Boston Magazine |
Quoth the Maven
In his new novel, wunderkind Matthew Pearl unravels Poe’s final mystery.
By John Patrick Pullen
Baltimore may claim Edgar Allan Poe as one of its own, but the Hub (where Poe was born) is more responsible for the writer’s dark roots, says Matthew Pearl, author of the new novel The Poe Shadow (Random House, 367 pages, $24.95).
The literary rivalry between Poe and the characters in Pearl’s 2003 bestseller, The Dante Club, inspired the Cambridge writer to delve into Poe’s mysterious death. Pearl scoured old records and visited six states to pen a thriller about a young lawyer piecing together the circumstances of Poe’s untimely demise.
“Part of what has attracted me to living and writing here is Boston’s literary history,” says Pearl. “As a city and a culture, we don’t claim what Poe did here with any pride. We deserve to be proud of the fact that he was born here.”
The literary rivalry between Poe and the characters in Pearl’s 2003 bestseller, The Dante Club, inspired the Cambridge writer to delve into Poe’s mysterious death. Pearl scoured old records and visited six states to pen a thriller about a young lawyer piecing together the circumstances of Poe’s untimely demise.
“Part of what has attracted me to living and writing here is Boston’s literary history,” says Pearl. “As a city and a culture, we don’t claim what Poe did here with any pride. We deserve to be proud of the fact that he was born here.”
Originally published in Boston magazine, May 2006
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