Michael Chabon Was Edgar Allan Poe

Chabon Recounts his Tale of Reincarnation, Inspires Hundreds to Read Poetry

I was not this close to Chabon

Michael Chabon, author of The Amazing Adventures of Kavelier and Clay and Yiddish Policeman's Union, stepped out of the usual realm of author's readings last night at Benaroya Hall as part of Seattle Arts & Lectures' current season. Instead of going through the standard reading of passages (probably already read by the audience) and discussing their inspiration, Chabon read an essay entitled "I Was Edgar Allan Poe!"

As a middle schooler, Chabon inhaled Poe's stories and one day his biography, and after a thorough reading of the long-dead alcoholic writer's work, Chabon, looking at himself in the mirror, noticing the same expresion in himself as in Poe's famous daguerreotype, matching the same persecution Poe faced from his peers, the yet-to-be famous Chabon came to one inexorable conclusion: I am the reincarnation of Edgar Allan Poe.

For a time, this realization gave Chabon power over the wedgies and insults from his classmates, but the lust for revenge - ever so present in many of Poe's works - resolved itself with love and family (although Chabon was not above reading the names of his persecuters to the entire audience in list format) as the idea of reincarnation, which "reeks of human dreams," died its own death. No longer the living incarnation of Poe, Chabon is left with a stunning appreciation and insight into Poe's language, which contributes to the voice of his own writing.

There's too much Chabon hit on - the scholar-fan, the use of borrowing in Poe's and Tarantino's work, and most importantly the use of poetry to create powerful sentences within prose - to really give the entire essay its due. For fans or haters of Chabon, he once again defended his strong use of plot devices and genre common in his work. Stating that, just like Poe he realized that poetry and narrative are great forms, but plot and genre conventions are the only way "to make art that I can sell for cash money."

Chabon has a staccato manner of speaking, giving each word its own presence, and a narrative voice that could shoot into a tirade or burst out laughing at any moment, which makes his words both fun and serious simultaneously. If you've read him, you know his love of big words ("crepuscular" and "shtetl" are underlined in my copy of Kavalier & Clay), but hearing him speak this level of vocabulary with humor and passion was an encouragment to access that language everyday. If you are an aspiring writer or just a literature lover, I'd encourage your to read the essay elsewhere when it finally goes into print or on the web.