Truth, genre and beauty : the deconstruction and union of apollonian and dionysian opposites in Edgar Allan Poe's "Eureka"

Abstract

This thesis argues that reading Edgar Allan Poe’s “Eureka” (1848) in light of Friedrich Nietzsche’s Dionysian philosophy can reveal Poe’s shared worldview and his contribution to the postmodern age and to post-structuralist concepts of truth, genre and beauty. Each of these concepts will be examined in “Eureka” to reveal the relevance of Poe’s philosophy to ways of thinking later popularized by Nietzsche, Jacques Derrida, and Richard Rorty. A careful examination of major ideas discussed in “Eureka,” such as the mutability of truths, the opposition between philosophy and poetry, and the unity of empirical discourse and art will highlight Poe’s deconstruction of Apollonian and Dionysian oppositions and his subsequent union of the two. This reading will bring to light Poe’s under-appreciated achievements in “Eureka” by offering a new interpretation of the prose-poem and highlighting its significance as a philosophical and literary text rather than a purported scientific treatise.