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Available
Description
Fiction. Literature. Thriller. Historical Fiction. HTML:In 1865 Boston, the members of the Dante Club -- poets and Harvard professors Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes, and James Russell Lowell, along with publisher J.T. Fields -- are finishing America's first translation of The Divine Comedy and preparing to unveil Dante's remarkable visions to the New World. The powerful Boston Brahmins at Harvard College are fighting to keep Dante in obscurity, believing that the infiltration of foreign superstitions onto American bookshelves will prove as corrupting as the immigrants living in Boston Harbor. As they struggle to keep their sacred literary cause alive, the plans of the Dante Club are put in further jeopardy when a serial killer unleashes his terror on the city. Only the scholars realize that the gruesome murders are modeled on the descriptions from Dante's Inferno and its account of Hell's torturous punishments. With the lives of the Boston elite and Dante's literary future in America at stake, the Dante Club must find the killer before the authorities discover their secret. The Dante Club is a magnificent blend of fact and fiction, a brilliantly realized paean to Dante, his mythic genius, and his continued grip on our imaginations..… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member wewerefiction
The ending was slightly disappointing, but only in that "sometimes movies are disappointing in the end" way. That is, it wrapped everything up very nicely in the same way that movies of this nature do. It falls back into personal lives and there's a touching moment between Longfellow and his
However, the ending is not horrible or so badly fit as to leave a stain on my overall impression of the book. It was excellent, and without a doubt one of my new favorite novels. I enjoyed it so thoroughly that I even bought it as a Christmas present for my friend Morgan before I even finished it (she is a fan of Dante and this was one of the first conversations we had about literature, so after the first 20 or 30 pages I knew she'd appreciate its literary and historical value).
Richard and I were having a discussion about similarly written books and movies; I don't recall which movie we were specifically talking about, but the annoyance at taking "real-life" people and creating characters and stories around them was mentioned. For example, the main characters in this book were existing authors (and well-known), and so was their "Dante Club" and translation of the poem. However, the murders never happened and certainly neither did their detective work in relation to those murders. I think a lot of people have a problem with this kind of writing, how these books are written so close to the truth that they almost seem true (and, indeed, some people think them so). Now that I've thought that, I believe it was The Da Vinci Code we were talking about, because I'd seen the movie that night (not as bad as I expected, though still not recommended). Jesus, presumably, existed, as did Mary Magdalene and the other religious figures involved. The Knights Templar legends exist, and the Opus Dei as well. I haven't read the book so I only have the movie to go on, but it seems that Dan Brown took all these things and wrote an historical novel from them, right? Well, then, why is it that I've had several people ask me to take them to The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown, and then complain that where I lead them is the section labeled "Fiction/Literature"? Why do people expect this book to be in "World History" or "History/Theology"? I think that is why people dislike this method of historical writing - as I said, taking real elements and rewriting them in a fictional world.
Personally, I can discern a line between fact and fiction and enjoy a book that is written so well that it even has me questioning history. I almost wanted to Google search the occurrence of these murders, because they were so involved in these authors' lives that "True Crime" seemed a more appropriate section. Outside of the book, though, I know I'm reading fiction, and the only "truth" is the truth of the world which I am visiting when I open that book. This is a world in which authors become detectives and Civil War veterans become murderers.
I think it's not the authors and the books that should be frustrating - rather, the readers. Anyone who believes The Da Vinci Code really happened should be shot, and I mean that in the nicest way possible. I think if an author can write historical fiction so well that it seems to be true, he or she deserves some kind of award. They've obviously done their research efficiently and thoroughly.
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daughters, we learn that the translation goes on successfully, and there is an entire chapter dedicated to the murderer, the events of his life and therefore his motivations for the killings, and how he was punished. Just as when I see suspenseful yet mysterious movies that are very good in the bulk, I found myself reading the last few pages of this book wondering why it was necessary to include.However, the ending is not horrible or so badly fit as to leave a stain on my overall impression of the book. It was excellent, and without a doubt one of my new favorite novels. I enjoyed it so thoroughly that I even bought it as a Christmas present for my friend Morgan before I even finished it (she is a fan of Dante and this was one of the first conversations we had about literature, so after the first 20 or 30 pages I knew she'd appreciate its literary and historical value).
Richard and I were having a discussion about similarly written books and movies; I don't recall which movie we were specifically talking about, but the annoyance at taking "real-life" people and creating characters and stories around them was mentioned. For example, the main characters in this book were existing authors (and well-known), and so was their "Dante Club" and translation of the poem. However, the murders never happened and certainly neither did their detective work in relation to those murders. I think a lot of people have a problem with this kind of writing, how these books are written so close to the truth that they almost seem true (and, indeed, some people think them so). Now that I've thought that, I believe it was The Da Vinci Code we were talking about, because I'd seen the movie that night (not as bad as I expected, though still not recommended). Jesus, presumably, existed, as did Mary Magdalene and the other religious figures involved. The Knights Templar legends exist, and the Opus Dei as well. I haven't read the book so I only have the movie to go on, but it seems that Dan Brown took all these things and wrote an historical novel from them, right? Well, then, why is it that I've had several people ask me to take them to The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown, and then complain that where I lead them is the section labeled "Fiction/Literature"? Why do people expect this book to be in "World History" or "History/Theology"? I think that is why people dislike this method of historical writing - as I said, taking real elements and rewriting them in a fictional world.
Personally, I can discern a line between fact and fiction and enjoy a book that is written so well that it even has me questioning history. I almost wanted to Google search the occurrence of these murders, because they were so involved in these authors' lives that "True Crime" seemed a more appropriate section. Outside of the book, though, I know I'm reading fiction, and the only "truth" is the truth of the world which I am visiting when I open that book. This is a world in which authors become detectives and Civil War veterans become murderers.
I think it's not the authors and the books that should be frustrating - rather, the readers. Anyone who believes The Da Vinci Code really happened should be shot, and I mean that in the nicest way possible. I think if an author can write historical fiction so well that it seems to be true, he or she deserves some kind of award. They've obviously done their research efficiently and thoroughly.
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LibraryThing member christiguc
In post civil war Boston, a group of literary figures forms a club to prepare an English translation of Dante's Divine Comedy in order to introduce Dante to America. As Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, James Russell Lowell, Oliver Wendell Holmes, J. T. Fields (James Thomas Fields), and George Washington
Knowing that there are only a handful of people aware of Dante's work, the Dante Club realizes that if a connection is made, they would be the prime (and maybe the only) suspects for the police. Also, any public connection of Dante to these murders would doom the translation project that they have devoted themselves to. Therefore, the Dante Club decides to not tell the police of the literary connection and begins its own investigation. Thus begins the story.
While the summary appears to be that of a mystery book, the focus of the story is the work and translation of Dante. The book is more of a love-letter to Dante than a thriller, and it succeeds in that respect. When I was less that half way through the book, I was already trying to find a good translation of Dante. Allen Mandelbaum's translation is now on the top of my "books to be purchased" list.
Matthew Pearl clearly did his research -- Longfellow, Holmes, Lowell, Fields, and Greene are all well-developed, as is the Boston setting. However, Pearl's writing style is abrupt, almost choppy and therefore makes it difficult for the reader to ever get completely immersed in the story or into the book. But even with the flow of the story handicapped, Pearl manages to make the members of the Dante Club inspiring.
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Greene work on translating the Inferno, they face more serious problems than differing interpretations of the same verse. The Harvard Corporation, headed by Dr. Manning, attempts to use its influence to block publication in a misguided attempt to protect public morality. Also, a killer has begun a string of serial murders that replicate the punishments that Dante allotted to the various circles of hell.Knowing that there are only a handful of people aware of Dante's work, the Dante Club realizes that if a connection is made, they would be the prime (and maybe the only) suspects for the police. Also, any public connection of Dante to these murders would doom the translation project that they have devoted themselves to. Therefore, the Dante Club decides to not tell the police of the literary connection and begins its own investigation. Thus begins the story.
While the summary appears to be that of a mystery book, the focus of the story is the work and translation of Dante. The book is more of a love-letter to Dante than a thriller, and it succeeds in that respect. When I was less that half way through the book, I was already trying to find a good translation of Dante. Allen Mandelbaum's translation is now on the top of my "books to be purchased" list.
Matthew Pearl clearly did his research -- Longfellow, Holmes, Lowell, Fields, and Greene are all well-developed, as is the Boston setting. However, Pearl's writing style is abrupt, almost choppy and therefore makes it difficult for the reader to ever get completely immersed in the story or into the book. But even with the flow of the story handicapped, Pearl manages to make the members of the Dante Club inspiring.
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LibraryThing member atheist_goat
When I picked this up, I reasoned that it would either be like The Alienist, which I really liked, or like The Da Vinci Code, in which case it would be hilarious. Alas, it was neither, and it turns out that what lies between those two extremes is seriously boring. Much better written than TDVC, but
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Pearl has no gift for making characters' passions compelling: none of the endless talk about Dante makes Dante seem interesting or appealing, or even makes the reader understand why the characters are so interested and obsessed. And all the characters speak with exactly the same voice, so that I kept losing track of who was present in any given scene, because the dialogue is exactly the same whether it is Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, a black policeman, or a drunk Italian. Perhaps his second book is more mature. I will not be finding out. Show Less
LibraryThing member Stewartry
My strong recommendation is: read this, but do not eat rice at any point directly before, during, or after reading it. And especially don’t do as I did, which was to put rice on to cook, open the book and start to read the first chapter – about the discovery of a body covered and filled with
(Spoilers follow regarding deaths, but not the killer…)
The book takes place in 1865 Boston. The Civil War is only months over – Abraham Lincoln is only months dead; the city is filled with returning soldiers in all conditions. And in the heart of the city, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow is translating Dante. There never has been an American edition of The Divine Comedy, and any British ones have been (for kind of obvious reasons) unavailable. The translation was something Longfellow worked on periodically – until his wife, Fanny, died in a terrible accident, and it became almost a therapy for him; he has worked on the translations solely for years. One of his friends speculates that if he were to return to his own poetry, he would not be able to not write about Fanny, and she would become just a word.
As the translation has progressed, Longfellow has formed a Dante Club, along with George Washington Greene, Oliver Wendell Holmes, James Russell Lowell, and their publisher, James Thomas Fields (also a poet). At meetings each Wednesday a canto of the piece is discussed, and the translation is perfected, and then dinner.
Holmes, as a professor of medicine at Harvard, is tangentially involved when the body of a murdered man is brought in. It is that of a chief justice, who was supposed to be away and therefore had not been missed for several days, and was at the last found naked under a blank white flag by a servant out in the house’s grounds – still, if her testimony was to be believed, alive, though barely. No, say all of the pathologists – impossible, for he was the one who was horrifyingly infested with flies and maggots and wasps – these only eat dead flesh, so therefore he must not have been alive.
Except he was.
The lives of the men of the Dante Club incorporate and move past this murder of a man of their set, but with whom none of them were particularly close. And then there comes word of a second death – this one of a minister, who was found in the crypt of his church, buried naked upside-down up to his waist … with his feet on fire.
Again Holmes is one of the first to see the body – and it strikes him in a horrible blow that this death, and in fact that first one, bear a very strong resemblance to punishments meted out in Dante’s Inferno. He flies back to his Dante Club to discuss this, and the first impulse is to take it to the police – but they are stopped by the fact that Longfellow’s translation is already meeting with opposition. It’s too Catholic a poem, it’s too graphic, it’s not fitting for a Protestant country or state or – most importantly – city or college. There are those who feel it their duty to fight Dante – along with other heretics like Darwin – tooth and nail. And any adverse publicity – such as “Dante inspired horrid murders” – would be the end of the project. This isn’t, to their credit, important because of the potential lost investment (though that’s never so far from Fields’s mind), but for Dante’s sake: they want him to be known. Shakespeare lets men know themselves; Dante lets men know each other.
At that point it becomes a four-way race – among the Dante Club; the police, who are a new body and not exactly Boston’s Finest at this point; Nicholas Rey, a mulatto police patrolman, the first black cop in Boston (at least), who is not exactly having an easy time of it among much the rest of the police force or the criminal element; and, of course, the killer, whose timeline seems to be connected to the Dante Club’s: the murders seem to be taking place just days before the cantos to which they pay tribute.
I knew little about any of the poets involved; Longfellow’s work, of course, is an old friend, but I knew nothing about the poet. I don’t think I knew Oliver Wendell Holmes was a poet; I have his Autocrat of the Breakfast Table on hand (though I have not yet read it), and honestly I think I thought he was a lawyer – which is a little ironic. I wasn’t at all familiar with Lowell, or with Fields, their publisher – and this was a fascinating look at poetry and publishing in 19th century Boston. I’ve said before that real persons’ appearances in fiction make me a little uneasy, but in truly well done historical fiction – when the people themselves are gone and hopefully their heirs are on board – isn’t objectionable. (Although there was one centering on Poe – oh, and P.T. Barnum, I believe? – which I did not enjoy at all … Can’t remember title or author.) In fact, I enjoyed this a great deal. I believed the author’s depictions of the characters, both real and fictional, and believed the weaving together of real and fictional. And the mystery was lurid and intriguing: I guessed the killer, but only by using the old “which named character in the cast could be the one” method; there was no way for the reader to deduce the killer’s identity logically, nor his motivation, not all of it, but this is never a great priority with me. Also, of course, the chapter which takes us inside his head was powerful – all else is forgiven after that.
This was a rich book, deeply enjoyable on many levels – biography, history – of Boston, of Harvard, of publishing; mystery, thriller, literary pastiche … It was dark chocolate: a bit decadent, but – anti-oxidants! Good for you!
The end result of a book like this, blending fact and imagination, is always that I want more – I want to know more about the real people involved, and I want to (in this case) read their poetry. I never knew Longfellow translated Dante, and I want it. (Also, I find, he translated Michelangelo – I want that too.) And does it need saying I want the rest of Matthew Pearl’s books – and that I hope he writes many more?
Along with everything else, I love the jacket of the book: an etching of Harvard University, dotted with droplets of blood …
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thousands of blowflies and their maggots – and then sit down to a dinner of said rice and scallops. Really. Don’t. Did I mention the maggots?(Spoilers follow regarding deaths, but not the killer…)
The book takes place in 1865 Boston. The Civil War is only months over – Abraham Lincoln is only months dead; the city is filled with returning soldiers in all conditions. And in the heart of the city, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow is translating Dante. There never has been an American edition of The Divine Comedy, and any British ones have been (for kind of obvious reasons) unavailable. The translation was something Longfellow worked on periodically – until his wife, Fanny, died in a terrible accident, and it became almost a therapy for him; he has worked on the translations solely for years. One of his friends speculates that if he were to return to his own poetry, he would not be able to not write about Fanny, and she would become just a word.
As the translation has progressed, Longfellow has formed a Dante Club, along with George Washington Greene, Oliver Wendell Holmes, James Russell Lowell, and their publisher, James Thomas Fields (also a poet). At meetings each Wednesday a canto of the piece is discussed, and the translation is perfected, and then dinner.
Holmes, as a professor of medicine at Harvard, is tangentially involved when the body of a murdered man is brought in. It is that of a chief justice, who was supposed to be away and therefore had not been missed for several days, and was at the last found naked under a blank white flag by a servant out in the house’s grounds – still, if her testimony was to be believed, alive, though barely. No, say all of the pathologists – impossible, for he was the one who was horrifyingly infested with flies and maggots and wasps – these only eat dead flesh, so therefore he must not have been alive.
Except he was.
The lives of the men of the Dante Club incorporate and move past this murder of a man of their set, but with whom none of them were particularly close. And then there comes word of a second death – this one of a minister, who was found in the crypt of his church, buried naked upside-down up to his waist … with his feet on fire.
Again Holmes is one of the first to see the body – and it strikes him in a horrible blow that this death, and in fact that first one, bear a very strong resemblance to punishments meted out in Dante’s Inferno. He flies back to his Dante Club to discuss this, and the first impulse is to take it to the police – but they are stopped by the fact that Longfellow’s translation is already meeting with opposition. It’s too Catholic a poem, it’s too graphic, it’s not fitting for a Protestant country or state or – most importantly – city or college. There are those who feel it their duty to fight Dante – along with other heretics like Darwin – tooth and nail. And any adverse publicity – such as “Dante inspired horrid murders” – would be the end of the project. This isn’t, to their credit, important because of the potential lost investment (though that’s never so far from Fields’s mind), but for Dante’s sake: they want him to be known. Shakespeare lets men know themselves; Dante lets men know each other.
At that point it becomes a four-way race – among the Dante Club; the police, who are a new body and not exactly Boston’s Finest at this point; Nicholas Rey, a mulatto police patrolman, the first black cop in Boston (at least), who is not exactly having an easy time of it among much the rest of the police force or the criminal element; and, of course, the killer, whose timeline seems to be connected to the Dante Club’s: the murders seem to be taking place just days before the cantos to which they pay tribute.
I knew little about any of the poets involved; Longfellow’s work, of course, is an old friend, but I knew nothing about the poet. I don’t think I knew Oliver Wendell Holmes was a poet; I have his Autocrat of the Breakfast Table on hand (though I have not yet read it), and honestly I think I thought he was a lawyer – which is a little ironic. I wasn’t at all familiar with Lowell, or with Fields, their publisher – and this was a fascinating look at poetry and publishing in 19th century Boston. I’ve said before that real persons’ appearances in fiction make me a little uneasy, but in truly well done historical fiction – when the people themselves are gone and hopefully their heirs are on board – isn’t objectionable. (Although there was one centering on Poe – oh, and P.T. Barnum, I believe? – which I did not enjoy at all … Can’t remember title or author.) In fact, I enjoyed this a great deal. I believed the author’s depictions of the characters, both real and fictional, and believed the weaving together of real and fictional. And the mystery was lurid and intriguing: I guessed the killer, but only by using the old “which named character in the cast could be the one” method; there was no way for the reader to deduce the killer’s identity logically, nor his motivation, not all of it, but this is never a great priority with me. Also, of course, the chapter which takes us inside his head was powerful – all else is forgiven after that.
This was a rich book, deeply enjoyable on many levels – biography, history – of Boston, of Harvard, of publishing; mystery, thriller, literary pastiche … It was dark chocolate: a bit decadent, but – anti-oxidants! Good for you!
The end result of a book like this, blending fact and imagination, is always that I want more – I want to know more about the real people involved, and I want to (in this case) read their poetry. I never knew Longfellow translated Dante, and I want it. (Also, I find, he translated Michelangelo – I want that too.) And does it need saying I want the rest of Matthew Pearl’s books – and that I hope he writes many more?
Along with everything else, I love the jacket of the book: an etching of Harvard University, dotted with droplets of blood …
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LibraryThing member teawithducks
This is a serial murder mystery in historical Boston where literary types (a small group of famous American writers and poets) translate and promote the translation of American/English-language editions of Dante's writings while battling the politics of a conservative Harvard review board. It is
The story is well written, entertaining, and grotesque in a strangely fascinating way. The prose is solid, with that sort of dated feel to it that suits the time period. The author doesn't shy away from race issues, including the troubles of a mullato policeman in as part of the subplot.
Two points-- neither of which I would consider negative, just some small things of note that I found interesting: the author occasionally has an interesting and odd turn of phrase, that's at times dramatic and other times sends my brain screaming in a fit of, "Did he really need to quite go there?" For example, rather than describing that a corpse is naked, he inserted a memorable phrase about, "Pillowy white buttocks." that became increasingly poetic. Having read so many murder mysteries, I have become used to a particularly sparse style of corpse description. Bodies are bodies and the people finding them tended to be jaded and deliberately understated. In the case of this book, even the police are not emotionally removed and the poetry resembled a sort of disgusted fascination -- of the sort one gets when the brain makes all sorts of inappropriate analogies when you least want it to, and your eyes can't tear itself away. It's very effective. I know that there were a number of scenes that certain was trapped in my brain...
The other involved the literary politics of the time. Dante was and is such an "old classic" book in my mind that I found it difficult at first to buy into the idea that there would be such an outcry against his works. Especially in a time period that was, in some ways, more brutal than today, and certainly enjoyed the idea of a very physical Hell in its religion.
Still, quite engaging, if almost, almost too descriptively violent for my tastes. Well written.
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written by a man who's taught at Harvard, lives in Boston and has worked on the editing of a modern edition of Dante-- so one can expect that the contents of the book can be, quite solid.The story is well written, entertaining, and grotesque in a strangely fascinating way. The prose is solid, with that sort of dated feel to it that suits the time period. The author doesn't shy away from race issues, including the troubles of a mullato policeman in as part of the subplot.
Two points-- neither of which I would consider negative, just some small things of note that I found interesting: the author occasionally has an interesting and odd turn of phrase, that's at times dramatic and other times sends my brain screaming in a fit of, "Did he really need to quite go there?" For example, rather than describing that a corpse is naked, he inserted a memorable phrase about, "Pillowy white buttocks." that became increasingly poetic. Having read so many murder mysteries, I have become used to a particularly sparse style of corpse description. Bodies are bodies and the people finding them tended to be jaded and deliberately understated. In the case of this book, even the police are not emotionally removed and the poetry resembled a sort of disgusted fascination -- of the sort one gets when the brain makes all sorts of inappropriate analogies when you least want it to, and your eyes can't tear itself away. It's very effective. I know that there were a number of scenes that certain was trapped in my brain...
The other involved the literary politics of the time. Dante was and is such an "old classic" book in my mind that I found it difficult at first to buy into the idea that there would be such an outcry against his works. Especially in a time period that was, in some ways, more brutal than today, and certainly enjoyed the idea of a very physical Hell in its religion.
Still, quite engaging, if almost, almost too descriptively violent for my tastes. Well written.
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LibraryThing member msbaba
The Dante Club by Matthew Pearl is an astonishing first novel. This book is set in Boston just after the close of the Civil War. It combines literary and social history with a fictional serial murder plot, so it an ambitious and unique mix of genres.
The story takes place in 1865. The famous poet,
I thoroughly loved this book. I was transfixed by its gorgeous and vivid reconstruction of mid-19th century Boston life, culture, customs, and language. I was delighted with the way the author was able to bring to life three giants of American literature. Finally, I was astonished with the depth, breadth, and scope of the work. It was obvious that Pearl had thoroughly researched his subject and had a great deal to convey to the reader. I found the book very educational. I learned a great deal including: the structure, theme, and significance of Dante’s Divine Comedy; the importance of poetry to all classes of people in the mid-19th-century America; the after-effects of the Civil War on a major northern city; the existence of rampant mid-19th-century class and racial conflicts; and the existence of internal political conflicts at what was then the Harvard Corporation concerning important issues of academic freedom, censorship, and freedom of the press, to name but a few.
Reading this book was a pure intellectual delight—a treat for the mind. I would not be honest if I did not note that the book does have some serious flaws, but overall, its brilliance outshines and overwhelms. Be forewarned: chief among the flaws is that the book is very difficult to get into. It took me many hours; I almost gave up, finding it all too gruesome and plodding. But finally, I was trapped—no, thoroughly enchanted, completely wrapped up in the suspense, and head-over-heels in love with the unequaled opportunity to become intimately acquainted with Longfellow, Holmes, and Lowell.
Don’t read this book if you are an avid mystery reader looking for another good historical who-done-it—you’ll probably be disappointed. Do read this book if you enjoy historical fiction with a thorough dose of thought-provoking intellectual fodder, especially if you have a fondness for the beauty of great 19th-century prose and dialogue.
The story takes place in 1865. The famous poet,
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Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, is in the process of making the first-ever American translation of Dante's Divine Comedy. He is aided in this endeavor by a group of close friends and fellow Dante scholars including Oliver Wendell Holmes and James Russell Lowell. As the scholars work together assisting Longfellow in refining his translation, a series of murders occur in the immediate area among people they know. Eventually, the scholars begin to realize that these murders appear to be copies of specific punishments taken directly from Dante’s Inferno. They realize that Dante’s work is barely known in America. If there is a murderer mimicking Dante, obviously they would all be targets of suspicion. At first shocked and frightened, the scholars eventually realize that they must aid in the investigation to help prevent the next gruesome crime. I thoroughly loved this book. I was transfixed by its gorgeous and vivid reconstruction of mid-19th century Boston life, culture, customs, and language. I was delighted with the way the author was able to bring to life three giants of American literature. Finally, I was astonished with the depth, breadth, and scope of the work. It was obvious that Pearl had thoroughly researched his subject and had a great deal to convey to the reader. I found the book very educational. I learned a great deal including: the structure, theme, and significance of Dante’s Divine Comedy; the importance of poetry to all classes of people in the mid-19th-century America; the after-effects of the Civil War on a major northern city; the existence of rampant mid-19th-century class and racial conflicts; and the existence of internal political conflicts at what was then the Harvard Corporation concerning important issues of academic freedom, censorship, and freedom of the press, to name but a few.
Reading this book was a pure intellectual delight—a treat for the mind. I would not be honest if I did not note that the book does have some serious flaws, but overall, its brilliance outshines and overwhelms. Be forewarned: chief among the flaws is that the book is very difficult to get into. It took me many hours; I almost gave up, finding it all too gruesome and plodding. But finally, I was trapped—no, thoroughly enchanted, completely wrapped up in the suspense, and head-over-heels in love with the unequaled opportunity to become intimately acquainted with Longfellow, Holmes, and Lowell.
Don’t read this book if you are an avid mystery reader looking for another good historical who-done-it—you’ll probably be disappointed. Do read this book if you enjoy historical fiction with a thorough dose of thought-provoking intellectual fodder, especially if you have a fondness for the beauty of great 19th-century prose and dialogue.
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LibraryThing member mrtall
The Dante Club is a clever book, based on a clever premise (19th-century Boston literary lights translate Dante and play sleuth when a killer starts inflicting punishments from the Inferno on local bigshots), and it's written by a clever young man. This book has been highly praised, but I think
More disturbingly, although I usually enjoy the borrow-a-sleuth-from-real-history murder mystery subgenre, I thought Matthew Pearl was in danger of prostituting his literary forefather and better -- not his reconstituted protagonists, i.e. Longfellow, Oliver Wendell Holmes and Robert Lowell, but rather Dante himself. Pearl seems unable to convey the real heft and power of Dante other than by having his characters assert constantly that Dante is hefty and powerful. Pearl's grasp of theology is weak; he seems desperately to want Dante's import to rest on the expression of his literary gifts and personality, not the real substance of his poems. Perhaps Pearl inserts one too many filters between Dante and us -- i.e. he might have written a better book with Dante himself as the main character!
Finally, on a related note, I found Pearl's treatment of his Boston Brahmins mildly hagiographic, and hence off-putting. When I had to read them in school and as an undergrad, I found them a pompous bunch, and I fear Pearl has done little to counter that impression here.
Having said all this, though, I will have a go at Pearl's next book, in which he takes up the much more inherently interesting character of Edgar Allen Poe.
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it's overrated. I found the pacing sluggish, and the ending quite lame. More disturbingly, although I usually enjoy the borrow-a-sleuth-from-real-history murder mystery subgenre, I thought Matthew Pearl was in danger of prostituting his literary forefather and better -- not his reconstituted protagonists, i.e. Longfellow, Oliver Wendell Holmes and Robert Lowell, but rather Dante himself. Pearl seems unable to convey the real heft and power of Dante other than by having his characters assert constantly that Dante is hefty and powerful. Pearl's grasp of theology is weak; he seems desperately to want Dante's import to rest on the expression of his literary gifts and personality, not the real substance of his poems. Perhaps Pearl inserts one too many filters between Dante and us -- i.e. he might have written a better book with Dante himself as the main character!
Finally, on a related note, I found Pearl's treatment of his Boston Brahmins mildly hagiographic, and hence off-putting. When I had to read them in school and as an undergrad, I found them a pompous bunch, and I fear Pearl has done little to counter that impression here.
Having said all this, though, I will have a go at Pearl's next book, in which he takes up the much more inherently interesting character of Edgar Allen Poe.
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LibraryThing member sweetiegherkin
On the heels of the Civil War's end, a number of grisly murders begin occurring near Boston. These murders are not only shocking in their cruelty but also because the victims are chief citizens of the town (a judge, a minister, etc.) -- not the usual targets of miscreants. At the same time, some of
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the greatest literary minds of New England are working on the first American translation of Dante's Divine Comedy. When the members of the Dante Club look closer at the murders, they realize that the murders are copycats of the punishments seen in Dante's hell. They realize that they are the only ones who can find the murderer, and a race against the clock begins as they try to stop the murderer from striking again. On the plus side, this book contains lively characters engaged in an intriguing and suspenseful plot. On the down side, the narrative is gruesome in detail at times and very jumpy, which is sometimes simply jarring, other times a bit difficult to follow, and a few times feels like important details were left out. However, as I mentioned above, the suspense will keep you turning the page, waiting to see what will happen next, and trying to figure out the mystery along with the Dante club. Show Less
LibraryThing member Othemts
This is a high concept mystery novel in which the great literary figures of Civil War era Boston attempting to translate Dante for an American audience are forced to solve the Dantean murders of high-profile Bostonians. A weakness of this book is how every character – good and evil – uniformly
“He told me that when a Boston man reaches the pearly gates, an angel comes out to warn him: ‘You won’t like it here, for it is not Boston.’” (p. 50)
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shares the author’s obsession for Dante. The book seems to be a bit worshipful of Longfellow, although that may be true to the times (as opposed to now when Longfellow may be recognized as a crappy poet). The other characters are very well developed, especially the black police officer Rey. Other than that the details are great capturing the time and the characters well (although I don’t know enough of the history of the time to accurately separate fact from fiction). Pearl builds up the suspense well and teaches a lot about Dante, Longfellow, Lowell, Holmes, Fields, Greene, and post Civil War Boston. I liked it a lot. “He told me that when a Boston man reaches the pearly gates, an angel comes out to warn him: ‘You won’t like it here, for it is not Boston.’” (p. 50)
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LibraryThing member samfsmith
I had high hopes for this novel, but ultimately it fell a little flat. I love historical fiction with real characters, and this one has literary figures Oliver Wendell Holmes, Longfellow, and others. The setting is Boston, and murders that copy punishments from Dante’s Inferno are occurring at
But I think the author has real problems with the omniscient narration. I am not an inexperienced reader, and I had difficulty following the thread of the narration at times, especially when exciting events were taking place. It is not always clear whose eyes we are viewing a scene through, or even what is actually happening.
It’s still an entertaining read though, and the literary allusions are very well done.
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the same time that Longfellow is translating the Inferno to English. The literary figures become reluctant detectives.But I think the author has real problems with the omniscient narration. I am not an inexperienced reader, and I had difficulty following the thread of the narration at times, especially when exciting events were taking place. It is not always clear whose eyes we are viewing a scene through, or even what is actually happening.
It’s still an entertaining read though, and the literary allusions are very well done.
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LibraryThing member michdubb
A rather silly book in which the members of a high society Dante Club in Boston try to solve a series of murdres in which the murderer is inspired by Dante's Inferno. An engaging start, if you accept the rather silly premise. Does seem to drag a bit near the end but is still amusing overall.
LibraryThing member Swampslogger
Book Review
Title: The Dante Club
Author: Matthew Pearl
The Dante Club it is an extremely captivating mystery story with an all-star cast of characters. The setting is Boston, principally Cambridge, in 1886, just after the Civil War. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow is in the process of translating Dante
Assisting Longfellow in his endeavor are his close friends, “the poets of Cambridge”, James Russell Lowell, Oliver Wendell Holmes, (“the Autocrat Of The Breakfast Table”), J. T. Fields. Other historical persons also participated.
The plot revolves around the epic poem The Inferno. Dante, with Virgil as his guide, visits the various precincts of Hell. Matthew Pearl, a first-time author, began his novel while in Yale Law School. He relates his interest in law to Dante’s treatise on crime and punishment.
I found myself comparing The Dante Club to Dan Brown’s Angels and Demons as they both involve a series of murders having a common theme. The “Club” members find themselves embroiled in attempting to solve the murders when they become aware that their work at translating Dante’s Italian poem is the template guiding the killer.
The murders in Boston did increase markedly after the Civil War however the novel’s murders are fictional. Otherwise the settings are historically accurate.
“The Dante Club” inspired a renewed interest In Dante’s work and although there were many English translations after Longfellow’s, his is still considered the best. It has recently been republished after being out of print for many years.
The book contains historical notes and an interview with the author, both of which are very interesting. I enjoyed the book immensely and highly recommend it.
Title: The Dante Club
Author: Matthew Pearl
The Dante Club it is an extremely captivating mystery story with an all-star cast of characters. The setting is Boston, principally Cambridge, in 1886, just after the Civil War. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow is in the process of translating Dante
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Aligheri’s - Inferno into English. An American version.Assisting Longfellow in his endeavor are his close friends, “the poets of Cambridge”, James Russell Lowell, Oliver Wendell Holmes, (“the Autocrat Of The Breakfast Table”), J. T. Fields. Other historical persons also participated.
The plot revolves around the epic poem The Inferno. Dante, with Virgil as his guide, visits the various precincts of Hell. Matthew Pearl, a first-time author, began his novel while in Yale Law School. He relates his interest in law to Dante’s treatise on crime and punishment.
I found myself comparing The Dante Club to Dan Brown’s Angels and Demons as they both involve a series of murders having a common theme. The “Club” members find themselves embroiled in attempting to solve the murders when they become aware that their work at translating Dante’s Italian poem is the template guiding the killer.
The murders in Boston did increase markedly after the Civil War however the novel’s murders are fictional. Otherwise the settings are historically accurate.
“The Dante Club” inspired a renewed interest In Dante’s work and although there were many English translations after Longfellow’s, his is still considered the best. It has recently been republished after being out of print for many years.
The book contains historical notes and an interview with the author, both of which are very interesting. I enjoyed the book immensely and highly recommend it.
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LibraryThing member Kellswitch
My reaction to this book is decidedly mixed. I enjoyed it well enough while reading it, but once I put it down I felt no real compulsion to pick it up again and had to remind myself to do so and when I got to the end...I really didn't care.
I feel the author did a good job making the historical
Overall not a horrible book, just a flat one and one that could have done so much more.
I feel the author did a good job making the historical
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figures he used as his main characters feel real and alive, and I loved how he evoked Boston of that era but the mystery itself felt like an afterthought, more an excuse to write a story using the authors than a true integral part of the story.Overall not a horrible book, just a flat one and one that could have done so much more.
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LibraryThing member ct.bergeron
Boston 1865. A serie of murders, all of them inspired by scenes in Dante's inferno. Only an elite group of America's first Dante scholars - Henry Longfellow, Oliver Wendell Holmes, James Russel Lowell, and J.T. Fields - can solve the mystery. With the police baffled, more, lives endangered, and
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Dantes literary futur at stake, the Dante Club must shed is sheltered litrary existence and find the killer. Show Less
LibraryThing member nbmars
The Dante Club purports to recreate the atmosphere of the immediate post-Civil War New England literary establishment. Further, it appears that there really was an immediate post-Civil War New England literary establishment, comprising [inter alia] Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Oliver Wendell Holmes
The plot is preposterous, but somewhat fun. Longfellow is leading an effort to translate The Divine Comedy for the 600th annivesary of Dante's birth, but the Harvard corporation opposes the effort because it would dilute the study of Greek and Latin and possibly influence the young students with Roman Catholic ideas!!
A series of grizly murders takes place in which the victims share some of the punishments meted out by Dante to some of the residents of the Inferno. The literati not only solve the mysteries by identifying the perpetrator, but also apprehend him. James Russell Lowell is the most physically fit of the geniuses, but little O.W.H, Sr. saves the day.
The writing is a little precious, but it mimics my impression of the diction of the Autocrat of the Breakfast Table [O.W.H.]. As a thriller, it doesn't have much to offer: the stilted speech of protagonists tends to dilute the inherent drama of the events described.
The book gives us a little flavor of the Inferno, which is by far the most interesting of the Comedie's Canticles. [Dante's Purgatorio is not that interesting and the Paradiso is boring enough to induce the reader to avoid salvation.]
The book is worth reading, but I was a bit disappointed because it was so favorably reviewed. [JAB]
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[pere, the poet-essayist-doctor--his son, the future Supreme Court jurist, is still in law school], James Russell Lowell, and Ralph Waldo Emerson. It seems that all early American intellectuals went by three names, e.g., Edgar Allen Poe.The plot is preposterous, but somewhat fun. Longfellow is leading an effort to translate The Divine Comedy for the 600th annivesary of Dante's birth, but the Harvard corporation opposes the effort because it would dilute the study of Greek and Latin and possibly influence the young students with Roman Catholic ideas!!
A series of grizly murders takes place in which the victims share some of the punishments meted out by Dante to some of the residents of the Inferno. The literati not only solve the mysteries by identifying the perpetrator, but also apprehend him. James Russell Lowell is the most physically fit of the geniuses, but little O.W.H, Sr. saves the day.
The writing is a little precious, but it mimics my impression of the diction of the Autocrat of the Breakfast Table [O.W.H.]. As a thriller, it doesn't have much to offer: the stilted speech of protagonists tends to dilute the inherent drama of the events described.
The book gives us a little flavor of the Inferno, which is by far the most interesting of the Comedie's Canticles. [Dante's Purgatorio is not that interesting and the Paradiso is boring enough to induce the reader to avoid salvation.]
The book is worth reading, but I was a bit disappointed because it was so favorably reviewed. [JAB]
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LibraryThing member BrianDewey
Pearl, Matthew. The Dante Club. Random House, New York, 2003. This book is a pale imitation of The Name of the Rose. Like Eco's novel, The Dante Club features a serial killer, a fabulously realistic depiction of a historical setting, and a passion for ideas. In the case of this book, the
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centerpiece is Dante, and Pearl has inspired me to tackle Dante again. However, whereas the murders in The Name of the Rose are just one way Eco shows that abstract ideas have real influence on concrete reality, in The Dante Club the murders just seem to show that Dante is interesting. Pearl really never really explores the philosophy behind Dante. That is where this book falls short. I appreciate it for allowing me to escape to post-Civil-War Boston and for inspiring me to read Dante, but this book falls far short of being the life-changing work that The Name of the Rose is. Show Less
LibraryThing member LisaMaria_C
This book sounded like it would appeal to me for several reasons. It's a mix of genres--historical fiction and mystery--like two favorite books of mine, The Alienist and The Name of the Rose. Like The Alienist, it incorporates real historical figures; like The Name of the Rose it involves
It took a while for me to be drawn into this novel--and in fact, in the first 40 pages I thought this might be one I left unfinished. Pearl writes using an omniscient narrative, switching points of view within scenes frequently and I find such "head hopping" disorienting unless its accompanied by a strong narrative voice. Also, Lowell and Holmes in the beginning struck me as unlikable pompous blowhards. Around page fifty though, when the Dante angle and actual investigations started to kick in, I began to get absorbed, and by page 100 I found this a page-turner--I was completely engrossed from there on end, and by the end felt affection even for Holmes. It probably helps I am a Dante fan--I count The Divine Comedy as among my favorite works, and enjoyed the various references and allusions, even insights. Even though I've read more than one annotated translation, for instance, it never hit me that Dante was--or at least might have been--modeling his hell on war. Nor did I have any idea it was once so controversial among American scholars and not well known by Americans before Longfellow's translation.
In the end I'd say I'd say I enjoyed this as much as The Alienist, although I don't consider it the equal of The Name of the Rose. Without getting into spoilers for either book, I found the way the themes of the book that inspired the murders, the motives of the murderer and climax of all the novel was brought off brilliantly in Eco's novel. In comparison I thought the resolution in The Dante Club is weaker in plot and theme--the motives too serial killer pot-boiler and less unified and inspired.
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connections to a great work of literature. In this novel, set right after the end of the American Civil War, Boston area "fireside poets" Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, James Lowell and Oliver Wendell Holmes and their publisher JT Fields are drawn to investigate a serial killer when they realize he's modeling his murders after the punishments in Dante's Inferno. It took a while for me to be drawn into this novel--and in fact, in the first 40 pages I thought this might be one I left unfinished. Pearl writes using an omniscient narrative, switching points of view within scenes frequently and I find such "head hopping" disorienting unless its accompanied by a strong narrative voice. Also, Lowell and Holmes in the beginning struck me as unlikable pompous blowhards. Around page fifty though, when the Dante angle and actual investigations started to kick in, I began to get absorbed, and by page 100 I found this a page-turner--I was completely engrossed from there on end, and by the end felt affection even for Holmes. It probably helps I am a Dante fan--I count The Divine Comedy as among my favorite works, and enjoyed the various references and allusions, even insights. Even though I've read more than one annotated translation, for instance, it never hit me that Dante was--or at least might have been--modeling his hell on war. Nor did I have any idea it was once so controversial among American scholars and not well known by Americans before Longfellow's translation.
In the end I'd say I'd say I enjoyed this as much as The Alienist, although I don't consider it the equal of The Name of the Rose. Without getting into spoilers for either book, I found the way the themes of the book that inspired the murders, the motives of the murderer and climax of all the novel was brought off brilliantly in Eco's novel. In comparison I thought the resolution in The Dante Club is weaker in plot and theme--the motives too serial killer pot-boiler and less unified and inspired.
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LibraryThing member Murphy-Jacobs
What could have been a good mystery spoiled by ... I'm not sure how to describe it. A lack of interest by the author in the climax and conclusion? Too much side detail? Inexplicable emotional frigidity of the point of view characters?
Not sure. Still, not happy with this one. It was rather like
Not sure. Still, not happy with this one. It was rather like
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anticipating a delicious dinner of good steak, fresh grilled asparagus, baked potato and a perfect salad -- with Dutch Apple Pie for dessert -- and getting one of those little cardboard boxes (you can use it as a bowl!) of Cheerios and a half pint of warm milk. Show Less
LibraryThing member marfita
At first I thought this book was over the top. Perhaps I should have considered myself warned by the glowing comments on the cover from Dan Brown, of all people. I stopped after 12 pages because of its gruesomeness and thought it too unrealistic ... starting at the preface. Then I picked Richard
It's a shame that this quartet of fascinating men is only accessible in a fictional setting that has fiendish murders in it. I rack my brain for some other genre to explore their relationship so I don't have to read about blowflies etc. Nope, nothin' in my noggin. It will have to be this. Along with the gruesome details and the lovely historical setting in a familiar locale (I lived in Boston and Cambridge for six years) there is humor. There is also a mulatto detective, Nicholas Rey, which for me starts pushing it over the top again - not because I don't believe in mulatto detectives in the 1860s, but because it was just Too Much. I would prefer a story about the Dante Club members or a mulatto detective, but to heap them together seemed excessive and gave short shrift to Rey.
As much as I loved the scene where a seemingly clean sword is taken out into the street and gnats congregate on it (oh! very clever!), however, it is winter in Boston (or at least Boston during a hard freeze, which could be any 8 month stretch). Not being a natural historian, I can't say for certain that gnats would not be up and about in freezing temperatures, but it just seemed wrong in the circumstances.
I'm also hard-pressed to separate the personalities of the club members. Holmes comes off as dithering, but I am unable to distinguish Lowell and Longfellow. This might be a personal failing on my own part. I don't even remember who held whom upsidedown in the grave, which was quite amusing.
In any case, at least we didn't have the murderer gloating and telling his/her (heh) life story, which annoys me in all mysteries. The author kindly explains it all in a chapter aside. I did not guess who dunnit, so that's all to the positive.
It is a fun read with intellectual overtones. I used to own Longfellow's translation of Dante (well, all but Paradiso during my misspent youth in foreign language acquisition, and this almost made me download the translation from Project Gutenberg to my Kindle and then I reminded my atheist self that I wasn't that interested. Well ... maybe I will. We'll see.
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Fortey's book (Dry Store Room #1) back up and in just two pages ran across the same blowfly. As I had to accept that there was such a creature, despite the ridiculousness of the preface, I rationalized that I would have to continue with Pearl's novel. Fortunately, that initial session of gruesomeness was over and we were able to meet the "detectives."It's a shame that this quartet of fascinating men is only accessible in a fictional setting that has fiendish murders in it. I rack my brain for some other genre to explore their relationship so I don't have to read about blowflies etc. Nope, nothin' in my noggin. It will have to be this. Along with the gruesome details and the lovely historical setting in a familiar locale (I lived in Boston and Cambridge for six years) there is humor. There is also a mulatto detective, Nicholas Rey, which for me starts pushing it over the top again - not because I don't believe in mulatto detectives in the 1860s, but because it was just Too Much. I would prefer a story about the Dante Club members or a mulatto detective, but to heap them together seemed excessive and gave short shrift to Rey.
As much as I loved the scene where a seemingly clean sword is taken out into the street and gnats congregate on it (oh! very clever!), however, it is winter in Boston (or at least Boston during a hard freeze, which could be any 8 month stretch). Not being a natural historian, I can't say for certain that gnats would not be up and about in freezing temperatures, but it just seemed wrong in the circumstances.
I'm also hard-pressed to separate the personalities of the club members. Holmes comes off as dithering, but I am unable to distinguish Lowell and Longfellow. This might be a personal failing on my own part. I don't even remember who held whom upsidedown in the grave, which was quite amusing.
In any case, at least we didn't have the murderer gloating and telling his/her (heh) life story, which annoys me in all mysteries. The author kindly explains it all in a chapter aside. I did not guess who dunnit, so that's all to the positive.
It is a fun read with intellectual overtones. I used to own Longfellow's translation of Dante (well, all but Paradiso during my misspent youth in foreign language acquisition, and this almost made me download the translation from Project Gutenberg to my Kindle and then I reminded my atheist self that I wasn't that interested. Well ... maybe I will. We'll see.
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LibraryThing member MusicMom41
This was an immensely satisfying, if at times gruesome, read. Pearl gives us a good look at historical Boston, Harvard, and some great literary figures of the day while also providing a mystery that also gives a fair “romp” through Dante’s Inferno. The Dante Club, centered on Longfellow when
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he was translating Dante as a way to cope with his wife’s death, was a fact and Oliver Wendell Holmes, James Russell Lowell, and J.T. Fields, the publisher, were members of the club that met every Wednesday night to discuss the translation. The murders are fictional but the author says, “…they reflect a very real, new sense of violence that had to be confronted at all levels of American Culture [immediately following the Civil War, which is when the novel is set]. Nicholas Rey, as the first Afro-American policeman in Boston, is also fictional, but Pearl states that Rey’s situation comes from Pearl’s research into the historical circumstances of non-white police in the 19th century. This is a wonderful historical novel and may become a “classic.” Therefore, I listed it in “fiction” rather than “mysteries.” Show Less
LibraryThing member Lauren2013
An intelligent mix of history and mystery. The plot is imaginative yet plausible and the clues to the identity of the killer are deftly woven into the storyline. Dante's work and the real life characters are grounded in fact and treated with respect. This is a truly excellent read.
LibraryThing member Larkken
This novel follows the introduction of Dante's Divine Comedy to Americans in the late 19th century. Woven into the story is an account of the prejudices of academia, and the possible corrupting influence of low-brow literature, and of which Dante's novels are suspect. As a small number of poets,
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members of elite Bostonian society, put the finishing touches on their translation of Dante's work, a series of disturbing murders are enacted in Boston. Pearl's writing is deliberately archaicized to evoke the era, and this juxtaposes queerly with the gruesome descriptions of the crime scenes. The book itself is also a trifle hard to read, thanks to the language stylization, however well-done it is, and I find myself stagnating in the reading of it, though I was excited to try it in the first place. Show Less
LibraryThing member PirateJenny
or some reason, it took me simply forever to get through the first half of this book. After that, though, I burned through it. Murders based on Dante's Divine Comedy. An interesting idea, and a pretty gruesome one at that. Just goes to show you that inventive means of hurting someone isn't at all
I have to say, I had a lot of ideas about who the killer was, but I never had the right one. I kicked myself in the butt for that. I *should* have figured it out. But then, the author went out of his way to make us NOT suspect him, and since it wasn't done at all heavy handedly, bells didn't start ringing in my head to see the killer as a suspect at all. Enjoyable, if you like American poets, gory mysteries, and/or Dante.
I'm also impressed that this book managed to bring Longfellow's translation of Dante back into print after forty years.
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new to us, as some people would want us to believe. (I usually point out various means of torture throughout the Middle Ages when someone tries that argument with me.)I have to say, I had a lot of ideas about who the killer was, but I never had the right one. I kicked myself in the butt for that. I *should* have figured it out. But then, the author went out of his way to make us NOT suspect him, and since it wasn't done at all heavy handedly, bells didn't start ringing in my head to see the killer as a suspect at all. Enjoyable, if you like American poets, gory mysteries, and/or Dante.
I'm also impressed that this book managed to bring Longfellow's translation of Dante back into print after forty years.
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LibraryThing member Clara53
Exalting and uplifting, as well as depressing and gruesome at the same time...
LibraryThing member BruceAir
This whodunit features a cast of real characters from the American literary world of the 19th century. A series of murders, each linked to a passage from the Inferno, has Boston in an uproar, and the poets and scholars who are preparing the first American translation of Dante's classic compete with
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a Boston cop to find the killer. A delightful read. Show Less
Awards
Crime Writers' Association Awards (Shortlist — 2004)
International Horror Guild Award (Nominee — First Novel — 2003)