Abstract from the year 1973 in the subject American Studies - Literature, grade: 1,0, University of Massachusetts - Amherst (English Department), course: Seminar Professor Plumstead, language: English, abstract: This commented bibliography asks for the origin of Edgar Allan Poe's idea of the hollow earth which he describes in his only novel: "Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym". It's subdivided in four parts: 1. Related material in Poe's own writing, 2. Poe's indebtedness to previous literature, 3. Poe's sources for the maritime occurrences, descriptions of islands, accounts of previous voyages of discovery in Arthur Gordon Pym, 4. Poe's sources for the events on Tsalal, especially the black-white antagonism, and for the South Pole cataract.