~Edgar Allan Poe was a diabolical super genius and one of the greatest writers of all time~
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· In Book Club Juxtapositions Episode 1: The Tell-Tale Heart and Episode 2: The Cask of Amontillado, we discussed Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849). Many have conjectured whether Poe was crazy or drunk and whether those character traits may have influenced his writings- for example, how he was known for writing about obsession, madness, revenge, etc. In his short story, The Tell-Tale Heart, the narrator recounts the story, in the past tense, of an incident between himself and the older man that he was the caretaker for and the obsession he had with his cataract eye. We discussed in this episode that the narrator spent the bulk of the story trying to convince the reader that he was not mad- justifying his sanity and deflecting from his insecurities. He ultimately defers to his character flaw of self-sabotage. We discussed the personal struggles that Edgar Allan Poe had in his personal life- for example, the prominent females in his life who died very young of tuberculosis. So they may have impacted his work.
After reading Edgar Allan Poe’s The Philosophy of Composition, I would argue that he was a very skilled and intentional writer that didn’t write aimlessly to air his grievances based on internal wounds. Poe wrote The Philosophy of Composition in response to a note from Charles Dickens (1812-1870). Dickens, referring to Godwin, says, “By the way, are you aware that Godwin wrote his ‘Caleb Williams’ backwards?” Poe responds in great detail, shamelessly recalling and revealing his method of writing. He says that Godwin must have used a similar process; however, instead of writing backward, he wrote with the end clearly in mind.“Nothing is more clear than that every plot worth the name, must be elaborated to its denouement before anything be attempted with the pen.” Edgar Allan Poe
He emphasizes that it is only with the resolution of the plot clearly in view that a story should unfold and that all parts of the story must be directly connected to the end or should not be written. Poe stated that when considering writing, he must decide how the story should unfold, either by “ordinary incidents and peculiar tone, or the converse, or by peculiarity both of incident and tone…”.After examining his Philosophy, I gave The Tell-Tale Heart and The Cask of Amontillado a second look. In The Tell-Tale Heart, we have a Narrator that is telling about very peculiar incidents. He describes the old man he says, “When the old man looked at me with his vulture eye a cold feeling went up and down my back; even my blood became cold. And so, I finally decided I had to kill the old man and close that eye forever!”. At the same time, he balances the story with an ordinary tone, as seen in how he so calmly tells the police officers that the crying sounds that the neighbors reported were actually his own and that the older man was away visiting a friend. He is so ordinary and calm that the police officers buy his story and are about to leave before he reverts to peculiar incidents and confesses the entire crime. The story is beautifully wrapped up in a Poe bow!
Conversely, in The Cask of Amontillado, Poe uses the opposite approach and starts with ordinary incidents such as a festival during Mardi Gras. He then casually asks a friend to help him identify a rare amontillado. Everything seems very typical; however, we as the reader pick up on clues to the victim’s pending demise through the peculiar tone interlaced through the entire composition. All the while, the denouement is clearly insight in both stories.
I, on the other hand, use the atmosphere to entice some writing ions and practice writing about an event as it unfolds in front of me; taking in the body language and interactions of the people that are bellied up to the bar. Each intently reading a book or typing on their laptop- men with a beer and women with a chilled glass of white wine carefully placed in front of them in a way that nonchalantly says, “I am smart and cool!”. Each sits alone not wanting to disturb somebody that is entranced in the work before them. This was the case until a very tipsy lady walked up to the bar with one hand cupping the elbow of her gentleman escort and the other hand clutched around a glass of red wine- clearly not her first. She never sat down and didn’t loosen the grip on the man as she began a conversation with some other people at the bar. Her voice and laughter screeched higher with each sentence that she somehow got out without stopping to take a single breath.
Tonight’s attraction was an author presenting his 1st novel; hot off the presses and in bookstores for the very first time today. The presentation room is next to the bar and was painfully empty 30 minutes before the presentation was to begin. The only people present were the author and his woman companion. They were chatting with two guests that were brave enough to enter the empty room and were found face-to-face with the author that they came to hear speak. The room slowly filled as the original couple of guests excused themselves from the awkward small talk with the unknown author. They made their way to the bar and commandeered a glass of beer and two glasses of water each served in flimsy plastic cups. Five minutes before the scheduled start of the presentation there were only a dozen guests sitting silently in the chairs positioned oddly close to the podium- causing a tense ora in the room as guests tried to situate themselves in a seat that wasn’t rudely far away from the podium, yet not inches from the speaker’s nose– the author is unknown after all and the jury is still out as to his likability.
Three minutes before the presentation begin time the store staff quietly asked the author, who was standing in the room directly behind the 3 rows of chairs set up for guests, if he would like a formal introduction. Now, I have to say that the look on the author’s face when asked this question was not blatantly obvious, yet something in his eyes screamed what he was thinking. Although he politely smiled and casually said, “Oh, no…whatever you want.” What he was really thinking was, “WTF, bitch! You stupid lame ass monkey. Are you that stupid? My fucking book- that I researched for years and authored- something you would know NOTHING about- was just released TODAY! My 1st fucking book and you are asking me if I want to be formally introduced?!!!!!”
Minutes later, in an awkward, yet in a formally rehearsed tone, the store staff began her introductions and obligatory run down of coming attractions to the bookstore. “And now, without further ado, I give you Mark Beauregard author of The Whale A Love Story” This was followed by the equally obligatory round of applause from the small audience. Mark began speaking in a very small, quiet voice that was broken by his female companion loudly saying from the back of the room, “Speak up a little and could you repeat what you just said?!” Gotta love the woman heckling you from the back of the room. Mark began by explaining that the novel was inspired by letters in the back of a special edition of Moby Dick that were written between Herman Melville and Nathan Hawthorne and exposed a romantic relationship between the two. Mark was intrigued by this mystery and the fact that it happened in 1851; he quickly became obsessed with the topic. After discussing the findings with several people he decided that the story needed to be written in a novel and he had to bring these people’s story to life. He wrote the novel as historical fiction rather than a biography since he was limited to the information that he could research on his own. I found it amusing that one of the first points he made about his research of Nathan Hawthorne was that he had to move from his hometown because he became so popular after his first novel- he looked straight at the store staff person when he revealed this important fact.
25 guests were in the room by about 10 minutes into the presentation. Slow comers entered the room after the scare of an empty room was drowned out by the author’s words as he spoke quietly about his research. All eyes were on the speaker and their delayed entrance would go unnoticed by most. After his planned spill about his research and several readings from his book, Mark began taking questions from the audience. The questions were based on things that could only be answered with complete speculation and educated guesses based on his research and how he lived in the fictional heads of the characters he tried to bring to life in his openly historical fiction novel. Mark was sandwiched between being the dominate knowledgeable source of information regarding the characters and an audience, suckling their wine and beer- empowering them to feel fearless and insanely smart, as they challenged and questioned the author about mundane ideas and speculative rational for a man’s (his characters’) emotions. A question from a gentleman went into detail asking if Nathan Hawthorne had an incestuous relationship with his sister. Mark’s answer was impeccable! He explained that there wasn’t any legally binding proof that there was ever a relationship between Herman and Nathan- so, therefore, he was sure that there wasn’t any legally binding proof that there was ever an incestuous relationship between Nathan and his sister. One has to wonder what the gentleman hoped for as a response to his inquiry. This question was immediately followed up by another gentleman in the audience that was equally as strange. “Why did Hawthorne live in Salem? Was it because of the witches?” Mark’s response was preceded by a laugh. “He lived there because his family had property there.” There is never a dull moment when you combine beer and wine with intellectual people at a book signing!
First Draft bookstore is an amazing place full of eclectic items as well as an equally comprehensive customer base. It is your favorite coffee shop, bar, bookstore and library all rolled up into one neat little package of happy people.
I was very impressed with Mark Beauregard and his knowledge of the historical references to two literary greats and their quest for love. I can’t wait to finish reading his book and see how he took his research and recreated these men into characters that are so relatable. In Mark’s words- this is a love story about two people that could never be together. Have you ever been in love with someone that was off limits and you knew you could never be with?
Check out Mark’s web page and learn more about this inspiring novel.
http://www.bookmarkbeauregard.com
