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Ladies of the Dundonald Historical
Society graciously posed with me after my presentation of "Poe's Dundonald Connections," about September 2000. From
the Parish Kirk and the castle above, viewers at each can be seen by the other. There can be no question that a brillaint,
spritely six-year-old would not have compelled one of his many cousins or adults in his family to run up the hill with
him, from the kirk to the castle, and have a look around. This first of all strongholds of the Stewart dynasty of Scotland
is little more than rubble today, but without renovations sponsored by the government of Scotland in view. It must be added, nevertheless,
that as The Scottish government are growing since their newly created Parliament, they are funding many cultural programs
dreadfully ignored by their English "cousins," at their British Parliament in London.
In the photograph
above, staff and students of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (Greece) 5th Symbiosis Conference, as well as a few
of the participants are present. More information will be posted soon.
Scholarly and organizational memberships,
some of which we withdrew:
Museum of Scotland, Steward Member; Robert Burns World Federation, Ltd. (Individual Member); Poe Studies Association,
(PSA) (Independent Scholar); Poe Studies, Dark Romanticism: History, Theory,
Interpretation (Independent Scholar); Association for Scottish
Literary Studies,(Independent Scholar); Modern Language Association (MLA), (Independent Scholar (PSA)); Edgar Allan Poe Society, Richmond, Virginia; The STAR Project, (Independent
Scholar); Friedrich Nietzsche Society, (Independent Scholar (of E. A. Poe)). 
Seen in the photo of the opening presentations of the conference are two
Ph. D. Candidates in English who were assigned to translate for the two Professors of English from America. Everyone else
spoke Georgian, and Russian, but the scholar to my immediate right, who was having the talks translated into Russian by the
graduate student behind us. Also on my right is Professor Nancy K. Gish, esteemed scholar of American Literature,
University of Southern Maine.
Also seen are the luminaries of the Georgian Technical University, as well as the Georgia Minister
of Education, and others in academic leadership from Russian, and other former Russian block countries.
Comments from the head table mostly were
regarding the poor conference attendance that was a consequence of the Russian invasion. The entire opening ceremonies and
comments of attendees were in either Georgian or Russian language. Both Professor Nancy Gish, of Southern Maine University,
and Brill, an Independent Scholar of Edgar Allan Poe, were at serious disadvantage during the conference because of the languages
used, even with the competent translation of our two graduate students.
At the closing supper, held in a huge restaurant built in the Fifth Century
monastic style, there was such a humbling array of scientists, scholars, and other Ph. D.s from the former Russian Federation,
all of whom spoke little or no English. All around me were physicists and mathematicians, who graciously smiled or uttered
this or that expression in the very thickest English. Our translator went on to complete her Doctoral Dissertation,
and was awarded the Ph. D. in English.
As with the food in Greece, Georgian food is flavorful and fresh beyond anything obtainable in America.
Noteworthy is their constant consumption of their varieties of breads and meats, cheeses, and so on. Ms. Kenmotsu and I eat
little, and rarely, and simply were not hungry after a few mouthfuls of the earliest courses! They brought in gallons and
gallons of wine, made at home by my table mate, one of 200 former staff physicists at the university. As a Californian, educated
at the best known wine-making school in America, University of California-Davis, I simply could not tolerate the wine offering,
and suffered a Russian-style evening-long meal in a large hall meant to encourage our delay with leaving. Throughout the evening
I had fantasies of a three dollar bottle of Napa Valley Forestville Merlot.
Some of the 13 students in the Department of English Language, of the Georgian
Technical University, who were assigned to the author and Ms. Kenmotsu to act as city guides, translators, and assistants
during our stay.
Seen in this photo are Dennis, Ann, Nino, Diana, Getta, Bob Brill, and Grace Kenmotsu. Other photos and information
will be posted soon. [All of these undergraduates have since earned their B. of A.'s degrees, and are in graduate school.]
After my paper, "Edgar Allan Poe: God of Words,"
I left copies of Poe's works, Hervey Allen's 1934 edition of Israfel, Foye's The Unknown Poe, and a laminated
copy of the two-page article in the Irvine Herold
(Ayrshire) newspaper.
This article was sent to us years later by local Irvine historian Billy Kerr, and featured our research
visit to Scotland of our discovery of the James Poe and Anne Allan gravesite at the Museum of Saltcoats, North Ayrshire.
One cannot comprehend how a dead professor of English at Harvard University, who never traveled to Scotland, could discount
the written record of such an esteemed Ayrshire citizen as James Poe, former Ship's Captain of the Allan Line, and Harbour
Master of Saltcoats, married to Anne Allan, formerly of Dundonald Parish, Ayrshire, Scotland? The family connection
of Allan-and-Poe, of Edgar Allan Poe interest, is the unresearched link to Poe's meaning and madness in his writing.
If Professors and students in this mostly
Georgian-Russian language speaking country knew Poe, they were confused, but enthralled, by Poe's works. Dennis, in the photo
above, taken by fellow student, Henrietta, in front of the Georgian House of Parliement, was intimate with Poe's "The
Raven," in Russian, and knew all of the essential meanings of the hieroglyphic level of this Poe 
After I had made all of the trips to Great Britain for our research, I began offering local, Ayrshire history groups a verbal
presentation of some of the facts that we had acquired from their areas. One of the first to accept was the Kilmarnock Historical
Society. I had asked Mr. Frank Beattie, a well known journalist in Ayrshire, to act as my liaison.
On
10 September 2003, I had carried with me from Hawaii many posters, photographs, flyers, and other visualaids and exhibits
for my talk. In the photo above can be seen some posters that I had obtained from the Edgar Allan Poe Museum and Shrine during
our two visits there in 1997 and later. After my talk, I collected these items and placed them in a large carrying case. I
lost this case when leaving the motor-coach from Glasgow to London. Were it not for this photo, I would have no memory of
what I lost. The poster of Poe to the left of Virginia Poe, as well as that to the right of her, were one-of-a-kind purchased
at the Poe Museum. The rest were enlargements that I had made and mounted from Hervey Allen's book, Israfel, so can
be duplicated. I never have.
The St. Marnock's Parish Church was the venue of this talk. First considered for the organization
and erection of the church was in December of 1833. It was not present at the time of Poe's residency. Unfortunately, in a
disaster that wrecked much of Scotland in 1835, the church roof collapses, and was left unrepaired until 1886, when its present,
impressive stone architecture was refinished. For the talk in Kilmarnock, I made an outline of the significant passages recorded
in my manuscript of the book. I had failed to make any notes or outlines for previous talks, and found myself groping and
stumbling for words and ideas during those talks.
Therefore, for this talk, not knowing what the audience might know or not of American literature
and Poe, I gave an overview of the Romantic Period, how and why we even were in Scotland to find some evidence of Poe having
been there, and so on. Then I presented words found in Poe's works, but no where else of which I had knowledge of geography
and place-names. Finally, the actual cultural and family connections of Scotland to America that I had never-before known.
Every member of the audience were either
an active or retired school headmaster, or administrator. Everyone had at least one graduate degree. All knew more of Poe
than I did, and certainly knew everything about each and every fact of their culture and country that I had only newly learned.
Some were members of Burns Clubs. One was our friend, James Gibson, the Past President of the Robert Burns World Federation,
Ltd., and other local worthies I should have been too humble to address, had I known of their achievements before my talk.
This wonderful assembly of local educators
gave me almost two hours with which to adequately state my material, and to answer questions. Some of this group are still
in communication with me after all of these years. They were largely responsible for the later erection of the Poe Plaque
placed on the building that was the former home of John Allan's sister and brother in-law, the Allan and Mary Foulds (aka,
Fowlds).
Today is the first time
since that presentation that I have had an opportunity to review the materials of this visit, to upload the photo and edit
these pages, and reflect on this one trip to Scotland, of many that we have made at our own expense in furtherance of this
project. Many have lost interest in our project because the book promised has never arrived.
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I presented a paper on, "Edgar Allan
Poe's Scottish Connections" at the International Conference on Arts & Humanities, 11 July 2006. Sponsored
by The University of Hawaii-Manoa (Honolulu), East West Council for Education, Asia Pacific Research Institute of Peking University,
and the University of Louisville - Center for Sustainable Urban Neighborhoods. 1,400 Professors in these disciplines presented
papers. From that Conference are seen four other presenters, all from Japanese Universities. Please see the conference website:
www.hichumanities.org/program_artshumanities.htm
Lecturing
and speaking on Edgar Allan Poe have also occurred as follows:
“The
Pilgrim, The Raven, and The Leviathan,”Burbank Senior High School, Sacramento, California, 1997. A talk comparing
and contrasting the fiction of Nathaniel Hawthorn, Edgar Allan Poe, and Herman Melville. Here, I must pay homage to
my "Master Teacher," Mrs. Lilly Brown (at the time), who helped me earn my own Secondary Teacher Credential, at
the California State University at Sacramento, but then invited me to give the above talk to her class. Her inspiration
and academic guidance in teaching English cannot be overstated.
"The
Poes of Ayrshire, Scotland," Scottish Weekend, The Family Tree Magazine, Edom Payne Genealogical Library, Moutrie,
Georgia, Fall 1999. It must be said with sincere sorrow that this magazine has had to suspend publication,
but the contents of its genealogical library remain intact, including that of the Murray Clan Society of North America,
of which Ms. Kenmotsu and I were a very active part, at the time. She reminded me tonight, 23 June 2011, that this was
the very first conference at which I presented something about Edgar Allan Poe's Scottish connections. Unfortunately,
we do not have photographs of that occasion. At the time, I was not yet the attendee of international conferences that
I am now, and did not know what part that first conference in my subsequent talks on Poe's Scots (Scottish) connections
would have!
“Edgar Allan Poe’s Connections with Saltcoats,”Saltcoats-Ardrossan
Historical Society and Friends of the Museum. 1999. Friends and Members of the Local Historical Society were introduced to
the new exhibit of the David Poe-Anne Allan, and family, headstone found by Brill in the cemetery, now on permanent display
at the Saltcoats Museum of North Ayrshire.
“Edgar
Allan Poe’s Dundonald Connections,”Dundonald Historical Society, Dundonald Castle, Ayrshire, Scotland,
2003. While in Ayrshire, for the Annual Conference of the Robert Burns World Federation, Ltd., this informal talk was given
on the invitation of the Administrator of Dundonald Castle. Dundonald is the point of origin of the Allan-Burns-Galt-Poe connection,
circa 1750. This is the site of the John Galt gift of a Holy Communion pewter set to the Parish Kirk, on the occasion of the
1815 visit of his nephew and family’s visit to Ayrshire, that included his “son,” Edgar Allan Poe.
Edgar Allan Poe’s Kilmarnock Connections,”Kilmarnock Historical
Society, Ayrshire, Scotland, 2004. Again, while in Ayrshire for the Burns Annual Conference, and upon the invitation of the
Society’s President, a lecture on Poe’s connections to this city. It is the site of the home of Poe’s aunt
and uncle, through John Allan. At my solicitation, the Society have commissioned and installed a plaque in honor of Poe’s
connections to the house in which Allan’s family, the Fowlds k(aka Foulds), lived.
“The
Poetry of Robert Burns and his cousin, Edgar Allan Poe,” Brewer Island Elementary School, Foster City, California,
2004. An introduction to the poetry of the Scots’ Bard, and his distant cousin, the American poet, through a love poem
from each.
The 5th Symbiosis Biennial Conference, Aristotle
University of Thessaloniki, Greece, beginning June 29 2005. Subject: "Edgar Allan Poe's Rejection of The Church of Scotland's
Calvinism." In association with STAR (Scotland's Transatlantic Relations Project), University of Edinburgh.
The 16th Annual Conference of the Ulster-American Heritage Symposium,hosted
by the East Tennessee Historical Society, in Knoxville, Tennessee, has heard Brill's paper, "Edgar Allan Poe's Ulster-Scots
Connections," in June 2006. Conference and other details are available at their website. A brief statement of that
presentation will be written in August 2006. It was, however, by all accounts, extremely well received by attendees.
The proposal for this paper is below.
On 19 January 2007 I presented, "The Immortal Memory" for The Caledonian Club of San Francisco's Annual Burns Supper.
I have often been incorrectly introduced at academic and literary conferences as a "Burns Scholar." In fact,
I cannot memorize any poet's works, and have but a limited knowledge of Burns' poems and songs. Nevertheless, given
my long membership in the Robert Burns World Federation, Ltd., and recent visit of Burns' sites in Dumfries, on the Borders
of Scotland, the First Chieftain of the Club asked me to perform the "Immortal Memory" for the Burns Supper.
I spoke on, "The Three Divisions of Burns' Genius," although there are more. My focus and point of view were
as an American, in the English Literature Survey Course, as an English Major, not as a Scots immigrant to America. I have now made my
first visit to India, and that was to meet the first publisher of one of my contributions to an academic and scholarly journal.
See entry for The Atlantic Literary Review. A note, here, on citations and documentation,
required of the Modern Language Association (MLA). I was completely ignorant of the classic form used when I first
attended college, in 1968 (American River College), and in the intervening years since leaving the University, it has
all changed. Consequently, here I use the form and style which pleases me. MLA says to underline
titles, and so on, but I learned to italicize them. I prefer italicizing. Nevertheless,
please see the pages on India Visit for details of lectures on Edgar Allan Poe.
| Text of proposal for the paper given in Tennessee |
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On
19 January 2007 I presented "The Immortal Memory" for The Caledonian Club of San Francisco's Annual Burns Supper.
I have often been incorrectly introduced at academic and literary conferences as a "Burns Scholar." In fact, I cannot
memorize any poet's works, and have but a limited knowledge of Burns' poems and songs. Nevertheless, given my long membership
in the Robert Burns World Federation, Ltd., and recent visit of Burns sites in Dumfires, on the Borders of Scotland, the First
Chieftain of the Club asked me to perform the "Immortal Memory" for the Burns Supper. I spoke on, "The Three
Divisions of Burns' Genius," although there are more. My focus and point of view were as an American, in the English
Literature Survey Course, as an English Major. That effort taught me that Burns is discounted by American literary scholars
as "not important."
RUSSIA
BOMBS TBILISI, GEORGIA, August 9, 2008.... This announcement will remain until Russia leaves the county. Let's see who has
the courage to do what is right. The Russian, ongoing, presence in the Republic of Georgia is a badge of cowardice of our
government to expel them, and the general malaise of a united character in Europe to defend their neighbors. Post Script:
Russia has within the last week deployed (installed) their missiles into northern Georgia, and that was after President Obama
agreed not to deploy our American missiles. President Obama has capitulated on all threats to Americans, both inside
and outside of the country. One can see why I moved to Thailand to finish my manuscript.
As a consequence of the Russian invasion of The Republic of Georgia's northern
territories, the academic conference at the Georgian Technical University was almost cancelled. We informed our friend,
Professor Mabuket, that we were not afraid of the Russian Army, and that she should proceed with her conference. We
would attend! She did, and we had a very successful academic exchange. Nevertheless, the Russian invasion was
the basis of some very undomfortable obsticles for those participants from Russian, most of whom did not attend.
Moreover, most of the attendees from outside of the Russian-Georgian region were not familiar with what would occur, and also
backed out of the conference.
In the photograph taken by Ms. Kenmotsu, Bob Brill
and Georgian Technical University conference hostess, Professor Tamar Mebuket, Department of English, are standing inside
the walls of the church. The Republic of Georgia flags present their pride for all to see in the strong wind. We had made
our acquaintance with Professor Mebuket during the 5th Symbiosis Conference in Greece. We have maintained a correspondence
since, and when her university decided in October 2007 to have a similar conference, I was invited to submit a paper for presentation.
Both before the start
of the conference, as well as afterwards, Professor Mebuket, Ph. D. Candidate Nino Janjgava, and about 10 of the Department's
undergraduates took us on daily excursions of their city and country side. By this time the Russian Army had withdrawn to
the northern provinces, and were not visible to us. The American Embassy had been notified of our arrival, and we were registered
with the Ambassader's staff, should any encounters occur that challanged our safety.
In the photo above, Professor Mebuket is showing us around
the 5th century church, somewhat at the foot of a monastery of the same period, built on the high mountain across the river.
The history of Georgia, like that of Scotland, is pockmarked with tragedy and war. This ancient country, formally a trading
partner with the Greece of the Hellenic Period, has only recently extricated itself from the bondage of the former USSR. The
present war is an indication of the heavy hand of Russian determination to get its former land back. Embarrassement of the
present war caused most of the scholars from Russia not to attend the conference. Those Russians who did attend were extremely
pleased to meet the few scholars from America, and were memorable for their dignity and humility. 
Seen in this photo by Grace Kenmotsu, Ph. D. Candidate, Nino Janjgava,
our primary translator, was asked to read one of the papers presented by one of the many who elected not to attend the conference
because of the Russian invasion. Mrs. Janjgava receives her Doctorate on 17 November 2008.
For the same
reason, several undergraduate students, seen elsewhere, were assigned the same duties. The difficulty of reading a scholarly
paper in English for these native speakers of Russian and Georgian proved to be very unpleasant. Nevertheless, they showed
high levels of courage, professionalism, and academic maturity with their readings.
We are very humbled with Mrs. Janjgava and her husband,
who gave two days of their time and translation with tours of the area between Tbilisi and the Russian Occupation zones. Most
spectacular were our visits to the Fifth Century Orthodox Christian Abbey at the top of the mountain just outside the city,
and its companion church built at the bottom, on the other side of the river. The cultural and historical lessons learned
of that country from just these two sites were worth the price and time of our attending their conference.
Those excursions were an important follow-on to our visit to Northern Greece.
My childhood, Protestant, religious lessons, of Saint Paul's evangelical efforts shortly after the death of Jesus Christ were
planted, thereafter, did not make these facts clear. These on-site visits give vivid understanding of the origin of Christianity,
and the basis of the clash amongst the competing religions today, all of which have the Hebrew God as their
deity, but all of whom kill each other for their different interpretations of what is the "truth." Paradoxically, both the Christian and the Muslim
venerate the mother of Jesus of Nazarath, Mary. while the Hebrew (Jew) dispises both the Christian and the Muslim!
The irony is that the Buddhist, regardless of belief system or sect, does not kill anyone.
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