by Clarke, Neil
Poe even dared to approach scientific theory through the lens of artistic exploration. He developed what may have been the first science fiction story in “The Unparalleled Adventures of One Hans Pfaall”, which is about a man who reaches the moon via balloon using a breathing apparatus that compresses air from the vacuum of space. Pfaall’s narrative over a 19-day period includes descriptions of the Earth from outer space as well as the unlikely astronaut’s arrival on the blistering hot moon. Tales like this influenced later sci-fi writers such as Jules Verne (From the Earth to the Moon) and H.G. Wells (War of the Worlds).
A news article in the November 2, 2002 edition of the New York Times noted that Poe’s philosophical musings on scientific issues may have contained some brilliant and uncanny insights, such as his essay “Eureka,” which seems to describe what we now call “the Butterfly Effect” as well as portraying the origin of the universe in a way that would later be known to physicists as “the Big Bang Theory.” In the essay, of which only 500 copies were printed, Poe discourses about the beginnings of the universe from a single “primordial particle” which then radiated or diffused into space. He argued that the relatively equal distribution of the starry bodies was evidence of it: “This equability of distribution effected through radiation from a centre.”
While other writers of the day concerned themselves with moral correctness and the status quo, Poe was breaking all the rules and daring to maintain that the purpose of art was not morality but beauty and truth. Unlike Matthew Pearl’s supposition in his novel, The Poe Shadow, that Poe lived his life within his works — that it was “his true form of being” — Poe always insisted that he was only “in” his works insofar as it served his purpose as an artist. He always maintained, from his youth to his death, that “Art should not have a Moral basis but solely exist for Truth and Beauty of the art itself.”
Although he clearly worshipped at the altar of Art, Poe also made commercial forays into everything from comic farce (”The System of Doctor Tarr” and “Professor Fether”) to critiques of American home decorating styles (he had the journalistic trait of being a generalist so he could write about anything). Out of all this journalistic churn, however, came one of Poe’s greatest acts of innovation — he brought the language, rhythms and techniques of poetry into literary fiction of the day. Silvermanwrote that “Poe was becoming the first writer in English, or perhaps in any modern literature, to consistently apply to prose fiction some of the techniques of poetry.” Although Poe was a journalist by necessity, he was still a poet by definition. “With me,” wrote Poe, “poetry has not been a purpose but a passion.”
Yet aside from Poe’s obvious influences on literature, film, art and music (such as Rachmaninov’s choral symphony The Bells), despite his contemporary critics and enemies who sneered at the “Magazinist”, and regardless of many modern academics who still consider Poe a pulp writer or a minor, embarrassing figure of 19th century American letters, Poe has become an important symbol in popular culture worldwide — and not just in English-speaking countries. Reproductions of his doleful, baggy-eyed visage are instantly recognizable and appear globally on t-shirts, posters, coffee cups, movies, music and fine arts. Even death metal fans who hardly read any literature are passing familiar with some of Poe’s works, and may have even read a story or two. Poe is a pop culture icon of dark fiction whose image, personality and work are inseparable and at times indistinguishable. Like many contemporary celebrities, Poe has become a brand of his own, along with all the preconceptions and misconceptions that kind of celebrity brings with it. This makes Poe one of the most famous and accessible writers of American literature, or for that matter, world literature. To read Poe is to meet Poe, which is why so many Poe admirers, fans, scholars, artists and “Poeists” become more than a little obsessed with him.
Like all of us, Poe was many things to many people at different times in his life. Detailed accounts of Poe’s 40 years conjure an image of a man dressed in Goth-like black who was desperate, conniving, confused, inventive, dispirited, disenfranchised, dolorous, bereaved, ambitious and hard-headed. Yet he was tender toward his mother-in-law, and the many women he courted were not repulsed by him but actually very attracted to him. Poe was charismatic, a strong athlete, a born leader, a good singer, a kind husband, a hard working employee, a top student, and a great dramatic reader on stage. Yet none of these personal stories are ever recreated in Poe’s works. Art for Poe, was elevated above mere common experience into something supra-mortal.
Returning to the fancy of Edgar A. Poe walking among us in the 21st century, imagine him being awestruck by how successful his works have been for more than 160 years, not only in his homeland but in Canada, France, England, Russia, Germany, Romania and Japan, to name but a few of the Poe-loving nations. Picture him finding out that he has even become a kind of bohemian Che Guevara to the Goth subculture. Would he have been embittered to realize, after all his penury and despair, after all the ill-fated attempts at a fruitful literary career, after all the sorrow of losing his life in his literary prime and leaving his beloved “Muddy” impoverished and alone without his support, that his name is now selling millions of books and movies, and that his countenance is appearing ubiquitously on merchandise such as “Nevermore” T-shirts?
Perhaps for a few moments, the irony and heartbreak of his own personal tragedy would overwhelm him, but then the Poe that friends such as Sarah Helen Whitman described so eloquently in her book, Edgar Poe and His Critics, would probably bear himself up and, quoting from one of his own letters, say, “I have perseveringly struggled against a thousand difficulties, and have succeeded, although not in making money, still in attaining a position in the world of Letters, of which, under the circumstances, I have no reason to be ashamed.”
About the Author
G.A. Buchholz is a dark fiction author, poet, dramatist and essayist. He produced the Edgar Allan Poe 200 Project this year and is the co-founder of the Dark Fiction Guild. Buchholz is currently writing a novel called Descendant.