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Popular Culture Review
their writing; “[the] tale is somehow stronger than its telling, which is to say that
Poe’s actual text does not matter. What survives, despite Poe’s writing, are the
psychological dynamics and mythic reverberations” (Bloom 4). However, it is
because of the prevalence in this context of the direct textual references to Poe’s
short stories that the less obvious Poe-ean characteristics, or “mythic
reverberations” in regard to the inclusion and blending of horror and detective
fiction elements, become visible.
To identify the horror elements bearing Poe’s mark in this scant selection of
Preston and Child’s work, a definition of Poe’s horror fiction elements must be
determined; writer Dur anna London explains specifically:
Poe’s works embodies [sic] Gothic fiction: They are dark,
foreshadowing, and essentially evil. They contain the elements
of horror, suspense, and surprise. His works have the
stereotypical horror-story settings of nighttime, dark-imposing
architecture, and desolate locations. There is always mystery
and elements of madness and the unknown. A terrifying
occurrence will always happen and death is always involved.
It would not be a Poe story otherwise (www.
associatedcontent.com).
One of the main qualities found throughout Preston and Child’s work that
reverberates with Poe’s flavor is the use of Gothic architecture, or as London
puts it “dark-imposing architecture.” The first example is Pendergast’s house
located on 891 Riverside Drive. On the outside, as described in Brimstone, the
house was a “four-story pile surrounded by a tall spiked-iron fence, furred in
rust. Beyond the fence, the lawn was overgrown with weeds and ancient
ailanthus bushes. The mansion itself seemed in decrepitude: windows securely
boarded up with tin, slate roof tiles chipped, widow’s walk missing half its metal
posts” (46-47). The decay of the building is notable as a characteristic of Poe’s
architecture that recalls a better time in the past, and as a building currently
existing in New York’s Harlem, it definitely hearkens back to an earlier era of
grandeur. Similar to the house in “Fall of the House of Usher,” this building
does not only remind the reader of previous external splendor, but its
significance in this context reminds the reader of symbolism in the Pendergast
family legacy. Detective Pendergast is the last sane member of the family,
similar to Roderick Usher; they both are the twins who exist in the real world,
while their sibling dwells within the realm of madness. Like the Usher family,
the Pendergast family is an old family dying out along with its horrific past.
In addition, this description of the house’s exterior, the presence of the
“ancient ailanthus bushes” elicits memories of earlier Pendergast generations, as
well. According to dictionary.com, the ailanthus bush’s “bark has been used as a
tonic, purgative, and anthelmintic,” and since Pendergast’s great-great uncle
Hezekiah was the chemist who made the family rich from his poisonous potion;
it is possible that that tree was planted there to remind the reader of this earlier