Edgar Allan Poe Eureka And Scientific Imagination

Author : David N. Stamos
Publisher : SUNY Press
Page : 604 pages
File Size : 45,9 Mb
Release : 2017-02-28
Category : Literary Criticism
ISBN : 9781438463919

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Edgar Allan Poe, Eureka, and Scientific Imagination by David N. Stamos Pdf

Explores the science and creative process behind Poe’s cosmological treatise. In 1848, almost a year and a half before Edgar Allan Poe died at the age of forty, his book Eureka was published. In it, he weaved together his scientific speculations about the universe with his own literary theory, theology, and philosophy of science. Although Poe himself considered it to be his magnum opus, Eureka has mostly been overlooked or underappreciated, sometimes even to the point of being thought an elaborate hoax. Remarkably, however, in Eureka Poe anticipated at least nine major theories and developments in twentieth-century science, including the Big Bang theory, multiverse theory, and the solution to Olbers’ paradox. In this book—the first devoted specifically to Poe’s science side—David N. Stamos, a philosopher of science, combines scientific background with analysis of Poe’s life and work to highlight the creative and scientific achievements of this text. He examines Poe’s literary theory, theology, and intellectual development, and then compares Poe’s understanding of science with that of scientists and philosophers from his own time to the present. Next, Stamos pieces together and clarifies Poe’s theory of scientific imagination, which he then attempts to update and defend by providing numerous case studies of eureka moments in modern science and by seeking insights from comparative biography and psychology, cognitive science, neuroscience, and evolution. “Edgar Allan Poe, Eureka, and Scientific Imagination is the most comprehensive treatment of Eureka that has yet been published. It is staggeringly thorough in its analysis of Poe’s book, but it also shows how Poe’s theories of cosmogony and cosmology ramify into his fiction and poetry, especially the tales of ratiocination. Stamos takes Eureka seriously, and he does so with the empirical undergirding of vast amounts of scientific scholarship and literary criticism.” — James M. Hutchisson, author of Poe

Author : Edgar Allan Poe
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 143 pages
File Size : 52,6 Mb
Release : 2017-04-18
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 9783961892976

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Eureka by Edgar Allan Poe Pdf

Eureka (1848) is a lengthy non-fiction work by American author Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849) which he subtitled "A Prose Poem", though it has also been subtitled as "An Essay on the Material and Spiritual Universe". Adapted from a lecture he had presented, Eureka describes Poe's intuitive conception of the nature of the universe with no antecedent scientific work done to reach his conclusions. He also discusses man's relationship with God, whom he compares to an author. It is dedicated to the German naturalist and explorer Alexander von Humboldt (1769–1859). Though it is generally considered a literary work, some of Poe's ideas anticipate 20th century scientific discoveries and theories. Indeed a critical analysis of the scientific content of Eureka reveals a non-causal correspondence with modern cosmology due to the assumption of an evolving Universe, but excludes the anachronistic anticipation of relativistic concepts such as black holes. Eureka was received poorly in Poe's day and generally described as absurd, even by friends. Modern critics continue to debate the significance of Eureka and some doubt its seriousness, in part because of Poe's many incorrect assumptions and his comedic descriptions of well-known historical minds. It is presented as a poem, and many compare it with his fiction work, especially science fiction stories such as "The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar". His attempts at discovering the truth also follow his own tradition of "ratiocination", a term used in his detective fiction tales. Poe's suggestion that the soul continues to thrive even after death also parallels with works in which characters reappear from beyond the grave such as "Ligeia". The essay is oddly transcendental, considering Poe's disdain for that movement. He considered it his greatest work and claimed it was more important than the discovery of gravity. Eureka is Poe's last major work and his longest non-fiction work at nearly 40,000 words in length.

Author : Edgar Allan Poe,Edmund Clarence Stedman,George Edward Woodberry
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 338 pages
File Size : 45,7 Mb
Release : 1895
Category : American literature
ISBN : UVA:X000177836

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The Works of Edgar Allan Poe: Eureka: a prose poem. Miscellanies by Edgar Allan Poe,Edmund Clarence Stedman,George Edward Woodberry Pdf

Author : Harold Beaver,Edgar Allan Poe
Publisher : Penguin UK
Page : 464 pages
File Size : 42,8 Mb
Release : 2006-07-27
Category : Fiction
ISBN : 9780141922065

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The Science Fiction of Edgar Allan Poe by Harold Beaver,Edgar Allan Poe Pdf

One of the greatest of all horror writers, Edgar Allan Poe (1809-49) also composed pioneering tales that seized upon the scientific developments of an era marked by staggering change. In this collection of sixteen stories, he explores such wide-ranging contemporary themes as galvanism, time travel and resurrection of the dead. 'The Unparalleled Adventure of One Hans Pfall' relates a man's balloon journey to the moon with a combination of scientific precision and astonishing fantasy. Elsewhere, the boundaries between horror and science are elegantly blurred in stories such as 'The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar', while the great essay 'Eureka' outlines Poe's own interpretation of the universe. Powerfully influential on later authors including Jules Verne, these works are essential reading for anyone wishing to trace the genealogy of science fiction, or to understand the complexity of Poe's own creative vision

Author : John Tresch
Publisher : Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Page : 288 pages
File Size : 51,6 Mb
Release : 2021-06-15
Category : Biography & Autobiography
ISBN : 9780374717445

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The Reason for the Darkness of the Night by John Tresch Pdf

Finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize | Finalist for the 2022 Edgar Award Winner of the 2021 Quinn Award An innovative biography of Edgar Allan Poe—highlighting his fascination and feuds with science. Decade after decade, Edgar Allan Poe remains one of the most popular American writers. He is beloved around the world for his pioneering detective fiction, tales of horror, and haunting, atmospheric verse. But what if there was another side to the man who wrote “The Raven” and “The Fall of the House of Usher”? In The Reason for the Darkness of the Night, John Tresch offers a bold new biography of a writer whose short, tortured life continues to fascinate. Shining a spotlight on an era when the lines separating entertainment, speculation, and scientific inquiry were blurred, Tresch reveals Poe’s obsession with science and lifelong ambition to advance and question human knowledge. Even as he composed dazzling works of fiction, he remained an avid and often combative commentator on new discoveries, publishing and hustling in literary scenes that also hosted the era’s most prominent scientists, semi-scientists, and pseudo-intellectual rogues. As one newspaper put it, “Mr. Poe is not merely a man of science—not merely a poet—not merely a man of letters. He is all combined; and perhaps he is something more.” Taking us through his early training in mathematics and engineering at West Point and the tumultuous years that followed, Tresch shows that Poe lived, thought, and suffered surrounded by science—and that many of his most renowned and imaginative works can best be understood in its company. He cast doubt on perceived certainties even as he hungered for knowledge, and at the end of his life delivered a mind-bending lecture on the origins of the universe that would win the admiration of twentieth-century physicists. Pursuing extraordinary conjectures and a unique aesthetic vision, he remained a figure of explosive contradiction: he gleefully exposed the hoaxes of the era’s scientific fraudsters even as he perpetrated hoaxes himself. Tracing Poe’s hard and brilliant journey, The Reason for the Darkness of the Night is an essential new portrait of a writer whose life is synonymous with mystery and imagination—and an entertaining, erudite tour of the world of American science just as it was beginning to come into its own.

Author : Edgar Allan Edgar Allan Poe
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 64 pages
File Size : 53,5 Mb
Release : 2017-08-03
Category : Electronic
ISBN : 1521980926

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Eureka: a Prose Poem by Edgar Allan Edgar Allan Poe Pdf

How is this book unique? Font adjustments & biography included Unabridged (100% Original content) Illustrated About Eureka: A Prose Poem by Edgar Allan Poe Eureka (1848) is a lengthy non-fiction work by American author Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849) which he subtitled "A Prose Poem", though it has also been subtitled as "An Essay on the Material and Spiritual Universe". Adapted from a lecture he had presented, Eureka describes Poe's intuitive conception of the nature of the universe with no antecedent scientific work done to reach his conclusions. He also discusses man's relationship with God, whom he compares to an author. It is dedicated to the German naturalist and explorer Alexander von Humboldt (1769-1859). Though it is generally considered a literary work, some of Poe's ideas anticipate 20th century scientific discoveries and theories. Indeed a critical analysis of the scientific content of Eureka reveals a non-causal correspondence with modern cosmology due to the assumption of an evolving Universe, but excludes the anachronistic anticipation of relativistic concepts such as black holes.Eureka was received poorly in Poe's day and generally described as absurd, even by friends. Modern critics continue to debate the significance of Eureka and some doubt its seriousness, in part because of Poe's many incorrect assumptions and his comedic descriptions of well-known historical minds. It is presented as a poem, and many compare it with his fiction work, especially science fiction stories such as "The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar". His attempts at discovering the truth also follow his own tradition of "ratiocination", a term used in his detective fiction tales. Poe's suggestion that the soul continues to thrive even after death also parallels with works in which characters reappear from beyond the grave such as "Ligeia". The essay is oddly transcendental, considering Poe's disdain for that movement. He considered it his greatest work and claimed it was more important than the discovery of gravity.

Author : Edgar Allan Poe
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 342 pages
File Size : 52,6 Mb
Release : 1895
Category : Electronic
ISBN : BSB:BSB11664935

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The Works of Edgar Allan Poe by Edgar Allan Poe Pdf

Author : Edgar Allan Poe
Publisher : Good Press
Page : 128 pages
File Size : 49,8 Mb
Release : 2019-11-20
Category : Fiction
ISBN : EAN:4057664160508

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Eureka: A Prose Poem by Edgar Allan Poe Pdf

Eureka: A Prose Poem is a lyrical philosophy piece by Edgar Allan Poe. It strives to present a view that every atom in our established cosmos is a fragment of a higher power.

Author : Edgar Allan Poe
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 240 pages
File Size : 50,5 Mb
Release : 2004
Category : Literary Criticism
ISBN : UOM:39015060093476

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Eureka by Edgar Allan Poe Pdf

Originally published in 1848, Eureka is Poe's book on how the universe was formed, how it functions, and what its future might be. Poe provides a physical, scientific explanation for the interconnectedness of all things--an idea at the heart of much of nineteenth-century romanticism and American Transcendentalism in particular. This user-friendly edition puts Eureka in context, explaining Poe's excellent grasp of then-new developments in astronomy, his often-prescient projections from what was known to what might come next (Poe is especially good on space-time), and the close connections between Eureka and the thought and attitudes of his era. Through extensive annotations this edition of Eureka demonstrates intimate connections with Poe's poetry, fiction, and criticism, with his career and aspirations, his humor and satire, and his love of grand literary effects. It also presents a carefully edited text, including Poe's own emendations from several copies which he marked for the revised reprinting that he hoped would follow, and related documents

Author : Edgar Allan Poe,George Edward Woodberry
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 354 pages
File Size : 44,5 Mb
Release : 1903
Category : American literature
ISBN : UOM:39015000548159

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The Works of Edgar Allan Poe ...: Eureka: a prose poem. Miscellanies by Edgar Allan Poe,George Edward Woodberry Pdf

Author : Edgar Allan Poe
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing
Page : 416 pages
File Size : 55,5 Mb
Release : 2021-07-01
Category : Fiction
ISBN : 9781350181281

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Collected Tales, Poems, and Other Writings of Edgar Allan Poe by Edgar Allan Poe Pdf

This collection brings together more than fifty of Edgar Allan Poe's most important stories, poems, and critical writings, which established him as one of the most distinctive voices in American Literature, in a single accessible volume. Alongside annotated texts of each work, it also includes a complete Reader's Guide to Poe's work to help readers explore the contexts, style, and reception of his writing from his own time to today. An essential resource for students and teachers of Poe, this book includes stories such as 'The Fall of the House of Usher', 'The Tell-Tale Heart', and 'The Purloined Letter' as well as his Gothic narrative poem 'The Raven' and some of his most significant critical writings.

Author : Edgar Allan Poe
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 128 pages
File Size : 52,8 Mb
Release : 2020-02-26
Category : Fiction
ISBN : 164799330X

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Eureka by Edgar Allan Poe Pdf

Eureka (1848) is a lengthy non-fiction work by American author Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849) which he subtitled "A Prose Poem", though it has also been subtitled as "An Essay on the Material and Spiritual Universe". Adapted from a lecture he had presented, Eureka describes Poe's intuitive conception of the nature of the universe with no antecedent scientific work done to reach his conclusions. He also discusses man's relationship with God, whom he compares to an author. It is dedicated to the German naturalist and explorer Alexander von Humboldt (1769-1859). Though it is generally considered a literary work, some of Poe's ideas anticipate 20th-century scientific discoveries and theories. Indeed, a critical analysis of the scientific content of Eureka reveals a non-causal correspondence with modern cosmology due to the assumption of an evolving Universe, but excludes the anachronistic anticipation of relativistic concepts such as black holes. Eureka was received poorly in Poe's day and generally described as absurd, even by friends. Modern critics continue to debate the significance of Eureka and some doubt its seriousness, in part because of Poe's many incorrect assumptions and his comedic descriptions of well-known historical minds. It is presented as a poem, and many compare it with his fiction work, especially science fiction stories such as "The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar". His attempts at discovering the truth also follow his own tradition of "ratiocination", a term used in his detective fiction tales. Poe's suggestion that the soul continues to thrive even after death also parallels with works in which characters reappear from beyond the grave such as "Ligeia". The essay is oddly transcendental, considering Poe's disdain for that movement. He considered it his greatest work and claimed it was more important than the discovery of gravity. (wikipedia.org)

Author : Edgar Allan Poe
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 100 pages
File Size : 54,5 Mb
Release : 2020-04-16
Category : Electronic
ISBN : 9798637851041

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Eureka, A Prose Poem (Annotated) by Edgar Allan Poe Pdf

Differentiated book- It has a historical context with research of the time-Eureka (1848) is a long non-fiction work by the American author Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849) who was subtitled "A Poem in Prose", although it has also been subtitled "An Essay on the Material and Spiritual Universe". Adapted from a lecture he had presented, Eureka describes Poe's intuitive conception of the nature of the universe with no history of scientific work done to reach his conclusions. It also talks about man's relationship with God, whom he compares with an author. It is dedicated to the German naturalist and explorer Alexander von Humboldt (1769-1859). Although generally considered a literary work, some of Poe's ideas anticipate the scientific discoveries and theories of the 20th century. In fact, a critical analysis of the scientific content of Eureka reveals a non-causal correspondence with modern cosmology.Due to the assumption of an evolving Universe, but excludes the anachronistic anticipation of relativistic concepts such as black holes. Eureka was poorly received in Poe's day and generally described as absurd, even by friends. Modern critics continue to debate the importance of Eureka, and some doubt its seriousness, in part due to Poe's many incorrect assumptions and his comic descriptions of well-known historical minds.

Author : Elisa Tamarkin
Publisher : University of Chicago Press
Page : 445 pages
File Size : 46,9 Mb
Release : 2022-07-20
Category : Literary Criticism
ISBN : 9780226453125

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Apropos of Something by Elisa Tamarkin Pdf

"Before 1800 nothing was irrelevant. So argues Elisa Tamarkin's sweeping cultural history of a key shift in consciousness: the arrival, around 1800, of "relevance" as the means to grasp how something previously disregarded becomes important and interesting. At a time when so much makes claims to attention every day, how does one decide what is most valuable right now? This is not only a contemporary problem. For Ralph Waldo Emerson, the question for the nineteenth century was how, in the immensity and "succession" of objects, anything becomes a proper object of experience. How that question was finally defined as one of relevance is the story of Apropos of Nothing. Relevance, Tamarkin shows, was primarily an Anglo-American concept. It engaged major intellectual figures, centrally the pragmatists-William James, Alain Locke, and John Dewey-and before them thinkers including Emerson and Alfred North Whitehead. Most of all, relevance was a problem for the worlds of art, literature, education, and criticism. These were fascinated by how old, boring, distant, or unfamiliar things get taken in; how they are admitted as meaningful; how they come home to us like the ludicrous raven comes to Edgar Allan Poe's student in the middle of the night in some obscure connection with himself. Many nineteenth-century American artists saw their paintings as pragmatic works that make relevance-that suggest versions of events that feel apropos of our world the moment we see them. (Tamarkin's book is richly illustrated, in color, with works by Winslow Homer, Abbott Handerson Thayer, Edgar Degas, and others.) Relevance remains a conundrum, especially for the humanities. It obliges us to say why we admit Poe's poem-or, say, a line of Emerson's-is interesting enough to study it, to dedicate ourselves to understanding it, to affirming that this effort is, in Emerson's words, "relevant to me and mine, to nature, and the hour that now passes.""--

Author : Edgar Allan Poe
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 160 pages
File Size : 52,7 Mb
Release : 1997
Category : Literary Criticism
ISBN : UVA:X004096638

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Eureka by Edgar Allan Poe Pdf

In this remarkable work, master story-teller Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849) builds on known scientific truths to propound a universe governed by the immutable laws of attraction and repulsion, i.e., expansion and a return to unity. The irascible, vindictive God of the Old Testament and the Deists' Master Clockmaker are routed by Poe's pantheistic World Spirit who, through the force of expansion, is diffused throughout his creation. Moreover, we humans are all part of this universal spirit and each of us is his own god. Published after his death, as Poe desired, Eureka remains a startlingly different work from the author's more popular offerings.