A man of the crowd

Edgar Allan Poe is an American writer, poet, essayist, playwright, literary editor and critic, one of the leading representatives of American romanticism. The story begins with the epigraph Ce grand malheur, de ne pouvoir être seul, a quote taken from Jean de Labruyere. It translates as: A terrible misfortune is not being able to be alone with yourself. The same quote is used in Poe's early story ...