Complementing and extending a project begun by Lois Vines, this book includes essays on Poe’s influence abroad from Japanese author, Edogawa Rampo, to Russian author, Nikolai Gogol, and takes a wider perspective on Poe's influence by including essays on Poe's impact on American authors from Harriet Jacobs to Joyce Carol Oates.

The essays in this collection were originally presented as talks at the Poe Studies Association's Third International Edgar Allan Poe Conference: The Bicentennial in October 2009. All the essays in this volume deal with Poe's influence on authors from the United States and abroad; in addition, the collection also includes two examples of primary texts by contemporary authors whose work is directly related to Poe's work or life: an interview with Japanese detective novelist Kiyoshi Kasai and poems by Charles Cantalupo.

This volume includes interpretative essays on international authors whose work reflects back on Poe’s work: Edogawa Rampo from Japan; Lu Xun from China; Fernando Pessoa, Eça de Queirós and Ramalho Ortigão from Portugal; Angela Carter from England; and Nikolai Gogol from Russia. The essays in this collection complement and extend a project begun by Lois Vines' Poe Abroad (University of Iowa Press, 1999) and take a wider perspective on Poe's influence with essays on Poe's impact on American authors William Faulkner, Mary Oliver, Joyce Carol Oates, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Herman Melville, and Harriet Jacobs.