[Lewis Gaylord Clark], review in the Knickerbocker Magazine

Clark (1808–73) was a central figure in New York literary life; under his editorship (1834–61), the Knickerbocker became a widely read arbiter of taste. Clark and Poe were bitter enemies — their quarrels went back to Poe's hawkish review in 1835 of Theodore Fay's novel Norman Leslie. Clark's vituperative and vindictive assaults on Poe, especially during his troubles of 1845–6, did much to discredit Poe's character and prepared the way for Griswold's calumnies. On the Poe—Clark hostilities, see Sidney P. Moss, Poe's Literary Battles (Durham, N.C., 1963).