Poepathy 

n. A terrible disease of the soul, characterized by the affectation of the imagination and its degenerate interaction with the secular world, Poepathy is derived from continual contact of the reader’s imagination with that of 19th- century American author, Edgar Allan Poe. It manifests itself through an almost irrational devotion to Poe and his works. Famous sufferers include Charles Baudelaire, Stephan Mallarme, H.P. Lovecraft, and Vincent Price.

Derivatives of the word include: Poethogen.

Coined by writer and Independent Poe Scholar S.J. Chambers in "The Poe-Bug," published on Up Against the Wall Magazine, June 2007.

"With Poepathy now in the cinema, an artistic media most publicly available, the disease transferred from avant-garde esotericism and onto the pop-culture screen of American cinema via the famous Roger Corman/Vincent Price films."
--S.J. Chambers, "The Poe-Bug."

"While I liked tracing Lovecraft’s Poepathy, I was disappointed in this story’s premature effect." S.J. Chambers, "Lovecraft Fresh."

Poepathy by poebrowser January 16, 2010