Once upon a midnight dreary
May 18, 2003 | 12:00am
Nevermore
By Harold Schechter
Pocket Books
322 pages
Available at Goodwill Bookstore
Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,/ Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore,/ While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,/ As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door./"‘Tis some visitor," I muttered, "tapping at my chamber door-/ Only this, and nothing more." These famous lines – with several other stanzas completing the chilling poem "The Raven" – find publication in The New York Mirror, in January of 1845. Penned by Edgar Allan Poe, whom literature would eventually recognize as a master poet and storyteller and inventor of the murder mystery, the poem, brilliantly crafted in its suspenseful simplicity, suggests a mind wielding a macabre literary imagination like no other.
A decade earlier, in 1934, Poe, brandishing notoriety as a vicious literary critic and editor of the prestigious Southern Literary Messenger, publishes a scathing review of outdoorsman Col. David Crockett’s autobiography, condemning the work for its excessive sentimentality.
Harold Schechter’s novel, Nevermore, is a fictionalized account of what happened in between. Schechter, a celebrated true crime writer and praised by no less than Caleb Carr for his riveting writing, crafts a gothic tale of an imagined encounter – and consequent partnership to solve a murder mystery – between Poe and Crockett: The congressman, incensed by Poe’s review, hunts him down in Baltimore, demands an apology or a duel of honor. However, things take an interesting turn when Crockett’s landlady is mysteriously murdered, with the only clue being the word written in blood on a nearby wall: "Nevermore." The murder is the first in a string of murders, and, finding a serial killer on the loose, Poe and Crockett decide to combine their mutual talents to solve the mystery.
The plot is ambitious, and Schechter’s obvious strength is his sharpened skill for research. His early 19th-century Baltimore also comes across as an interesting setting which supports the book’s gothic air. Moreover, he captures the two character’s contrasting colorful personalities – one is loud, the other is morose – with true-to-life accuracy. Even the book’s suggestion that Poe’s macabre imagination – and, thus, his future works, specifically "The Raven" – is sparked by his and Crockett’s ensuing investigation is highly acceptable.
Where the book is found lacking, however, lies in the author’s choice to write in Poe’s perspective and voice. Poe being an author beyond compare and having his own niche in the annals of literature, it is easy to sound like a parody when one attempts to write like him. Schechter’s 19th-century-styled prose can be difficult to read. A sample sentence: "So benumbed was I by exhaustion that I passed the entirety of our journey in a condition akin to that of the chronic somnambulist."
All in all, however, the book is a merry – or deliciously morbid, if one has to be precise – read. For Poe enthusiasts, most especially, the mystery contains another mystery for them to solve – tracing Schechter’s many references to Poe’s most famous works. –Althea Lauren Ricardo
By Harold Schechter
Pocket Books
322 pages
Available at Goodwill Bookstore
Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,/ Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore,/ While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,/ As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door./"‘Tis some visitor," I muttered, "tapping at my chamber door-/ Only this, and nothing more." These famous lines – with several other stanzas completing the chilling poem "The Raven" – find publication in The New York Mirror, in January of 1845. Penned by Edgar Allan Poe, whom literature would eventually recognize as a master poet and storyteller and inventor of the murder mystery, the poem, brilliantly crafted in its suspenseful simplicity, suggests a mind wielding a macabre literary imagination like no other.
A decade earlier, in 1934, Poe, brandishing notoriety as a vicious literary critic and editor of the prestigious Southern Literary Messenger, publishes a scathing review of outdoorsman Col. David Crockett’s autobiography, condemning the work for its excessive sentimentality.
Harold Schechter’s novel, Nevermore, is a fictionalized account of what happened in between. Schechter, a celebrated true crime writer and praised by no less than Caleb Carr for his riveting writing, crafts a gothic tale of an imagined encounter – and consequent partnership to solve a murder mystery – between Poe and Crockett: The congressman, incensed by Poe’s review, hunts him down in Baltimore, demands an apology or a duel of honor. However, things take an interesting turn when Crockett’s landlady is mysteriously murdered, with the only clue being the word written in blood on a nearby wall: "Nevermore." The murder is the first in a string of murders, and, finding a serial killer on the loose, Poe and Crockett decide to combine their mutual talents to solve the mystery.
The plot is ambitious, and Schechter’s obvious strength is his sharpened skill for research. His early 19th-century Baltimore also comes across as an interesting setting which supports the book’s gothic air. Moreover, he captures the two character’s contrasting colorful personalities – one is loud, the other is morose – with true-to-life accuracy. Even the book’s suggestion that Poe’s macabre imagination – and, thus, his future works, specifically "The Raven" – is sparked by his and Crockett’s ensuing investigation is highly acceptable.
Where the book is found lacking, however, lies in the author’s choice to write in Poe’s perspective and voice. Poe being an author beyond compare and having his own niche in the annals of literature, it is easy to sound like a parody when one attempts to write like him. Schechter’s 19th-century-styled prose can be difficult to read. A sample sentence: "So benumbed was I by exhaustion that I passed the entirety of our journey in a condition akin to that of the chronic somnambulist."
All in all, however, the book is a merry – or deliciously morbid, if one has to be precise – read. For Poe enthusiasts, most especially, the mystery contains another mystery for them to solve – tracing Schechter’s many references to Poe’s most famous works. –Althea Lauren Ricardo
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