations. They were accurate accusations. It makes a world of difference. She is implying, with the word "accusations," that they were false accusations.

And finally, there is the matter of respect. As said--and I admitted this to her--I was deliberately needling her a bit, to see if I could get an actual response out of one of these people. Eventually, when you get no results at all, you become mischievous and start trying things. But I respect her far more than she respects me. If she respected me, she wouldn't throw out these empty challenges, assuming I can't possibly meet them.

And here's the proof--I wrote a very reasonable, respectful letter back, explaining the situation in more detail and depth. I offered to share my evidence with her, while cautioning her that there's a lot of it, most of it is cumulative, and it would require a significant investment of her time.

What, does she want me to prove that Edgar Allan Poe wasn't the real author of "The Raven" inside of five minutes? Perhaps she wants that "signed document" that everybody insists on, before they will believe. But that's not true scholarship. True scholarship is built on reams of carefully-sifted cumulative evidence, and that takes time.

If she writes back I'll definitely add a postscript, here. If I don't add a postscript, you can assume that either I scared her, or else she is so disrespectful of me, that no matter what I say, she won't take me seriously for half-a-half-a-second.

Respect cuts both ways...

Sincerely,

Stephen Sakellarios, M.S.