Edgard Poe et ses œuvres

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First page of Edgard Poe et ses œuvres with an engraving by Frédéric Lix in the magazine Musée des Familles , April 1864.

Edgard Poe et ses œuvres ( French for: Edgard sic! Poe and his works ) is the only literary essay by the French writer Jules Verne . It was published in the French literary magazine Musée des Familles in April 1864 . In this essay, the 36-year-old Verne dealt with the life and work of the American writer Edgar Allan Poe, who died in 1849 . Some of Poe's works have inspired some of his best-known novels, such as: From Earth to the Moon from 1865, Journey Around Earth in Eighty Days from 1873, and The Ice Sphinx from 1897, which Verne presented as a sequel to Poe's The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket docked.

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On the 15 pages of Edgard Poe et ses œuvres , divided into four chapters, Verne discusses various aspects of Edgar Allan Poe's life and work, which was only known to a broad public in France from around 1856 through the excellent translations by Charles Baudelaire . Verne begins with Poe's biography and introduces him as "romancier américain de haute réputation" ( American author with great reputation ), whose work is still little known (in France). Already in the introduction Verne describes him as "chef de l'Ecole de l'étrange" ( master of the school of the strange / strange ) because he created this genre and predicts that Poe's works and style will find imitators, but although they believe they will surpass him, will not even be his equal.

“… Il a reculé les limits de l'impossible; il aura des imitateurs. Ceux-ci tenteront d'aller au-delà, d'exagérer sa manière; mais plus d'un croira le surpasser, qui ne l'égalera même pas. "

Verne then refers to Baudelaire's preface to his Poe translation and pays tribute to his French colleague and his literary achievement in relation to Poe's work. This is followed by a brief description of Poe's living conditions and finally the description of essential works, whereby Verne explicitly excludes the journalist, philosopher and literary critic Poe in order to concentrate on the brilliant writer, whereby he emphasizes, however, that he will not try to deal with the inexplicable, The inconceivable, the impossible, which Poe's imagination can generate to the utmost, to explain.

"Je ne tenterai pas de vous expliquer l'inexplicable, l'insaisissable, l'impossible produit d'une imagination que Poë portait parfois jusqu'au délire ..."

Verne initially suggests that one could possibly compare Poe's work with that of the British author Anne Radcliff [sic!] And the German ETA Hoffmann . Both were already known for their works of horror stories and black romanticism , but Verne immediately denies this, since Poe's works and the characters in them are lifelike - even if they cannot be defined or grasped because they are so extraordinary.

“S'ils ne sont pas fous, les personnages de Poë doivent évidemment le devenir pour avoir abusé de leur cerveau, comme d'autres abusent des liqueurs fortes; ils poussent à leur dernière limite l'esprit de réflexion et de deduction; ce sont les plus terribles analystes que je connaisse, et, partant d'un fait insignifiant, ils arrivent à la vérité absolue. J'essaye de les définir, de les peindre, de les délimiter, et je n'y parviens guère, car ils échappent au pinceau, au compas, à la définition; il vaut mieux [...] les montrer dans l'exercice de leurs fonctions presque surhumaines. C'est ce que je vais faire. "

Finally, Verne discusses his own selection of 13 works by Poe from the Histoires extraordinaires of 1856, translated by Charles Baudelaire and published by Michel Lévy Frères , and the Nouvelles histoires extraordinaires of 1857 as well as the Les Aventures d'Arthur Gordon Pym of 1859, which he also translated Another source Verne used the Contes inédits published by Pierre-Jules Hetzel in 1862 in the translation by William Little Hughes .

Verne discusses in this order:

Of these, he gives detailed synopsis, especially in the case of the three short detective stories that have the private detective Auguste Dupin created by Poe as the protagonist , using original quotations (from the French translations). With detail and clear admiration, he describes Poe's technique of analysis and deduction , as used by Dupin in a previously unknown way to solve the criminal cases.

Verne then turns to The Balloon Hoax . Here, too, an extensive table of contents follows, especially in comparison to Poe's The Unparalleled Adventure of One Hans Pfaall . Finally, very brief mentions of the other narrative follow. The essay concludes with Poe's only novel, The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket . This is also described in great detail, with Verne asking his readers who will finish what he thinks is unfinished Poe's work. He would probably not be himself because he was not brave and bold enough for it.

“Et le récit interrompu de la sorte. Qui le reprendra jamais? un plus audacieux que moi et plus hardi s'avancer dans le domaine des choses impossibles. "

Verne closes his essay again by pointing out that Poe has created a new literary genre. You have to admire Poe's work because he created something completely new.

Illustrations

The text contains six illustrations by the French artists Frédéric Lix (1830–1897) and Yan 'Dargent (1824–1899).

expenditure

The essay appeared in:

  • Musée des Familles , Volume 31 (1863–1864), April 1864, pp. 193–208
  • Textes oubliés Édition 10/18. Union Générale d'Éditions, edited by Francis Lacassin , 1979
  • Rumeur des Âges , 1993

German-language editions

  • Jules Verne: Edgard Poë and his works (excerpt, translation by Volker Deh ). In: Jules Verne: From the earth to the moon . Düsseldorf: Artemis & Winkler, 2006, ISBN 3-538-06306-0

Inspiration for Verne

Several of Poe's works have served Verne as inspiration or models, for example Poe's 1835 story The Unparalleled Adventure of One Hans Pfaall or the short story The Balloon-Hoax , published in 1844 , the motifs of which can be recognized in Verne's novel Five Weeks in a Balloon from 1863 . Three Sundays in a Week served as the template for Journey around the Earth in 80 Days and The Ice Sphinx became Verne's continuation of the story of Poe's Arthur Gordon Pym.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Edgard Poe et ses œuvres. In: Musée des Familles Volume 31 (1863–1864), Avril 1864, pp. 193–208.
  2. ^ Frank T. Zumbach : Edgar Allan Poe: A biography. Winkler, ISBN 3-538-06800-3 , p. 438.
  3. ↑ John Tresch: Extra! Extra! Poe invents science fiction! In: Kevin J. Hayes (Ed.): The Cambridge Companion to Edgar Allan Poe , Cambridge / New York 2002, p. 117.
  4. ^ Illustrations by Lux and Dargent
  5. ↑ Una Pope-Hennessy : Edgar Allan Poe. 1809-1849: A Critical Biography. Macmillan, London 1934, p. 332.
  6. ^ Peter Costello: Jules Verne. The inventor of science fiction. Qalander-Verlag, Aalen 1979, ISBN 3-922121-09-8 . P. 71.
  7. ^ Peter Costello: Jules Verne. The inventor of science fiction. P. 187.