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Ron Miller's DARK CORRIDORS VOL. 5, No. 41 |
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reviews the new novel about the founder of the detective story POE and FANNY |
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Poe's the tragic center
of this romantic novel
of TheColumnists.com
Not long before his mysterious death at age 40, Edgar Allan Poe became involved in a scandalous affair with the poet Frances "Fanny" Osgood that nearly wrecked what was left of his reputation.
In his novel "Poe & Fanny" (Algonquin Books, $24.95), first-time author John May has used this little-known romantic interlude to weave a fascinating tale about one of America's first internationally-celebrated fiction writers, capturing him at the apex of his literary career, just as he began his precipitous slide into alcoholism and financial ruin.
When the story begins, Poe has already created the detective story genre with his "Murders in the Rue Morgue" and the other tales about Auguste Dupin, the first "consulting detective" in western literature and the acknowledged inspiration for Conan Doyle's own Sherlock Holmes. He is even more well-known for such macabre horror stories as "The Pit and the Pendulum" and "The Tell-Tale Heart."
But when Poe first publishes his poem "The Raven," he becomes a literary sensation in New York, invited here and there to read his popular poem before large crowds of fans, the great majority of them doting women. It's at this point that Poe really gets to know Fanny, a woman he knew only casually before, yet regarded well as a poet in her own right.
Fanny Osgood was at that time estranged from her husband, an artist known for his philandering ways, living apart from him with their two daughters. A strikingly handsome woman, she was a pillar of the New York literary establishment, much sought after by men.
In contrast, Poe was living in abject poverty with his ailing wife "Sissy" and her mother, known to him as "Muddy." He had married "Sissy," his cousin, when she was only 13. Now consumptive and unable to go out much, she is not the companion Poe needs as he desperately attempts to stay afloat financially, working as a magazine editor dogged by debts.
Fanny sees only the romantic side of this brilliant man and falls hopelessly in love with him. However, author May gives us a full and unsparing portrait of Poe that makes it clear he was no prize for any woman. Orphaned as a child, Poe was disinherited by his wealthy foster father and felt severely alienated through all his adult life. He had few real friends--and abused their loyalty tremendously, borrowing money from them and never paying it back.
May also shows Poe compromising nearly all his ideals in his struggle to remain solvent. He frequently revised old stories and presented them as new ones, published the works of people who lent him money or did him favors and even conspired with a partner to steal copyrighted stories from English writers and publish them without payment in the U.S.
Meanwhile, he was becoming a self-destructive drinker of epic proportions, showing up for important events smashed, then finding himself in the gutter hours later, unable to remember where he'd been or what he'd done.
To his credit, Poe was devoted to his sickly wife and suffered great pangs of remorse once he began to cheat on her with Fanny Osgood. Curiously, Fanny and "Sissy" became good friends after Fanny had begun her affair with "Eddy," as the author calls Poe through most of the story. May suggests "Sissy" may have suspected she hadn't long to live and that her husband eventually would be with another woman. Little wonder, since Poe had written so many poems and stories about experiencing the death of his wife, often referred to in his tales as "Lenore."
Fanny and Poe were reasonably discreet about their intimate interludes, but not about their romance. She wrote many poems celebrating her love for someone everyone recognized as Poe--then insisted Poe publish them in his magazine.
Though the real-life story had a distinct ending, the weak point of May's otherwise very readable novel is his ending, which seems flat and unsatisfying. Had he decided to speculate about the circumstances of Poe's death, it might have made a much more dramatic finish.
Still, the novel fills in lots of blank spaces in the story of Poe without getting too far-fetched. After the final chapter, May also includes a large selection of the real poems written by Fanny and Poe that refer to their relationship. If you can curb your disappointment with the finish, it's a very worthwhile first novel.
©2004
by Ron Miller. The book cover illustration is courtesy of the
publisher and is the property of the estate of F.S. Coburn, who
originally did the drawing for an edition of "The Complete
Works of Edgar Allan Poe."
Ron
Miller is a former nationally syndicated television columnist
and the author of "Mystery! A Celebration," the official
companion book to PBS' "Mystery!" series. He currently
teaches classes in mystery and related topics at Whatcom Community
College and Western Washington University in Bellingham, Washington.
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