"Truth Itself in the Supremeness of Its Perfection: The Influence of Photography on Edgar Allan Poe's Writing

Edgar Allan Poe's literary successes in the late 1830's and early 1840's coincided with the invention and remarkable popularity of the daguerreotype. In this study I examine the profound impact the advent of photography had on Poe's writing. In an 1840 article for Alexander's Weekly Messenger Poe called photography "the most important, and perhaps the most extraordinary triumph of modern science." Through a close study of selected fiction, essays, and letters I argue that Poe was the first writer to explore the myriad possibilities of the newly emergent photographic world.