First Things First…
The last Poe story I reviewed, “Bon-Bon,” was pretty good, and definitely my favorite so far as I review my way through his catalog. Now I’m about to read another story I know nothing about. In fact, it has a bizarre subtitle, “The Homo-Cameleopard.” Beats me what it’s about, but here’s hoping these beasts are worthwhile.
1 Thing I Like
1. Domesticated Animals Revolt
“Terrible, if you please; but not in the least degree dangerous. Each animal, if you will take the pains to observe, is following, very quietly, in the wake of its master. Some few, to be sure, are led with a rope about the neck, but these are chiefly the lesser or timid species. The lion, the tiger, and the leopard are entirely without restraint.”
Narrator
Talk about “fuck around and find out” …
If you’re gonna leave a lion, tiger, and leopard loose to walk around the city, believing you’ve domesticated them, it’s on you when their inevitable rampage begins.
Even this aspect of the story could’ve been done so much better, but I at least like the idea of these “domesticated” wild animals revolting against Antiochus Epiphanes because they’re either scared or disgusted by his Cameleopard costume. But it would be better if we got more than just him running away from the animals.
0 Things I’m Mixed On
3 Things I Don’t Like
3. When Is This Happening?
Only four paragraphs into the story, I was already confused about what I was reading, and then this explains the timeline…
“You will remember that it is now the year of the world three thousand eight hundred and thirty. Were it later — for example, were it the year of our Lord eighteen hundred and forty-five, we should be deprived of this extraordinary spectacle. In the nineteenth century Antioch is — that is to say, Antioch will be — in a lamentable state of decay. It will have been, by that time, totally destroyed, at three different periods, by three successive earthquakes.”
Umm… doesn’t “three thousand eight hundred and thirty” look like 3830? And wouldn’t that be waaaaaay in the future? But it’s clearly meant to be in the past, because it says the nineteenth century is much later.
C’mon, Poe… with all the confusion and convolution your writing causes, did you really have to write the year in such a confusing way, too?
2. What Is the Cameleopard?
The madman king is dressed in an animal hide, or hides, after most likely massacring a bunch of people. But it’s still not clear exactly what has happened, or what he looks like.
This could’ve been very cool if it went into detail about how grotesque this costume is, and his behavior within. Poe could’ve made this wild.
Instead, no sooner do we hear about him wearing this weird costume, and we find out the king has to hightail it out of there because the animals have turned on him.
1. Don’t Care About the King
We’re told all this stuff secondhand about the king being a madman and slaughtering people. But he doesn’t have any dialogue. We don’t witness any of his deplorable acts. We’re just told about his horrific background and reputation… then that he’s dressed as the Cameleopard… and then that he has to run away. The king could be a compelling, memorable character. But he’s presented in the least interesting way possible.
Tim Matassa
