Addressing a large number of scholars, literature students and lovers of mystery tales, Serageldin gave an enlightening talk at the BA on Edgar Allan Poe, in commemoration of the bicentennial anniversary of the father of the detective story. Himself a professed Poe fan since early youth, Serageldin presented to his audience an account of Poe’s life and works and shed interesting light on little-known sides of the writer and his contributions to science. He referred to Poe as “the high priest of mystery and the macabre” and spoke of the “cinematic quality” of his writings. Serageldin also described Poe as a tormented soul, possessed of an unusual mind and insight , who was capable of bold leaps of imagination in the realms of science and cosmology far ahead of his time.