Resparking Interest in Charles Fenno Hoffman, a Once-Acclaimed American Author

by theliterarymaiden

BROM BONES BOOKS

I went digging for some interesting tidbit regarding an American author named Charles Fenno Hoffman (1803-1884). I found one in the November 5, 1842, issue of the Southern Pioneer, a newspaper based in Carrollton, Mississippi. It’s a promotional piece for Graham’s Magazine, and Hoffman’s name is placed among James Fenimore Cooper and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.

It’s interesting that another writer, a fellow named Edgar Allan Poe, had published quite a bit in Graham’s by the time this advertisement appeared. Along with literary reviews and some of his most cherished poems, outstanding tales written by Poe — namely, “Murders in the Rue Morgue,” “A Descent into the Maelström,” and “The Mask of the Red Death” — had all been printed in Graham’s. Nonetheless, in late-1842, Poe seems to have lacked what Hoffman had earned: the name recognition that might sell magazines.

I wonder, though, how many readers today know the work…

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