Poe

In fact, I think that Poe had one of the more impressive human intellects of the past few centuries.

A few weeks ago Cameron was proposing a revival of Poe’s “Eureka” at the heart of naturephilosophy. I’d be all in favor of that; there’s some real merit to the piece, which was originally an extremely long lecture.

Unfortunately, we see a flash of Poe at his corniest near the beginning, with the excruciating pun referring to someone named “Aries Tottle”. I cringe every time I remember that, especially since Poe is otherwise an eviscerator of stupid puns.

As a literary critic he is among the very best, and sometimes also among the most vicious.