The modern gothic novel Ashes by David Edgar Grinnell was published by Curious Corvid Publishing on November 12, 2021. It is a gothic story about a young woman named Alice Reaper who suffers from the loss and grief of the life she once knew. Grief is never linear, it is painful, and to grow from such a thing is long and draining. Ashes is Roman à clef; a novel about real-life events that is overlaid with a facade of fiction. It is Alice who says, "Books are the souls of the people who wrote them and the hearts of the people who read them" (Grinnell 21). The book Ashes itself is the very soul of author behind the pen.
Alice Reaper: Literary Influences & Emphasis on Character Development
Alice is very solitary, an only child, confides in the comfort of academic study in English, and her Gothic literature books. Notice in the Prologue she says, “Though authors like Edgar Allan Poe, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Emily Dickinson always keep me in good company” (Grinnell 2). This line sets up the entire tone of the novel especially with the pretexts. Each pretext illustrates quotes by these authors that “keep Alice in good company.” The quotes themselves emphasize insight to the themes about what the chapter entails, key ideas, and main plots within each chapter of the book. Mary Shelley is included as one of these authors because of how essential Frankenstein is and was to Alice’s mother Lillian Reaper. These authors not only keep Alice company but they keep readers company too as a way to stay in Alice’s world because it’s her story even though the novel has a meta-narration. How does each author relate to Alice? Some of my insights may entice curious audiences.
Edgar Allan Poe
I cannot express enough how essential Poe’s work is to Alice as a character! Poe is very similar to Alice in quite a few ways. There are a few of Poe’s work that Alice latches onto herself as a part of her identity as a character. Edgar Allan Poe Complete Tales and Poems is a collection of all of Poe’s work which was the last gift that Alice’s father gave to her on her birthday before he died. Alice’s birthday is also the day her mother died, and 2017 on her birthday, was when she received the Poe book from he father, the same day which he died, and all she knew withered into ashes. She recites major works of literature not only from Poe but others as well. Viviana asks Alice to recite one of Poe’s poems when they first meet, but Alice cannot decide which poem to choose because there are three poems that speak to her the most. She recites these three poems throughout the novel. One of the important ones is the one she recites at the bonfire and she says, “I couldn’t decide which poem as there were at least three… Which of these three spoke to me the most? If I had to recite one of his poems [Poe] to define me, which would it be?” (Grinnell 59-60). The three poems she says to the reader but does not identify are: Annabel Lee, Alone, and Spirits of the Dead. She recites these three poems by Poe throughout the course of the novel. She also recites parts of The Raven with Ionel which when they meet, they recite the first few lines and by the end of the novel, when they last see each other, they end reciting the last few lines of The Raven’s first stanza. Ionel mentions Poe’s detective when he first meets Alice and asks her to deduct what ethnicity he is: “What is your deduction Dupin?” (Grinnell 13). Auguste Dupin is a fictional character created by Poe. Dupin made his first appearance in Poe’s 1841 short story “The Murders in the Rue Morgue,” widely considered as the first detective fiction. Dupin was created before Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes which Poe established elements of the detective genre and Doyle was influenced by Poe’s detective. Also, Alice reads Poe’s “The Fall of the House of Usher,” which in itself has layers of metaphorical and symbolic meaning in the novel. For example, Viviana after the tarot card reading says the following about Poe’s House of Usher:
Ok, you’ve read ‘The Fall of the House of Usher,’ Yes?’ I nod at her question. ‘Ok, remember when the narrator flees the estate? He looks back to see the moon shining through a large fissure in the house. The crack widens and it splits in two, causing it to collapse and sink into the adjacent lake. Well, elements of this story at play. For instance, I feel you are going through so much; I feel this darkness from you. An energy but it is something beautiful. You have suffered from illnesses and deaths to sudden storms just like the collapse of the mansion associated from Poe’s Story (Grinnell 92).
Even though Viviana refers Poe’s story about transformation and foundation of a relationship which plays an essential role in the novel, The Fall of the House of Usher also mirrors Alice’s old Virginia home. The fire which burns all she knew is like the collapse of Poe’s mansion. The large crack and fissure in the house from Poe’s story reflects Alice’s past life. She has suffered illnesses and death with her family which includes her mother, father’s illness, and her dog Viktor’s death. Ironically, Poe’s story also reflects my own personal experience with my parents’ illness and death. Along with my dog who died the same year as my parents. I felt death every day surrounding me and my own home fissured apart like Poe’s mansion.
As I mentioned before, there are similarities between Alice and Poe. One of the ways is how Poe and Alice are reflected in the poem, “Alone.” Poe’s poem is autobiographical in a sense because it illustrates the speaker’s lifelong feelings of loneliness, isolation, and difference. His intense imaginative life, he writes, is a curse, forever setting him apart from other people. But it’s also a blessing; the source of his visionary power. This reflects Poe in dealing with such lifelong loneliness and isolation. Alice, too, relates to these feelings being an only child and being in what she calls about her old home: “A drafty, cold Victorian house in the middle of the countryside was nothing but solitude, peaceful but secluded, a place which hid and fueled the darkness in my mind” (Grinnell 39). Like Poe and Alice, I too am like this dealing with a lifelong loneliness, isolation, and difference. I am an only child and I have always been alone. Also, Poe has had issues and a lifetime struggle with alcoholism. My mother’s side of the family had such a history. My uncle, whom I was named after, died from alcoholism and my own mother almost died from it. Even though I don’t have experience with alcoholism like Poe did, just seeing it first hand through my mother when she was alive fueled that darkness which I am sure Poe felt with his disease.
Nathaniel Hawthorne
One key thing to keep in my mind about Hawthorne’s relation in this novel are his themes about light and darkness which is vast in several of his works. In regards to Alice though, I would like to point to Hawthorne’s novel, The House of the Seven Gables. It is very similar to Poe’s The Fall of the House of Usher. I recommend reading the history on the House of the Seven Gables, a real mansion in Salem, Massachusetts. In regards to Alice and her character I would like to highlight Hawthorne’s character Alice Pyncheon. Now, I have not read The House of the Seven Gables until my graduate spring semester of 2020 but knowing about Hawthorne’s Alice may prove helpful especially with the themes of Poe’s Usher and Hawthorne’s Gables. Hawthorne’s novel is an intricate read especially with its themes on the Gothic and Witchcraft. So briefly about Hawthorne’s Alice:
Gervayse Pyncheon is the grandson of Colonel Pyncheon. He doesn't love the House of the Seven Gables, but he returns from Europe to take possession of it because it's his. He is a proud, greedy man rather like his grandfather. Gervayse is desperate to find the lost deed to Colonel Pyncheon's lands in Maine. He is so desperate, in fact, that he orders Matthew Maule's grandson Matthew (whom we call Matthew Maule II for clarity's sake) to come to the House of the Seven Gables. He offers this man money to show the way to the hidden deed.
Matthew Maule II wants to teach Gervayse a lesson. He also thinks Alice is stuck-up and wants to bring her down a notch. (Little does Matthew Maule II know that, when Alice first walks into her father's study and finds him standing there, she thinks he's a hottie (13.52).) So Matthew Maule II agrees to show Gervayse the hidden deed on one condition: he wants the House of the Seven Gables. Gervayse agrees – after all, lots and lots of land is worth more than one moldy house. Matthew Maule II adds another condition: he is going to need Alice Pyncheon's help.
Gervayse II has a moment's hesitation about using Alice to find the hidden deed, but he gets over it. He really wants that land. So he turns his back and lets Maule hypnotize Alice. Maule exclaims: "She is mine! [...] Mine by right of the strongest spirit!" (13.84). He asks his ancestors where the deed is, but the spirit of his grandfather prevents Alice from saying anything, so Gervayse doesn't get anything out of this whole disaster.
After putting Alice Pyncheon under hypnosis, Matthew Maule II can make her do anything he wants – laugh during funerals, cry during church, anything that amuses him. He so humiliates Alice that she wanders out into the cold and catches a fever that kills her. Maule attends her funeral in a fury: he is angry because he "meant to humble Alice, not to kill her" (13.84).
Obviously, Hawthorne’s Alice’s ending is sad but the hypnosis and trance of Alice Pyncheon’s state may proved useful in drawing inspiration to my Alice’s unreliability in narration, the feeling of how her dreams, memories with family, and nightmares affect her.
Emily Dickinson
The important quality to highlight about Dickinson and Alice is how Dickinson lived much of her life in isolation. Dickinson was conserved as an eccentric by locals, she developed a penchant for white clothing and was known for reluctance to greet guests or, later in life, to even leave her bedroom. Dickinson never married, and most friendships between her and others depended entirely upon correspondence. Many of Dickinson’s poems deal with themes of death and immortality, two recurring topics in letters to her friends, and also explore aesthetics, society, nature and spirituality. Alice recites only one of Dickinson’s poem which is called, “The Loneliness One dare not Sound,” a poem that illustrates Alice's loneliness.
Mary Shelley
“Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley is the mother of science fiction, breaking ground with her gothic novel Frankenstein otherwise known as The Modern Prometheus. Shelley is considered to be a major Romantic figure, significant for her literary achievement and her political voice as a woman and a liberal. Shelley’s personal life was fraught with grief and loss. Her mother died shortly after her birth and was raised by her father. Her affair with Percy Shelley who was currently married resulted with pregnancy and then miscarriage. After their marriage they settled in Italy in 1818. Shelley suffered several more miscarriages before having her one and only living son, Percy Florence Shelley. In 1822, Shelley’s husband drowned after his sailboat sank in a storm. A year after, Shelley returned to England and focused on her professional writing career and raising her son before she passed away at age 53” (CCP. Ravven IG).
After Percy Shelley passed away, there is a thing about his heart. Alice in Ashes mentions in her journal about what happens to Percy Shelley’s heart (Grinnell 334). Here is briefly about Shelley’s heart: “Percy Bysshe Shelley was just twenty-nine when he drowned after his boat, Don Juan, was caught in a storm on July 8, 1822. Shelley's body and those of his two sailing companions were found 10 days later, identifiable only by their clothing. Shelley had stashed a book of John Keats poems in his pocket.
The poet was cremated, but for some reason, his heart refused to burn. Modern-day physicians believe it may have calcified due to an earlier bout with tuberculosis. Though Percy’s friend, Leigh Hunt, originally claimed the heart—he was there for the funeral pyre-style cremation and felt he had a right to keep the unscathed organ—it was eventually turned over to Mary.
Instead of burying it with the rest of his remains in the Protestant Cemetery in Rome, Mary kept the heart in a silken shroud, and is said to have carried it with her nearly everywhere for years. In 1852, a year after she died, Percy’s heart was found in her desk. It was wrapped in the pages of one of his last poems, Adonais. The heart was eventually buried in the family vault with their son, Percy Florence Shelley, when he died in 1889.” This story is significant because its themes on death and ashes. Viviana has TB from the result of her complications with Lupus and she writes romantically to Alice in a copy of Frankenstein: “I’ll be your Shelley’s heart” (Grinnell 334). Also, Viviana says, “‘I will; till ashes fade away.’” Alice signifies this as, “I chuckle under my breath knowing she would love me till the end” (Grinnell 361). This hints to how Shelley’s heart refused to burn amongst the cremation and ashes.
Alice Reaper: Music Influences & Emphasis on her Character Development
Alice’s character is very complex! So, this section will delve into her character development from me as the writer based on music. Music that is mentioned in the novel such as Alice's taste in music or Viviana's favorites is music that inspires her creation. For instance, Alice in Chains is mentioned in the novel: (115-117). There are two mentions of Alice in Chains’ song, “Angry Chair.” (Grinnell 49). The lyrics to the song highlights the gothic in the novel and Alice herself .
Alice in Chains’ biography, their dark themes, and the suicide of Layne Stanley are essential to the novel too. Such dark themes like suicide are highlighted in the novel. Stanley’s voice, how tormented it is influenced me in writing and setting the grim mood of the novel. Even watching Alice in Chains’ Unplugged concert on Youtube helped strengthen the grimness of the work. The background and the stage set up was very dark and gothic, also how frail Stanley was and how his voice bellowed in an intimate setting inspired Alice's character. Key songs as an example from the unplugged concert are: “Nutshell, Down in a Hole, and Angry Chair.” The lyrics in these songs have vibes and emotions of Alice’s feelings on depression, isolation, struggles with her darkness, and inner-demons. AIC’s album Dirt and its front cover image also influences Alice's character. Here are some biographical quotes about the band that is insightful:
"This band went through several lineup changes culminating with Nick Pollock as their sole guitarist and Bacolas switching to bass before discussions arose about changing their name to Alice in Chains. This was prompted by a conversation that Bacolas had with Russ Klatt, the lead singer of Slaughter Haus 5, about backstage passes. One of the passes said "Welcome to Wonderland", and they started talking about that being a reference to Alice in Wonderland, until Klatt said, ‘What about Alice in Chains? Put her in bondage and stuff like that.’ Bacolas thought the name ‘Alice in Chains’ was cool and brought it up to his Sleze bandmates and everyone liked it, so they decided to change the name of the band. Due to concerns over the reference to female bondage, the group ultimately chose to spell it differently as Alice N' Chains to allay any parental concerns, though Staley's mother Nancy McCallum has said she was still not happy with this name at first.”
I think it is interesting how the band’s name Alice in Chains was inspired by Alice in Wonderland. Alice’s name from Ashes was inspired by Alice in Wonderland as well especially how her nightmares and dreams are. Also, the idea of female bondage is grim, dark, and terrifying especially how in the novel Alice says she, “felt like an Alice in chains” which possibly mirrors her nightmare about the Pink Pentagram and the hands (27-29). That dream by the way was a true dream I had one night over at a friend’s house. I saw a dark figure in the corner too which the street lights illuminated. I was terrified so much that it woke up my ex-girlfriend and she was concerned and I told her about my dream. Her eyes gripped wide with terror as I told her this dream. So, I couldn’t resist putting it in the novel. A lot of the dreams and nightmares Alice has in the novel are real dreams that I’ve had and the prologue dream is a nightmare that my mother told me about that she had.
There are two other bands that are a major influence on Alice. One of them is The Civil Wars. This band was introduced to Alice during her high school years with Camila and the female singer Joy Williams is one of Camila’s favorite singers. I like how this group was a part of Alice’s past life in Virginia because that Americana southern style is heard in The Civil Wars as well. Yet, the duo is very somber as well with their harmonies. The group’s song, “Dance Me to the End of Love” reflects Viviana and Alice at the very end (Grinnell 361).
Lastly, with music, is Amy Lee from her band Evanescence. Amy Lee is Alice’s favorite female singer (Grinnell 48 & 329-330). She even has an old black t-shirt of Evanescence’s album The Open Door (329-30.) There are also two songs from Lost Whispers album. There are two piano ballads that are very haunting and just set the mood about Alice which are: “Even in Death” and “Breathe No More.” The lyrics to those two piano ballads depicts hints of a deeply troubled Alice. For example, Alice mentions "Fire, ashes, and shards" a lot and I didn’t even know this until I finished writing the novel that these songs have themes of shards and death. Especially, “Breathe No More” is a song I believe Alice would deeply connect with on an intimate level with her past history on shards, staring into mirrors, her self-image, how she views herself, her dying slowly into a deathlike sleep when her VA home was in flames, and the love of her father. Probably even more if one deeply analyzes the song’s lyrics.
"A drafty, cold Victorian house in the middle of the countryside was nothing but solitude, peaceful but secluded, a place which hid and filed the darkness in my mind." - David Edgar Grinnell, Ashes
Alice Reaper & the tarot card Death
There is a moment in the book where Viviana gives Alice a tarot card reading. I did not realize this until after writing the novel but I looked up Alice's tarot card. Everyone has their own Tarot card based upon the date of their birthday. I laughed because Alice's tarot card is Death and her last name of course is Reaper, which this coincidence was unintentional on my part, but it's cool! The tarot decks which I have are also the decks that Viviana has such as the Edgar Allan Poe Tarot and The Tarot of Vampyres. Below are the interpretations of Death by these tarot decks:
Edgar Allan Poe Tarot description on Death both Tell-Tale Heart and Maelstrom interpretations:
“In [Edgar Allan Poe's] "The Oval Portrait," a portrait painter, bewitched by his wife's beauty, must capture it on canvas. The painter is so obsessed with painting her portrait that he ignores everything else. She sits motionless for weeks. At least, her health begins to fail. Her husband is oblivious. He finishes the painting and regards his work happily, exclaiming that ‘This is indeed Life itself!’ A moment later he realizes that his wife is dead. All that remains is her life-like painting. The woman lives on in her portrait; like Death, she is a symbol of invincibility. The picture frame with a skull symbolizes death, but the ivy-covered edges suggest that life continues after change and transformation. Get ready for revolution. You have crossed a major threshold after a period of reflection and soul-searching. Change is inevitable now, so you must embrace this time of intense restructuring. Karmic pathways and portals are open now. If you resist change, you'll repeat negative karmic patterns later on.”
The image above is Death from The Tarot of Vampyres by Ian Daniels. Here's what Daniels writes about Death:
"The Death card is seldom an indication of physical death, but rather a logical development of existing condition. It is really no more a symbol of physical death than any other Major Arcana card, as the essences in the cards can appear in any situation. For example, the passing of a loved one could just as readily be expressed by the Sun (as happy memories) or Temperance (as dissolution and reunification); indeed, the feeling experienced from the loss could be represented in each of the cards. The Death card relates to conclusions and transformation. It can point towards an important ending to something that initiates great change. It can enote the completion of a cycle, the ending of an era or chapter in our lives, a time when one door is closing in order for another to open. Changes can be very painful for us if we focus all our emotions on what has been lost rather than realizing that things need to end in order for new things to begin. This can include the ending of a happy experience, such as a holiday or time spent with friends and family, or a sad experience, such as the loss of a job or relationship or the passing of a loved one. [...]
The vampire myth is deeply interwoven with the concepts of death and reawakening. The image presented here is a vampire in a deep deathly slumber, her body in a state of hibernation and trance-like coma. Her body is dead, but deep within her, black blood stirs and ferments. Her silent soul is in a process of putrefaction, descending into the Underworld. Just as a moth metamorphosizes within its cocoon of death, so she is transforming. Her essence of putrefaction seeps into the surrounding roses, sucking out their color. From the opposite viewpoint she is sucking in the energy of the blooms to regenerate herself. The old blood seeps from her eyes, forced out by the fresh blood of her last victim transfusing within her. Her black heart jewel is a symbol of love and death--the nature of love as an act of death to self. The serpent represents the rhythm of decay and becoming as it slithers from the tomb (death) to taste the scent of the roses (birth). The card is ruled by Scorpio, the equilibrium of the water signs. The life-preserving power of water is also a symbol of immortality, as is the serpent through its shedding of old skins. [...] Scorpio is the astrological sign of the Death card and represents water (the emotions) at its most balanced. As with all zodical Major Arcana cards, it is demonstrated by the three Minors cards that it rules over. These are the Five of Grails (disappointment) the Six of Grails (pleasure), and the Seven of Grails (sensual extremes, dissipation, and intoxication). When we balance disappointment and dissipation, a transformation into deep pleasure (the Six of Grails) is the result, creating a transformation into new hopes and inner joy.
The vampyress wears a crown with black horns. In many myths the thorn is a symbol of enchanted sleep, intoxication, and death, as depicted in various fairy tales by the pricking with a needle and sleeping for one hundred years. The blackthorn tree is also related to a sharp, penetrating type of healing; a sharp clarity, like antiseptic; and the sharp scent of pine needles. The Death card is about healing too, by putting to death old ways to make room for vitality. Death is not an eternal end but a transition into a new condition or development."
The Vampyre description provided depicts another character layer for Alice. Alice's birthday is November 1st! She is a Scorpio! Funny enough, what she is going through is relatable to the description of Death provided. In fact, in Chapter 10, she has a nightmare about her childhood windmill where towards the end she crawls through a dark tunnel and glares into her reflection at a body of water. She sees blood drip from her face (which is related to how the Death card from the Vampyre deck illustrates itself with its image and description about blood). In the nightmare she says, "I stop at the body of water and stare at my reflection. Blood streams down upon my face and drips from my hair. I wipe the blood from my face, 'This isn't my blood?' I cry" (Grinnell 125). It makes me think about Death from the Vampyre deck and what it reads about blood from the card. Also Alice says, "A beautiful young woman with long jet-black hair, eloquent pale skin, and soft ruby lips. She wore a dark purple dress with short sleeves that expose her arms. A deathlike sleep. I am mesmerized by her apparent beauty. I lean closer in a trance. All the pain Ifeel is numb to me. I reach out to her... My hand barely touches the fluid surface. The woman's icy green eyes open; I jolt, her eyes fixate upon mine; I fall in..." (Grinnell 125-126). Alice shares the same mere image of her mother whom she sees in the body of water and she falls in a trance. This is sort of vampiric in a way with how Alice stares into her mother's "icy green eyes." Considering she falls into a body of water, it unintentionally highlights what the Death card says, "Scorpio [Alice's sign] is the astrological sign of the Death card and represents water (the emotions) at its most balanced." Death is transformation which is a major theme in Ashes, its reflection in mental health, and trauma.
Ashes & the Gothic
The novel is very gothic by nature as it's layered with references to 19th century gothic literature and even the music referenced in popular culture also hyphens the book's gothic persona, however, Ashes depicts gothic elements in its own unique shifts to the genre. For instance, Stephanie Kemler, author of Bloodborn emphasizes, "To me, the most surprising element is the sincere and tender relationship between Alice and her friend and romantic interest Viviana. While female sexual relationships are often present in Gothic literature, there’s a kind of gentle treatment here absent any kind of lurid fetishization. That’s an important shift. I’m impressed by the authenticity of it and the subtle ways Alice handles sexuality, waning affection and confusion over an ex, and waxing interest in Viviana. It is subtly and sensitively done." Indeed, in academia about the gothic, queer, and gender theories, there are swarths of criticisms that delve into the relationship between the gothic and sexuality, however, what makes Ashes unique as a gothic novel is its treatment of these elements.
Gothic works such as Carmillia is an example where the title character is a lesbian vampire, expressing romantic desires toward the protagonist. The internal narrator and protagonist, Laura, presents an initially friendly connection between herself and the Carmilla that slowly develops into Carmillia's passionate love for Laura, and the strong attraction mixed with repulsion that Laura feels in return. This relationship becomes increasingly strange because of Camilla's attempt to convert Laura into a lesbian vampire. Carmilla frequently questions the distinction between love and lust, and condemns the failure to tell the difference between the two. Love is a powerful emotion throughout, however, it is lust that often proves most dangerous and all consuming, and therefore destructive.
In correlation to Ashes, it felt organic to have a relationship between Alice and Viviana. There is a passionate attraction between the two, and I wanted to sensitively develop a romantic relationship that is not mixed with repulsion and not lustfully destructive. Alice's first love was Camila Hayes, "She had been my childhood friend since I could remember. We were inseparable, until she had developed unique spiritual views" (15-16). Throughout the course of the novel, Alice talks about her romantic history with Camila. Alice mentions that she met Camila at a playground and [Alice] she explicitly says that she and Camila made love and did many things together. Purposely, Camila and Carmilla have similar letters in their names. Camila is also based off of someone I dated years ago; she never allowed me to open up my feelings and always said, "I can feel your energy." The way she said this phrase to me was unhealthy, destructive, and vampiric. This phrase is what Camila says to Alice during their time together as well. The Facebook message with the list Alice says that she loves about her relationship with Camila also allows the reader to have a glimpse at what their relationship was like (168-69).
The Southern Gothic
Alice's dark, mysterious past takes place in Virginia. Ashes illustrates a sub genre called the southern gothic. Southern gothic novels focus on grotesque themes. While they may include supernatural or gothic elements, they mainly focus on damaged, even delusional, characters. Moreover, major settings in southern gothic novels are plantations, old decaying places, graveyards and so forth that are often symbolic of a "time gone by." While I do not focus on a plantation setting, Alice's old Virginia home where she lived with her father is southern gothic because the house and the tragedies associated with the funeral home is symbolic of a "time gone by." The house's southern setting is also a part of the southern gothic. Additionally, not all Southern gothic literature is about slavery. The south states have a haunted legacy, however, I wanted to draw from other southern gothic elements. Such elements include an atmosphere of decay, an impoverished setting, grotesque characters, and violent or lurid events. For instance, Boydton is generally a small, rich town and offers its residents a rural feel. This rural feeling of the town, I wanted to turn the environment into something dark after the town's well-known fictional mortician Paul Reaper's tragedy. Paul's grief is grotesque and a character of its own much like Alice's grief after she loses everything. Alice's memories or nightmares about her southern Victorian home portray lurid events that are shadowy and masked by carefully worded, evocative use of language that appears throughout the novel.