Poe’s Zoophytes and the Cosmopoetics of Adaptation

Abstract

This article investigates the significance of Poe’s fictional portrayals of zoophytes—an obsolete term for plantlike animals. First, it discusses Poe’s scientific understanding of two zoophytes presented in The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket and “The Thousand-and-Second Tale of Scheherazade.” Second, the article demonstrates how Poe’s characterization of these creatures instantiates what he terms “the reciprocity of adaptation,” a natural and cosmic principle introduced in his treatise Eureka. Third, it shows how this zoophytic mutuality of adaptation provides new insights into Poe’s conception of liminal spaces and their inherent aesthetic indeterminacy. Overall, the exploration of Poe’s zoophytic world reveals a new facet of his zoological imagination and uncovers key elements of his aesthetics, according to which art-making is approached from a cosmocentric perspective.