Edgar Allan Poe and Modernism

The present research, in light of the comparison between the narrative techniques, aesthetic thoughts and themesof Poe’s works with those of Modernist writers, attempts to argue that Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849), the famousAmerican short story writer, poet and critic, is one of the most important forerunners of Modernism and thatPoe’s works have provided the writers in the mainstream of the Modernist movements with literary inspirationsand theoretical bases. Both the works of Poe and those by the Modernist writers depicted the alienated andisolated characters subject to self-fragmentation and self-destruction in a world of wasteland devoid of anymeaning and significance. Poe’s strong sense of spiritual alienation and isolation in society embodied in hisliterary protagonists provided a perfect model for the Modernists. The Poe-cult was initiated by CharlesBaudelaire, the French Symbolist poet, but his influence upon Modernism spread to the major “isms” in theEuropean continent where Expressionism, Symbolism, Surrealism, Futurism and Stream of Consciousness burstinto fabulous flower on the stage of literature and art.