Customer Reviews

Midnight Dreary: The Mysterious Death of Edgar Allan Poe

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1 star:		(2)

 

 

Mr. Walsh presents an intriguing and well thought out solution to the enduring controversy surrounding the death of Edgar Allen Poe. The bare details of his death are fairly well known. He was on a trip from Richmond to New York and was found in Baltimore, apparently drunk and suffering from delirium tremens. Taken to a nearby hospital, Poe died after a week without ever really becoming coherent again. Any number of theories (aside from the obvious) have been put forward ranging from disease to drugging and shanghaiing to vote in the elections going on at the time. The methodology Walsh applies is a new approach to the body of research on Poe's death. He believes that Poe's death was a consequence of a fresh conflict caused by his own actions, rather than self destruction or random violence. Murder was considered a distinct possibility by at least two intimates, although the issue in question may have been an old quarrel or memory of an old feud rather than a proximate one, since it echoes an old controversy for which Poe was called out to a duel. The failure to note and expand on that similarity, and to note the advocates of this scenario were literary people favoring a dramatic end more suited to the contemporary conventions of theater and literature, is one of very few obvious holes in the consideration of the evidence.

The bulk of the book, and the jewel of the author's research consists of the presentation, organization and analysis of the relevant evidence, either quoted directly from the sources or summarized. Walsh fits the data against the prevailing theories and finds them lacking in probability. This is a lean and muscular work of historical scholarship. The relentless focus on the scant relevant material is another highlight of this work, there is no padding. The evolution of the witnesses' and researchers' stories closest to the event is also ably chronicled in the book. The accretion and fusing of memory and myth around notorious historical events is interesting all by itself and is well documented by Mr. Walsh.

The proposed new solution conforms neatly to my prejudices, in that it is firmly linked to Poe's private life, I tend to believe (as articulated very well by Louise Brooks among others) that the mysteries of biography and history frequently resolve to the mysteries of love and the bedroom or in the hackneyed phrase of the mystery genre `cherchez la femme'. The quality and honesty of his work can be judged from the fact that although he forwards a new twist on the `death by drinking' theory, which oddly enough, depends crucially on an assertion that Poe was not likely to have broken his fresh Temperance Pledge, his work can be read as dialectic against any theory other than death resulting from a sadly typical self destructive drinking binge.

The presentation and consideration of the evidence is a model for anyone writing on a topic to imitate. The thesis itself, alas, is another matter and occupies a brief few pages at the end. He carefully holds back what he argues happened until all the paltry evidence is produced and evaluated. Testimony is scant and often hearsay or second hand or recalled after many years so no firm conclusions are possible. Walsh suggests that the missing 5 days of Poe's life were spent in a running battle between Baltimore and Philadelphia with pursuers bent on doing him harm. He bases this on a number of conjectures and extrapolations. There is the testimony of a rail road employee that Poe was seen heading towards Philadelphia, and further statements drawn from colleagues in Philadelphia who reported unusual encounters with him. These stories are stretched, cropped, altered and split and then finally moved in time to support the hypothesis. The identity of the poet's enemies and their motives appear like rabbits from a hat and are based on the slenderest wisps of evidence. As with any good magician, though, the groundwork for the gimmick is deftly introduced. However, this is the part of tale where I consider the more or less contemporary explanation of the event was concerned with transforming the poet's death into a more fitting end for a great literary figure. The considerable liberties taken with this part of the evidence don't lend much weight to the conclusions.

As with many theories put forward to resolve the puzzles of literature and the past, this one founders on the sharp reef of Occam's Razor. The simplest explanation, consistent with Poe's sordid history of alcoholic binges detailed in the text and his toxic reaction to alcohol, also well attested, is that he died as a result of one final bender. For those of us familiar with binge drinkers, finding one after a 5 day disappearance under bizarre circumstances is no surprise. The very last person to see Poe on his way to Baltimore stated that he had been drinking, but was sober, not a good omen for a man who'd just promised to become a teetotaler.

While Walsh advances another possible explanation of Poe's death in a crisp, well organized book that moves along at a brisk tempo, he fails establish his solution to the case as likely. I highly recommend this book both for the novelty of its approach, overall quality and for its tight focus.

Those who take issue with John Evangelist Walsh's "Midnight Dreary" are, I think, missing the point. Certainly, there is truth to the suggestion that this is two books, one, a detailed recreation of the last days of Poe and two, the author's attempt to make sense of the random data and form a reasonable explanation.

In the first instance, Walsh succeeds beyond one's expectations. I ahve read dozens of biographies of Poe and have not come across a good deal of this material. Letters, journal entries, recollections of personal interviews - Walsh succeeds in bringing extant material to light.

In the second endeavor, Walsh has not been as successful. In my opinion, he falls into every theorists greatest trap - attempting to bend the facts to fit his hypothesis. In several cases, Walsh accuses his subjects of faulty memory and/or outright embellishment. "Such and such can not have occurred on this date, but if we assume that the wrier was incorrect and it actually occurred on blah-blah date, then it all makes sense." No. No and no. As observers of history, we do not have the luxury of assuming those who lived it were forgetful liars.

Nonetheless, this IS an interesting book and it is a treasure trove of data for those interested in Poe's death. Additionally, it is written in an interesting, conversational style that I found quite readable. I enjoyed this book, as a reader and as an historian.

I just finished this compelling book here on a sultry Saturday afternoon in August; nothing could have been better. Knowing very little of literary matters or much about E.A. Poe (except The Raven and Annibel Lee in 9th grade), I found this book to be riveting. I had not known of the mystery of his death or any of the theories pertaining to it. But having worked most of my life in mental health as a professional, I found myself more and more, as I sped through the book, asking myself whether this man might have been suffering from mental illness, certainly alcoholism as we know it today. The experiences and symptoms described of Poe by Walsh appear as classic examples of Bipolar Disorder or an agitated Major Depression with psychotic (paranoid) features. People who don't take their medication and who suffer from Major Mental Illness may often be "dually diagnosed" with substance abuse perhaps to self-medicate. The absence of real, tangible evidence in history to support the hypothesis that Poe was followed by Elmira's vindictive brothers during an agitated lost 5 days along the Eastern Seaboard, contributed to my obsessing about the possibility that just maybe Poe suffered from an agitated psychotic depression and had landed in Baltimore that October, 1849 having succumbed to alcohol poisoning. What a fabulous tale, but the sad mystery remains. And what a sad event for American history. And, oh, by the way, I found Walsh's writing to flow like a bounding river.

While certainly an enjoyble read and very well researched,John Evangelist Walsh's book 'Midnight Dreary' does not present an utterly convincing case as to the cause of Edgar Allan Poe's death.
I really did enjoy reading this book and it does present a nice picture of Poe's final days.The real problem is that Walsh's theory is really to dependant on a certain amount of speculation,and as another reviewer noted Walsh seems to bend the facts to make it fit his theory rather then the other way round,like assuming Poe's visit to John Sartain was in fact in October instead of July of 1849 as Sartain said.Well its obvious a certain amount of speculation is needed to come up with any idea as to how Poe died as there are simply not enough established facts as to what occured during those 5 days that Poe was missing and the events surrounding it to say for certain what occured then.That being said the speculation in this book does go a bit over board and is based it seems on mainly cicrumstancial evidence.As for Walsh suggesting certain people in those times where in fact mistaken or lied about the dates that things happened,well thats just unacceptable.

If you want a decent account of Poe's final days and another theory as to how the man died this book is worth reading however if what you seek is a book to put forth a truly convincing theory on Poe's death this book will be a bit of a disapointment

The excellent Poe biography by Kenneth Silverman is very thorough but, surprisingly, offers remarkably little about his mysterious death. It does not even give passing mention to the many theories. I turned to "Midnight Dreary" to fill the gap. John Evangelist Walsh does not cover in detail the different theories either, except for the "cooping" theory that maintains Poe was kidnapped by election "sharks" and forced to vote. Walsh has his own idea of what happened.

I won't give away Walsh's theory, but he uses the evidence of the time, including period writings that were not taken as seriously by Poe biographers, to support his claims. The foundation of his theory are articles written by accomplished writer Elizabeth Oakes Smith (who was an acquaintance of Poe) in 1857, 1867, and 1876. She tells a story different from that of political club agents. Her articles were read by one of Poe's loves, Sarah Helen Whitman, who did not take issue with her rendition of Poe's demise, save for one detail described in the last article (pg. 95). Another piece of the puzzle is the writings of another Poe acquaintance, Susan Talley, who divulged a "sensational story" going around at the time that supports Walsh's theory (pp. 98-99).

Walsh uses the testimony of Dr. Carter, Joseph Snodgrass, and those who saw Poe during his last days in the telling of his story. He does take one large liberty: John Sartain's famous story of being met by a paranoid Poe who wanted to shave off his mustache so as not to be recognized by would-be murderers and his bout with suicidal tendencies is treated as two different events which happened months apart. Sartain's memories of his strange meeting with Poe seemed to have happened in a period of a few days. Walsh maintains that Poe's thoughts of suicide occurred in July 1849 while his murder plot scare was within a week of his death. It seems strange that Sartain never mentioned such a suspicious meeting happened so soon before Poe died. Walsh does offer convincing evidence to back up his claims. Some of the facts he uses as evidence is a bit of a stretch, however, as in Poe referring to a wife in Richmond while in the hospital demonstrating he had been preoccupied with returning to Elmira Shelton to save himself (pg. 121). Also, Sartain stated that Poe claimed to have overheard a threat on his life whereas Walsh describes a physical confrontation (pg. 114).

Walsh is, for the most part, careful with the facts and is adept at analyzing the different stories, told and retold, by those who observed Poe's final days (some, like Dr. Moran, became Poe apologists). I, for one, am not thoroughly convinced by Walsh's theory, but it is logical and fits well with the facts that are already known. The book is about 200 pages, but only 129 of it make up Walsh's case. The rest of the book includes letters of Elmira Shelton, almost 50 pages of notes and sources, and acknowledgments. It has wide margins, too, so it is a quick read. A more thorough look at the origins and strengths and weaknesses of the different theories on Poe's death would bring more substance to the work. The "cooping" theory is the most prevalent, but I would like to learn about some of the other ideas that are out there. My co-worker believes rabies was the cause. What is the evidence to support that conjecture? Perhaps a book covering all the theories will be published but, until then, anyone interested in the mysterious death of the legendary writer should read "Midnight Dreary."

John Walsh's book is certainly a good read and the only people who seem to have trouble with it are people who don't understand that all the pieces of the puzzle aren't available and never will be. In situations like that, good investigative work has to be used--along with a good understanding of your subject and the times to make up situations not known. John Walsh certainly has both. I was thoroughly enthralled by his storytelling and even more impressed by his deductions and his careful telling of where he got his information. Of course, there are some things he doesn't know so he deduced them based on the knowledge at hand. If done intelligently (as done here), it will convince the reader. I think Edgar Allen Poe would rest easy knowing someone finally straightened out his last days.

Edgar Allen Poe's death has not lacked for theories. Now Walsh presents a solution that has many appealing elements. The most generally accepted theory of Poe's death has been death through alcoholic intoxication something easy to assume with someone having the long history on binge drinking. The problem is that Poe was in a good place in his life, his proposal of marriage having been accepted by his childhood sweetheart, now a wealthy widow and was traveling north on a job that would earn him substantial income.

Whether or not Walsh's explanation covers all the evidence in a reasonable way is for the jury of readers to determine. The book presents the documentation in readable form. I found it easy to follow Walsh's logic as buttressed by the evidence. I recommend this book for anyone interested in the dissection of an old murder and a reconsideration of the evidence.

First and foremost: John Evangelist Walsh does not write well. He loves the skewed sentence and frail subject-verb current, the vague reference and imprecise noun. He also occasionally boasts of his investigatory prowess and belittles other critics for their blindness. But the reason for all this stylistic lameness becomes clear in the second half of MIDNIGHT DREARY; he is hamstrung by the lameness of his thesis, which is that Sarah Royster's brothers followed Poe around,force-fed him whisky and beat him to the verge of death to protect her from this womanizing drunkard.
The mysteries of Poe's whereabouts during his last days and why he was found delirious and battered in someone else's clothes in a Baltimore public house have long intrigued readers, and Walsh begins with some reasonable mustering of the known (and even the less accessible) evidence. He brings to light some documents often dismissed in the case and builds upon them, but when the avaiable information thins out, Walsh fills in with fiction, a dramatic tale which is distinguished by neither its presentation of characters nor its vividness.
If Walsh had set out to write an entertaining fancy, he might have succeeded, though it's difficult to believe his writing would have been less tortured. Had he contented himself to gather and display the evidence, both the popular documents and the more obscure ones, he might have performed a service, for the mystery of Poe's death is not fully solved by the common assumption of election press gangs and "cooping" of indigents to vote them over and over. But he has chosen to claim high drama and earth-shaking discovery.
The result has more in common with evangelism than scholarship. Walsh has a theory to sell, and he will say anything to convince the reader who is unfamiliar with the biographies. He combines the arbitrary and the desperately speculative into a net that cannot hold even the smallest fish. Even if Silverman's MOURNFUL AND NEVER-ENDING REMEMBRANCE is not the last word, compared to it, MIDNIGHT DREARY is an entertaining footnote.

An interesting Poe murder theory.true Poe did make alot of enemies and even if it is gossip it can still hurt a persons reputation,especially if the gossipers themselves are socially prominent,"In my opinion of course Mr.Poe is a(gold digging,womanizing,drunkard-personally i respect the mans' works but can't stand him as a person)"The book spends some time going over alot of these rumours that even if untrue do seem to stick.Silverman in his book suggested that Poe may have been impotent,but this work turns him into a probable lecher(all rumour however)I am convinced that he was engaged to Elmira Shelton(a wealthy widow and childhood sweetheart of Poe) at the time of his Baltimore/Richmond/ Philly mishaps.Poe's ego would make him feel justified in such a high stake game for after all as poe would remind one,"I wrote "The Raven" .The book strongly suggests that Ms. Shelton"s 3 brothers were anything but impressed with Mr. Poe and may have engineered his unfortunate mishaps resulting in his demise.The Shelton brothers and both of Elmira Sheltons'adult children wanted nothing to do with Poe and may have seen his engagement as an attempt by Poe to "land a cash cow" for his pet projects.It's all speculation but it could fit as logically as the bunk about the election day "cooping" which the author proves false to at least my satisfaction.the pictures in the book all relate to this detective story. Is the stern face of Elmira Shelton the result of a stern Puritanic faith or is she hiding a terrible secret?Kissinger always said "even the true paranoic has real enemies",and Poe would definitely have made headlines for todays tabloids.Remember he married his 13 year old first cousin and then the rumours of alcohol and opiates not to mention the harsh criticisms of other writers that could be studied by those wishing to give "the perfect insult"..I always theorized that maybe Poe had a diabetic episode in Baltimore that left him at the mercy of urban predators who stole his clothes,then beat and robbed him.It never entered my mind before reading this book that maybe someone was hired for the job and Poe became only too aware of it.DT's have little to nothing to do with this book.It is a detective story that Poe himself would have been proud to write.

Although he seems to know the facts of the case quite well, anyone thinking that Walsh's analysis leads to a plausible reconstruction of the final days of Poe is mistaken. Among other things, his analysis of statements regarding Poe's appearance and the feelings of members of his fiancee's family seem quite overwrought. It seems as if he is trying get to his conclusion, instead of allowing his conclusion to flow from the reconstruction of the facts at hand. Moreover, even given the facts as he presents them, I think there are gaps in his reconstruction that cause the foundation of the book to list--like the leaning tower of Pisa--quite substantially. Granted, other previous conjectures seem implausible also, but this could take the cake. If I were a publisher, I would have rejected his book.