“Bohemian” was a title that O’Brien gladly accepted from his mates, and one authorized by students (his first actual biography was subtitled “A Literary Bohemian of the Eighteen-Fifties”). A member of New York Metropolis’s blue collar mental class, he spent his evenings ingesting within the firm of Walt Whitman and his cronies at Pfaff’s beer cellar, identified for its inventive ambiance, the place the patrons donned the bohemian life-style with relish. The time period first grew to become widespread with the publication of Henri Murger’s 1851 Scenes of Bohemian Life, which was tailored into Puccini’s La Bohème and later – way more loosely – into the musical RENT and Baz Luhrmann’s Moulin Rouge!
The time period has recurrently been up to date within the vernacular: within the Eighteen Nineties they had been Decadents and Aesthetes, within the Twenties they had been the Misplaced Era or “Brilliant Younger Issues,” by the Fifties they had been Beatniks, within the 60s hippies, throughout the 70s and 80s they had been punks, within the 90s they had been grunge or various, within the 2000s and 2010s the had been indie, scene children, or hipsters, and at present being “various” is such a ubiquitous factor that we don’t actually have a phrase for it: everybody (not less than by their very own reporting) is a part of some area of interest scene off the crushed path. However the idea stays the identical: these phrases all largely seek advice from irreverent iconoclasts who’re cosmopolitan, and artistic, they eschew conference and forbid to promote out their style or expertise for monetary safety – poverty (and as Mimi will inform us, demise) is preferable to surrendering ideas for consolation.
So the antagonist of this story is really an enigma, because it seems to be his sole ambition to make use of his eccentric reward of mesmerism to seek out buried treasure, and – alongside the way in which – convinces his sufferer to pimp out his fiancée’s prodigal clairvoyance in pursuit of wealth. We’re compelled to ask if the Bohemian is really bohemian. The story is one other of O’Brien’s Poe-esque parables whereby a desperately poor, connivingly bold man bets and loses the lifetime of the girl he loves for the sake of pleasure and cash. As with “The Pot of Tulips” and “The Diamond Lens,” we see O’Brien’s contempt for greed, his exaltation of integrity, and his worry of materialistic (and sexual) seduction.
The story is narrated by Henry Cranstoun, a younger New York lawyer who, at twenty-one, leaves faculty with well being, ambition, and little or no cash. His father, previously a Wall Road speculator, has misplaced his fortune and sacrificed to teach him. Decided to not burden his father, Henry turns into obsessive about turning into rich. After seeing gold cash being deposited at a financial institution, he develops a type of mania through which he sees gold in every single place and fantasizes about sudden riches. Though he rents an workplace on Nassau Road and tries to start a decent authorized profession, he has no purchasers and helps himself by writing articles for magazines.
Alongside his fixation on wealth, Henry is in love with Annie Deane, the attractive and delicate daughter of a poor creator. She is extraordinarily delicate, particularly to individuals’s presence and atmospheres; she usually reacts with shivering or misery when close to sure people. Henry desires of marrying her, however each are too poor even to think about it.
One June day, whereas Henry is caught in his workplace failing to progress on a narrative for Harper’s, he’s stunned by a customer— a shabby however commanding man who introduces himself as Philip Brann. Although poorly dressed, Brann exudes confidence and mind. He claims to be a “Bohemian,” not within the ethnic sense however as an inventive wanderer who works sporadically, writes, paints, and charms girls, but despises regular labor. He asserts that Henry is simply as consumed by the will for wealth as he’s, although Henry hopes to realize riches by means of work, which Brann declares won’t ever succeed.
Brann insists that Henry will assist him purchase wealth in a unprecedented method. He reveals that he’s a strong mesmerist, possessing talents far exceeding these of odd practitioners. He demonstrates these uncanny powers by locking Henry’s gaze along with his eyes till Henry sees visions and experiences a quick trance. Brann explains that he needs Henry to introduce him to Annie Deane, whom he noticed on the Academy of Design. Her extremely delicate and impressionable nature, he claims, makes her an ideal clairvoyant instrument.
Henry is outraged on the suggestion that he introduce an odd, self-proclaimed vagabond to the girl he loves, however Brann assures him he won’t ever intervene romantically and swears to respect Annie. He then outlines his bold plan. Hidden treasure, he asserts, lies buried round New York—the legacy of Dutch settlers, Revolutionary-era residents, and pirates like Captain Kidd. By means of the mixed energy of his mesmeric talents and Annie’s clairvoyance, they are going to find certainly one of these caches immediately slightly than laboring for years. Henry, torn between warning and need for wealth, agrees.
That night, Henry brings Brann to Annie’s residence. As quickly as they enter the darkened sitting room, Annie reacts strongly to Brann’s presence, feeling in poor health and shaken. Brann shortly restores her by taking her fingers and talking softly, confirming to Henry that she is extraordinarily delicate to magnetic affect. When Brann steps apart, Annie clings to Henry and confesses that she feels an odd terror across the customer. Henry reassures her and explains Brann’s plan, urging her to cooperate for the sake of their future. Although frightened and tormented by foreboding, she yields and agrees to take part.
When the lights are lit, the experiment begins. Brann seats Annie reverse him, barely in shadow, whereas Henry sits close by with a pocket book to document her visions. Brann engages Annie in informal dialog about artwork, tradition, and finally cash, regularly guiding her ideas towards the thought of hidden treasure. As he speaks, Annie’s look modifications dramatically: her pallor flushes to paint, her eyes widen, and he or she seems to enter a heightened, trance-like state.
Lastly Brann says, “Miss Deane, do you see?” She solutions, “I see,” and begins describing in a
monotone a bleak, barren island lashed by Atlantic winds, with sand ridges and sea grass. When Brann suggests Coney Island, she continues her description with out reacting to the immediate. She states that beneath the sand on that island lies a hoard of gold and jewels. On the junction of three sandy ridges stands a locust-wood stake; when the solar reaches six o’clock and its shadow falls westward, the treasure lies precisely on the level the place the shadow ends.
Brann then asks her to attract the scene. Although she has by no means drawn earlier than, she produces a remarkably correct sketch, full with compass factors. Afterward, Brann ends the trance by brushing his handkerchief throughout her face. Annie collapses to the ground in exhaustion. Henry, terrified, denounces Brann, however Brann insists such fainting is pure and momentary. He calmly predicts she will probably be completely recovered by the subsequent night, by which period he and Henry could have returned as millionaires.
Later, Henry and Brann meet at an all-night tavern and finalize their plan. At daybreak they row to Coney Island with instruments, a compass, and a valise for carrying gold. Brann unerringly locates the three ridges and the stake described by Annie. After ready for the solar’s shadow to achieve the indicated spot, they dig frantically till Henry’s spade strikes steel. They uncover an outdated iron pot full of glittering gold cash, jewels, and ornaments so good that Henry momentarily loses consciousness.
When Henry awakens, Brann has vanished. The treasure stays untouched, however Henry discovers a observe pinned to his sleeve. Brann writes that he has taken solely half, leaving Henry his share, however warns cryptically: “Return to town, however return doubtful.” Stuffed with dread, Henry gathers his fortune, finds his boat gone, and boards a steamer again to New York.
On the journey he’s plagued by anxiousness, fearing disaster. Upon reaching Amity Place, he encounters the household doctor, Dr. Lott, who seems to be grave. Henry begs for the reality. The physician reveals that Annie died that morning from the overwhelming pleasure produced by Brann’s experiment. Henry rushes upstairs and finds Annie specified by demise, her father weeping beside her.
The story ends with Henry realizing the horrible price of his greed. The valise filled with treasure lies downstairs; the true treasure of his life lies useless earlier than him.
O’Brien’s recurring motif – one which travels broadly all through his oeuvre – is the theme of misplaced, misplaced idealism. It has the identical intense emotional power of inexplicably dropping a valuable heirloom, leaving a marriage ring in a public restroom, or having a laptop computer stolen earlier than an examination: an excruciating sense of stupidity and the unnecessary forfeiture of a treasured possession. However O’Brien’s distress will not be based in materials loss, however certain up in compromised identification. In “The Diamond Lens” a second of carelessness leads to the unintended demise of an adored idol, an idol who represents his nobler nature, his mislaid innocence. In “The Misplaced Room” peace and the delicate sense of house is stolen in a surreal whirlwind of destiny. In “The Wondersmith” innocence is held captive, in “The Pot of Tulips” a legacy (together with a way of social legitimacy) is hidden away, robbed, and refused.
True to his personal legacy because the “Celtic Poe,” O’Brien’s fascination with idealism is one which his American predecessor explored deeply, particularly within the type of a stupendous, distinctive girl with pseudo-supernatural qualities. The eponymous Berenice swoons with epilepsy and has her magnetic enamel wrenched from their roots by the sleepwalking lover who’s overly obsessive about their idealized magnificence. The woman within the “Oval Portrait” quietly starves whereas her husband fanatically tries to protect her essence in oil paint, and is left with a bifurcated girl: her physique chilly and useless, her sprit immortalized (but inaccessible) in pulseless artwork. The deceased sorceress Morella seems to resurrect herself in the meanwhile of her daughter’s demise (who herself was born in the meanwhile of her mom’s demise), destroying the hope of a future disencumbered by her fatalistic affect. Equally, the goddess-like Ligeia appears to slay her husband’s new spouse, rising from the grave by utilizing her physique as a chrysalis. Lenore, Ulalume, and Annabel Lee are killed by sudden diseases that rob their lovers of peace of thoughts.
Poe summed up this motif in his Philosophy of Composition: “the demise… of a stupendous girl … is definitely essentially the most poetical subject on the earth.” Why? Outdoors of Poe’s biographical lack of his mom, spouse, and several other different shut females, stunning girls – so fascinating however so susceptible, particularly within the 19th century – represented the precarious steadiness between the fabric, bodily world – mortality – and the best, religious world – immortality. His male protagonists (finest illustrated in “The Oval Portrait”) are caught in a useless denial, rejecting the premise that their lovers are human – flawed, sexual, mortal, advanced – and misplaced in a hopeless fantasy that they’re goddesses – good, virginal, immortal, emblematic. The outcome usually goes down three separate paths:
1. The lady is starved of human recognition, and, handled like a monument as an alternative of a mortal, she dies, turning into the lifeless, changeless reminiscence that the person had fostered.
2. The lady ascends to the person’s fanatical expectations and revives as a monster – the previous feeding on the longer term – just like the homicidal Ligeia and the filicidal Morella.
3. The lady’s demise has preceeded the motion and the stage opens on a person whose incapability to come back to phrases along with his negligence leaves him a fixated (generally necrophilic) corpse worshipper.
In all three circumstances, the shortcoming to understand the girl’s human fragility and complexity results in her sudden loss, and leaves the person crippled with guilt or delusion. That is the case in “The Bohemian.”
And what are we to make of the Bohemian, a title owned and celebrated by O’Brien and his mates? He isn’t a robber, for he leaves the cash owed to his sufferer, however he’s a nefarious agent of destruction, whose vampiric impact on Miss Deane leaves the protagonist’s life a wreck or ruined hopes and misplaced ambition. If something, the Bohemian is a form of Hoffmannesque trickster character – a catalyst who enters the narrator’s life to show him a lesson about materials greed. And our fundamental character may be very grasping, certainly, a person for whom ardour means little and safety a lot.
The Bohemian, then, is an ironic determine because the hallmark of bohemianism is a life-style of significant poverty, and we might have a look at his intervention within the narrator’s life as a brutal lesson in contentment. Left with the buried treasure, but robbed of his uncared for and idealized lover (a plot, by the way in which, common after Washington Irving’s “Golden Goals” through which a ghost enlists the assistance of a miser in uncovering pirate gold in New York earlier than robbing him and leaving him unconscious, and Poe’s “The Gold Bug” through which treasure is uncovered by an excellent pauper), our protagonist certainly has developed a respect for the authentically bohemian life-style – one which radically values relationships over respectability – and is aware of all too properly the inevitability of demise and the last word worthlessness of fabric acquire.
