Originally published in 1848, Edgar Allen Poe's "Eureka" stands as the single most important expression of the philosophic views on which all of his literary endeavours depend. Put in the context of Melville's "Moby Dick", Thoreau's "Walden", Whitman's "Leaves of Grass", and the music of Liszt and Wagner, it is an explosive, startlingly unconventional creation of the High Romantic era. Representing Poe's fantastical thoughts on how the universe was formed and what its future might be, this user-friendly critical edition is also the first to put "Eureka" in proper context. It includes Poe's proposed emendations to the text and sources and explains the setting in which it was produced, tying "Eureka" to world trends in philosophy and fast-breaking news in astronomy. To compile this definitive text, the Levines travelled to the special collections departments of various libraries to examine Poe's own notes on the various drafts. They also consulted with Poe scholars, classicists, and historians of astronomy. The result of their meticulous scholarship is a deep, broad, and thoroughly useful volume, essential for Poe scholars and valuable to anyone interested in American literature or the roots of science fiction.

埃德加·愛倫·坡————作者

（Edgar Allan Poe，1809—1849）

美國詩人、小說傢、評論傢，文學史上罕見的天纔，其留世作品具有非凡的文學價值。他被世人尊為偵探小說的先驅、科幻小說的奠基人、懸念小說大師。他對宇宙和生命的思考近年來越來越受到學界的重視。美國文學史傢、《諾頓美國文選》第2至8版主編妮娜·貝姆認為：“對於今天任何層次的讀者，愛倫·坡的聲譽都比他同時代的任何美國作傢更為穩固，唯一的例外也許隻有馬剋·吐溫。”

曹明倫——譯者

翻譯傢，北京大學博士，四川大學教授、博導，中國作協會員，中國譯協理事，享受國務院特殊津貼專傢。譯有《愛倫·坡集》《弗羅斯特集》《威拉·凱瑟集》《莎士比亞十四行詩集》《司各特詩選》《培根隨筆集》等。