Poe's Cat

by Brenda Walker

Year 11 Literature - Unit 1 Course Work

'Poe's Cat' is Brenda Walker's third novel and explores the uneasy terrain that is the relationship between Edgar Allan Poe and his wife Virginia, who were cousins, with a pair of contemporary cousins who have also been lovers, Thea and Finn.

Walker's novel is partly set in the Blue Mountains north of Sydney (Walker wrote some of the novel as the recipient of a Writers Residency at Varuna, Eleanor Dark's old house there) and partly set in the cold and illness-stricken world of Poe himself. There is also the third world of the stories that Thea makes up; responses to Poe's own stories mostly, taking them further, modernising them, or rewriting them from a contemporary, sometimes feminist, perspective. In this way, a knowledge of the Poe story, and of the Poe short stories adds something to a reading of this text.

A promotional review put it like this:

Poe's Cat Brenda Walker American writer, Edgar Allen Poe married his cousin, Virginia when she was thirteen. He told her mother he couldn't live without her. But it was Virginia who died one bitter winter night after contracting tuberculosis. Comforted by her cat, she had a blanket, some wine and fine linen as her burial dress. Virginia Poe and her cat haunt the thoughts and conversations of another pair of cousins Thea and Finn. During their long passionate nights together, at their grandfather's house in the mountains, Thea tells Finn stories about love and impossibilities, stories in which women do not have to die but instead live a full and rich life. Walker's obsession with Poe has taken her on a remarkable journey from her home in the Blue Mountains to California and then to the Bronx, where Virginia Poe died.

Reaction from my Year 11 class has been mixed to this novel. The SMH review said that this novel was best enjoyed in 'leisurely bursts' and it did feel that a sustained critique was unrewarding at times.

The review by Carl Harrison-Ford in the 'Australian Book Review' also questioned the closeness of the link between Waker and her character Thea. It is also critical of the novel as perhaps over-researched indicating suggesting too that 'the images, observations and snippets of information, many of them dutifully sourced, frequently have the sense of being findings, dutifully worked into the narrative' and more damningly, 'there is little tonal variation, little dramatic interplay between Thea the narrator and the extracts from her book. 'All I have are my own imaginings,' Thea writes, and Virginia comes across more as a projection than an invention -- in this respect not unlike 'Bridey Murphy' who another Virginia (Virginia Tighe) conjured up. Virginia and Thea -- and Walker? -- seem to speak for each other rather too easily.'

The class were somewhat divided in their initial responses to this novel.

STRENGTHS

The story of Poe and Virginia seemed a strength to some readers; the depiction of their relationship helped to develop an understanding of Poe's work.

Some students liked the stories that Thea created, the stories within stories; but others found them unrelated and inconclusive.

WEAKNESSES

Too many parallels, and too obvious, between the contemorary story and the POE story.

RESPONDING TO THE NOVEL

1. Write a brief character portrait of Thea and Finn detailing their personalities.

2. Draw a family tree of the relationships

3. Note down as many parallels as you can between the POE motifs, symbols and ideas and the ones Walker uses.

THE OUTCOME