Poe-etic justice

Mention 19th-century author Edgar Allan Poe, and most will dimly recall some high school or college literature class that had his short stories as part of the syllabus; or there would be the jokes one would hear about some student at Xavier or St. Stephen’s who had the unfortunate name of Edgar Allan Pe (or Po). While most people would claim awareness of his existence, when prodded, they would probably admit to not having read him since that college class. A clouded literary figure, Poe is enjoying a revival of sorts as authors of historical fiction resurrect this enigma of a poet, and utilize the "cloudy" quality of his writing to shroud their mysteries and detective fiction in his aura. If it brings readers to once again become curious about the macabre work of this master of brooding menace, that wouldn’t be such a bad thing.

The Poe Shadow

By Matthew Pearl

Random House, 373 pages

Available at Fully Booked

Matthew Pearl is best known as the author of The Dante Club, a wonderful work that’s part historical fiction, part mystery/detective thriller, set in 19th-century Boston. With a premise based on someone aping the deaths as described in Dante’s Inferno, and having well-known personages of the era acting as intrepid detectives, it was a sheer delight to read. Now, Pearl sets his sights on Edgar Allan Poe, utilizing the true-to-life mystery surrounding his death (also in the late 19th century), and coming up with a novel that has studious research and inspired hypothesizing going for it.

Quentin Clark is a Poe fan through and through. He knows that the maligned writer has just passed away under very mysterious circumstances, and was hurriedly buried by those close to him, hopefully to be forgotten by a callous public. This is something Quentin hopes to rectify, and take on as a personal crusade. Naturally, fiancée Hattie and his law partner Peter are less than thrilled by Quentin’s obsession. To achieve his mission, at one point, Quentin hies off to Paris in search of the man who inspired Poe to create the character Auguste Dupin, detective of ratiocination extraordinaire. In Paris, he finds a Baron Dupin, and a retired detective named Duponte. A rivalry between the two "Dupins" emerges, one that is fraught with courtly and government intrigue, and after a death of mistaken identity, this leads to a courtroom drama in Baltimore. Murder most foul, descriptions of 19th-century Baltimore streets where swine are used to clean the garbage and refuse from the streets, and the specter of Poe – they all add to the heady atmosphere created by Pearl.

Typical of Pearl’s writing is the wonderfully astute observation about lawyering in general, and the Baron in particular: "Wherever you travel in the world, you are sure to find the same limited number of species of lawyers, as surely as a naturalist finds his grass and weeds in every land. The first sort of lawyer views the intricacies of the rules of the law as profound and unshakable idols of worship. There is a different species of attorney, a carnivorous one to whom the first is prey, who instead treats rules as the principal barriers to success... The Baron Claude Dupin was such a good specimen of the latter category that his skeleton might be hung in the Tuileries Cabinet of Comparative Anatomy... The Baron was a lawyer, yes, but only secondarily; he was a heartfelt impresario first, who worked as a lawyer."

While The Poe Shadow is a wonderful piece of historical fiction, for sheer reading delight, The Dante Club is the better introduction to Pearl’s writing. The character of Clark fails to engage us as readily as did the protagonists of the earlier novel. You’d have to be a Poe aficionado first to wax rhapsodic about this second effort.

The Pale Blue Eye

By Louis Bayard

John Murray Publishing, 415 pages

Available at Fully Booked

While Louis Bayard had enjoyed modest success with his earlier novels, Fool’s Errand and Endangered Species, it was with Mr. Timothy that people really took notice of his talent. A Gothic mystery thriller set in Victorian London, Mr. Timothy imagined a crutch-wielding, 23-year-old Tiny Tim of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. Estranged from his uncle, the reformed Ebeneezer Scrooge, Mr. Timothy was now head of an orphanage, sucked into the investigation of serial murders.

With The Pale Blue Eye, Bayard returns to grisly murders and detective fiction with a historical background. This time it’s West Point, the US Military Academy, and the time is 1830. Augustus Sandor, a retired NYC police constable, is called to West Point. There are two mysteries to solve. First, a cadet has hung himself; and secondly, while the corpse was in the military hospital, it was spirited away, only to be discovered later in the night with its heart missing, removed surgically.

Bayard is superb at setting up the mood and tone of his novel. West Point in the 1830s is not the venerable institution we know of today. Then, its very existence was in danger. Seen as elitist, and with a commander, General Thayer, who was considered an autocrat and dictator, it had to remain free of scandal or denunciations, able to rise above any intrigue or aspersions that may be cast its way. Politicians had knives drawn, ready to withdraw defense appropriations that would keep the academy afloat. That an apparent suicide had been committed, compounded by the grisly treatment of the corpse, these all had to be kept under wraps and the mystery solved quietly. Hence, the summoning of Sandor, our narrator, to the scene of the crime (or crimes).

Gus Sandor is a wonderful creation. Always self-deprecating, he enlists young cadet Edgar Allan Poe to assist him in his investigations. The reliability of our narrator is brought into question towards the end of the novel as revelation after revelation is made. Very strong on plot, The Pale Blue Eye is a truly wonderful read. There are wonderful turns of phrase throughout the novel. During his first interview with General Thayer, it is written that "It is good to know this: the rules of interrogation don’t apply to normal conversations. In a normal conversation, the one speaking is weaker than the one who’s not." And when referring to the hostile assistant of Thayer, he is described in the following manner: "(He) showed you all his teeth but never gave you his eyes."

While both novels draw on the real-life figure of Edgar Allan Poe to add texture to their narratives, the young West Point cadet Poe makes for more compelling reading than a shrouded-in-mystery, dead Poe.