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Poe’s dabblings in the realm of science fiction are hardly recognizable as such today. There are no flying
saucers, laser guns or time machines in Poe’s writings. His works are limited more or less to the scientific
understandings of his own day. The closest of Poe’s tales to modern science fiction is perhaps “The
Unparalled Adventure of One Hans Pfaall,” at the end of which the hero claims to have taken a balloon to the
moon. There, he describes “a fantastical-looking city” occupied by “a vast crowd of ugly little
people” who have no ears and use “a singular method of inter-communication [telepathy].” (The
tone of the piece, is somewhat humorous, in the vein of Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels, although
Poe is less obviously indulging in satire.)
Apocalyptic Dialogues:
- “Colloquy of Monos and Una” (1841)
- “The Conversation of Eiros and Charmion” (1839)
- “The Power of Words” (1845)
Scientific Hoaxes:
- “The Balloon Hoax” (1844)
- “The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar” (1845)
- “Von Kemplen and His Discovery” (1849)
- “The Unparalled Adventure of One Hans Pfaall” (1835) “Mellona Tauta”
(1849)
Bibliography:
- Beaver, Harold, “Introduction,” The Science Fiction of Edgar Allan Poe,
New York: Penguin Books, 1976, pp. vii - xxi. (Primarily a collection of Poe’s own writings.)
- Franklin, H. Bruce, “Edgar Allan Poe and Science Fiction,” Future Perfect:
American Science Fiction of the Nineteenth Century, New York: Oxford University Press, 1966.
- Moskowitz, Sam, Explorers of the Infinite: Shapers of Science Fiction, Cleveland:
World Publishing Co., 1963.
- Olney, Clarke, “Edgar Allan Poe: Science Fiction Pioneer,” Georgia
Review, XII, 1958, pp. 416-421.
- Pollin, Burton R., “Poe: The ‘Virtual’ Inventor, Practitioner, and
Inspirer of Modern Science Fiction,” Poe Messenger, XXVI, No. 1, Winter 1996, pp. 18-29, 42-45.
- Rainwater, Catherine, “Encounters with the ‘White Sphinx’: Poe’s
Influence on Some Early Works of H. G. Wells,” English Literature in Transition 1880-1920, XXVI,
1983, pp. 35-51.