The Conversation of Eiros and Charmion

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"The Conversation of Eiros and Charmion"
Author Edgar Allan Poe
Country United States
Language English
Genre(s) Science fiction short story
Published in Burton's Gentleman's Magazine
Media type Print (periodical)
Publication date December, 1839

"The Conversation of Eiros And Charmion" is a short story by Edgar Allan Poe, an apocalyptic science fiction story first published in Burton's Gentleman's Magazine in 1839.

Contents

[edit] Plot summary

Two people, who have been renamed Eiros and Charmion after death, discuss the manner in which the world ended. Eiros, who died in the apocalypse, explains the circumstances to Charmion, who died ten years previously. A new comet is detected in the Solar System, and as it approaches the Earth, people experience in turn exhilaration, then pain and delirium. The cause is discovered to be the loss of nitrogen from the atmosphere, leaving pure oxygen, which finally bursts into flame when the comet nucleus hits.

[edit] Analysis

Poe was capitalizing on the excitement in the 1830s caused by Father William Miller's predictions of the end of the world.[1]

[edit] Publication history

"The Conversation of Eiros and Charmion" was first published in the December 1839 issue of Burton's Gentleman's Magazine and was included that same month in the collection Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque.[2]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Campbell, Killis. "The Origins of Poe", The Mind of Poe and Other Studies. New York: Russell & Russell, Inc., 1962: 169.
  2. ^ Sova, Dawn B. Edgar Allan Poe: A to Z. New York: Checkmark Books, 2001: 212. ISBN 081604161X.

[edit] External links

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