ABSTRACT
The works of Edgar Allan Poe were introduced to Japan relatively early in the Meiji period; the translations of "The Black Cat" and "The Murders in the Rue Morgue" in the twentieth year of Meiji mark the introduction of Poe to Japan. Poe's works are most typically opposed to realistic or naturalistic literature, and Japanese literature in the Meiji period was dominated by naturalism. Tanizaki Junichiro once remarked that "if you do not write a naturalistic novel, you are not a writer." Lafcadio Hearn's emphasis on Poe's exploration of the psychic realm and on the elements of mystery and grotesque fantasy in his works, together with Ueda Bin's association of Poe with the French symbolist poets, provided new insights and opened a new literary realm for writers discontented with naturalism. Yet the study of Poe in the Meiji period was limited largely to introductory remarks and the translation of his works, and understanding of them remained superficial.
