The Man of the Crowd" Is a short story written by Edgar Allan Poe about a nameless narrator following a man through a crowded London, first published in 1840. The story is introduced with the epigraph, "Ce grand malheur,...The Man of the Crowd" Is a short story written by Edgar Allan Poe about a nameless narrator following a man through a crowded London, first published in 1840. The story is introduced with the epigraph, "Ce grand malheur, de ne pouvoir etre seul"-a quote taken from the characters of man by jean de la bruyere.