Postmodern Anticipations with E. A. Poe

Abstract

The purpose of the present study is to serve as an introduction to a postmodern reading of Edgar Allan Poe’s short prose. Adventurous approach, as the author manifested himself as a writer in the first part of the 19 th century, when romanticism revived and modern paradigm was founded. Based on the assessments expressed on postmodernism and using the tools proposed by various field researchers, we discover in Poe’s work anticipations of the narrative structure method specific for our present times. His concern for the newspaper reader, the insertion of general press topics and articles in his prose, the use of the sensational side of events in his newspaper reports, the ironic approach of real and diegetic facts allow a fresh reading, revaluating this surprising writer. Remarkable are his projections which come close to the SF genre, his confidence in the progress of science and the permanent impairment of this confidence, generated by the fear of world destruction. The conclusion would be that Poe’s prose allows certain postmodern anticipative projections to be decoded and the research to be extended beyond the conventional boundaries of modernity.