Poe and the Avant Garde

Abstract

Poe’s influence on both avant-garde and mass-cultural production has been puzzling for many. This is because “avant-garde” has been restricted to whatever opposes aesthetic commodification and the culture industry. Placing Poe’s work in the context of nineteenth century physiological aesthetics helps explain Poe’s profound influence on “experimental arts,” whether avant-garde or commercial. Focused on anomalies of attention and the separation of sense modalities, Poe’s texts model and incite experimentation in media other than his own. Using hearing and vision as a red thread, this chapter will advance this argument through reference to visual works by Odilon Redon, Harry Clarke, and Carlo Farneti.