Poe Studies Association Updates

From Amy Branam Armiento, PSA President

In April, the newly elected executive committee members assumed their roles. I would like to welcome Adam Lewis (Boston University), our new member-at-large, and thank Philip Phillips, who served as the immediate past president for the last two years and chaired the Program Committee for the Poe and Hawthorne Conference in Kyoto. The conference brought together 180 scholars from around the world. Special thanks to Sandra Hughes and Masahiko Narita for organizing the conference; Carole Shaffer-Koros, treasurer and registrar; the members of the program committee; all of our sponsors, especially Susan Jaffe Tane, Samuel Chase Coale, and Stephan Loewentheil; and all who helped make this conference a success. At the conference banquet, the PSA and NHS honored Richard Kopley with a Lifetime Achievement and Service Award. In 2021, the Fifth International Edgar Allan Poe Conference will be held in Boston. In the meantime, the PSA will host sessions at the annual MLA and ALA conferences. I look forward to working with our new PSA executive committee members on these future endeavors.

From Emron Esplin, PSA Vice President

The Poe Studies Association will sponsor the following panel on "Poe and Trauma," chaired by Emron Esplin of Brigham Young University, at the upcoming MLA Annual Convention in Chicago in January 2019.

1. 1. "Experience Claimed: The Trauma of Knowing in Poe's Angelic Dialogues." Jeffrey Andrew Weinstock, Central Michigan University.

2. 2. "Traumatic Reenactments: Edgar Allan Poe and the Gothic Vicious Circle." Ana Cristina Băniceru, West University of Timişoara.

3. 3. "Repetition, Race, and Trauma in 'A Tale of the Ragged Mountains,' Post-Charlottesville." William Hunt, Barton College.

4. 4. "Color as Contagion in 'The Fall of the House of Usher': Translating Trauma and Social Degeneracy to the Graphic Novel." Amy Braun, Washington University.

From Carole Shaffer-Koros, PSA Treasurer

As of August 12, 2018, we have 233 members. Many new members joined to participate in the Poe/Hawthorne Conference in Kyoto, which was extremely successful, with 180 participants from fourteen countries. The conference earned about $6,000 profit, thanks to the generosity of the Kyoto Palace Hotel. The monies will be distributed to the sponsoring organizations in a few weeks.

The current checking account balance is $28,834.76. This includes the following restricted funds: Gargano award: $4,420.40; Quinn award: $1,741.49; Dameron award: $1,050.00. Additionally, the Association holds two CDs: $5,027.24 and $1,067.17. Susan Tane has indicated that undistributed money from the Travel Fund be used for the next PSA conference. Those funds will be transferred from the Merrill Lynch account after all twenty-seven awardee checks have been cashed. The current PSA balance, not counting those funds, is $34,929.17.

From Cristina Pérez, PSA Member-at-Large

I was a child and she was a child,In this kingdom by the sea,But we loved with a love that was more than love—I and my Annabel Lee—

These compelling verses—recited, reproduced, transcribed, transformed, and translated for many decades—serve as one instance of Poe's use of childhood in his work.

At the upcoming American Literature Association Conference in Boston (May 23–26, 2019), the PSA will sponsor a panel about "Poe and Childhood," for which the Association seeks proposals. Possible topics include, but are not limited to:

• • Poe on childhood

• • Poe's childhood

• • Poe and children

• • Adaptations of Poe's works for children

• • Children reading Poe

• • Children's books on Poe

To submit a proposal, please send the title and an abstract of no more than 250 words to Cristina Pérez at cristina.perez@bc.edu; in the subject line, please put "PSA ALA Panel 2019." The deadline for submissions is January 15, 2019. Panelists will be notified by February 1.

From Adam Lewis, PSA Member-at-Large

Many databases provide digitized versions of Poe's work; one of the most valuable is the Edgar Allan Poe Society of Baltimore website (http://www.eapoe.org/) founded and maintained by Jeffrey Savoye. Physical copies of Poe's letters and manuscripts can be found at the Boston Public Library...