An obsessive fan of Poe, who sounds like a Poe character himself, sets out to determine what happened during the unexplained last few days of the author’s death, to find out why and how he died. He guesses that the Sherlock-Holmes-like character Dupin, who appears in “Murders in the Rue Morgue” and other Poe stories was based on a “real” man, and seeks to identify the model and enlist him in his cause.
We are led through meticulously researched and fascinating versions of Baltimore and Paris in 1849-1852; and are introduced to a bizarre and fascinating set of characters, including two who might have been the model for Dupin.
At times this reads like a suspense/mystery novel with a literary theme (which was what I had expected after having read and enjoyed Pearl’s first novel The Dante Club. But at other times (and just as enjoyable), the fiction (with the fictitious narrator main character) seems just a device for presenting and analyzing new evidence that the author actually uncovered about Poe’s last days (as he proudly points out in the “Historical Note” at the end), and new insights into Poe’s personality and genius.
Now I’m hooked. I’m going to have to read all of Poe’s stories…
Richard Seltzer
PS – You can find all of Poe’s stories (in the “Raven Edition”) on our Poe CD http://samizdat.stores.yahoo.net/poe.html and also on our American Literature CD http://samizdat.stores.yahoo.net/amlitcd.html and our Short Story CD http://samizdat.stores.yahoo.net/short.html.
PPS -- Matthew Pearl's Web site is www.matthewpearl.com
Other book reviews by Richard Seltzer
This site is Published by B&R Samizdat Express, PO Box 320-161, West Roxbury, MA 02132-002. (617) 469-2269. seltzer@samizdat.com
For plain-text books on CD ROM (a library for the price of a book), please check our online store at http://store.yahoo.com/samizdat. In particular, look for American Literature -- the full text of over 400 great books for just $29.
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