Popular Culture Review Vol. 22, No. 1, Winter 2011 | Page 56

52 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