The author of The Memoirs of Christopher Columbus turns the life of Edgar Allan Poe into a provocative blend of fantasy, adventure, and mystery tale, featuring Poe's legendary detective, August Dupin. 25,000 first printing. National ad/promo.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
In 1849, Edgar Allan Poe, newly arrived in Baltimore, disappeared for five days, finally surfacing drunk in one of that city's taverns; he died four days later. From this fact and some biographical clues, Marlowe (The Memoirs of Christopher Columbus) has woven his own dense, multilayered, Poe-like tale of doppelgangers, mesmerists and waking dreamers. The novel opens with Poe narrating his voyage aboard a steamer from Norfolk to Baltimore. Memories of his troubled life?his poverty, his drinking, his 13-year-old wife and his brother, both of whom died young?follow. These passages are intercut by third-person scenes in which the story takes a decidedly metaphysical?and convoluted?turn, as Marlowe tells the tale of a second Poe who is not in Baltimore but in Paris. In this shadow life, Poe's brother, who has not died, disappears under odd circumstances, prompting the writer to engage Chevalier C. Auguste Dupin (of "The Purloined Letter" fame) to investigate. Dupin is baffled by the case, but Poe finds a mysterious stone shard in his brother's flat that leads him to an unusual young woman?and to still other alternate lives, to a distant island where an indigenous tribe has been bereft of a sacred idol and to a remote lighthouse where the writer witnesses the end of the world. Marlowe is a historical novelist of the first rank, with a deliciously supple and fluid prose style. But the structure of this tale is so confusingly complex (at one point, the narrative comes to us from an injured Poe, as told to a phantom Dupin, as overheard and recorded by Poe's physician?and then read by the physician's wife) that, in order to follow it, readers must perform a feat of detection as great as any accomplished by Dupin. Still, Marlowe makes Poe come alive in all his mad glory; and that is accomplishment enough to warrant applause.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
Marlowe, a prolific science fiction and crime novelist, has published more than 50 books since 1952. Two of his most recent works?fictionalized biographies, like his newest work?are the Memoirs of Christopher Columbus (Ballantine, 1989) and The Death and Life of Miguel de Cervantes (Bloomsbury, 1991). Re-creating the last days of Edgar Allen Poe, Marlowe here combines crime, science fiction, and biography. Part flashback, part dream or hallucination, part reality, and part fabrication, this fantastical story transports the reader without warning around time and space. Scenes are revisited; incidents are told and retold; Poe is in two places at once or he is two people in one place; people die and are resurrected; names and identities and personal histories shift as the story progresses. This fascinating, complex novel should leave one eager to sit down with a volume of Poe's own tales. Recommended especially for public libraries.?Rebecca Stuhr-Rommereim, Grinnel Coll. Libs., Iowa
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Really?,
By
This review is from: The Lighthouse at the End of the World (Hardcover)
Wow! All these good reviews. Frankly I thought the narrative was a mess. It only evades one star because Marlowe does, indeed, give us a wonderful examination of the Poe's marriage and "real life".The biographical aspects are well done. The point, I suppose, was to view inside Poe's mind at the end. Frankly it was so confusing the tragic end of Poe gets hopelessly lost in the prose.
The rest? The first half was much easier to follow than the second half. Honestly I finished the book because of the good reviews and because I have this thing about finishing books I have started. It was like reading jabberwocky. This is not a long book but I fought to finish it. Sorry I did not like it at all.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
slow at first, but very intrigueing .,
By U2pop@ix.netcom.com (Augusta, Georgia) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Lighthouse at the End of the World (Hardcover)
Great book. A bit slow at first, hard to get into I think. As you read it more though, the book begins to develop around you and draw you in. I enjoyed it greatly. Being able to walk in Poe's footsteps, see through his eyes, you begin to wonder and imagine that you are Poe. The sheer historical and visual aspect of it is enough to capture the imagination and intrigue of anyone.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Mesmerizing, confusing, poetic prose, historical.,
By A Customer
This review is from: The Lighthouse at the End of the World (Hardcover)
I found the book hard to follow, and yet by the end I was strangely drawn to it - its bewildering account of the last days of Edgar Allan Poe. I plan to hang on to my copy and reread it later, if anything, just to figure out the plot(s).
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