The Alienist - Caleb Carr & The Alienist Books

Easton Press Edition of The Alienist

Posted on December 13, 2013No Comments

With the holiday shopping season upon us, I thought it might be worth drawing attention to the signed leather bound edition of The Alienist currently available through Easton Press for the book collectors amongst us. This edition forms part of the Easton Press “Signed Modern Classics” collection. Unfortunately, I have only been able to find one image of the binding for this edition online, and I’m not sure what year it was released. While most catalogues indicate that it was released in 2007 or 2008, an Easton Press collector stated on a forum post dated early 2011 that it had not, in fact, been released in either of those years. Combined with Easton Press’ usage of the most recent publicity photo of Caleb Carr from 2012, this seems to hint that the release date may have been considerably later than those indicated on catalogues — perhaps even 2012 or 2013? Mysterious release date aside, this edition is advertised as being personally signed by Caleb Carr and can be purchased directly from Easton Press. Reasonably priced at $89, what better surprise could you get for a fan of The Alienist this Christmas?

Alternatively, you can still find copies of the signed leather bound first edition of The Alienist that was produced by The Franklin Library in 1994 on eBay and through specialist book dealers. These typically sell for between $150 and $350 at the present time, depending on the condition of the individual copy. A signed leather bound first edition of The Angel of Darkness was also produced by The Franklin Library in 1997, and typically sells for a slightly lower price than its more sought-after predecessor. Both contain special introductions written by Caleb Carr that are exclusive to the these editions, and both have beautifully illustrated frontispieces. These editions can be seen in the image to the left (The Alienist is on top and The Angel of Darkness is underneath), and more images of these beautiful editions can be found on the 17th Street community forums.

NY Public Library Discussion of The Alienist, Part I

Posted on December 10, 20134 Comments

View Part One, Part Two, and Part Three of the NY Public Library Discussion of The Alienist.

Earlier this week, the NY Public Library Reader’s Den posted their discussion points of The Alienist’s Part I: Perception. As we follow along over the next two and a half weeks, I thought it I’d put up my responses to the discussion points here on the 17th Street blog. What do you think of my answers? Do you agree or disagree? Next week’s discussion points will relate to Part II: Association.

Do you believe the author succeeded in his aim of historical authenticity?

No surprises here: absolutely. For several years now I have made a point of reading any and all historical crime fiction set in nineteenth century New York to find another book or author that I can unreservedly recommend to Alienist fans, but nine times out of ten I feel that they disappoint for precisely this reason. Personally, I think the key to historical authenticity lies in subtlety. Would a nineteenth century narrator really have explained or put emphasis on something that was simply part of daily life for them?

Some critics have pointed out that Caleb Carr “tells” more than he “shows” at times during the Alienist books, but I would argue that he gets away with this by having his narrators ‘write’ their stories in retrospective for an intended audience in the early twentieth century. For example, buildings that had already been demolished or were simply part of the landscape by the late-1910s rather than being the new and exciting developments they had been in the 1890s could still be described in detail for such an audience. Importantly, Mr. Carr doesn’t “tell” for details that would still have been well-known for an early twentieth century audience, and this — to me — makes all the difference for creating a historically authentic piece.

As far as the books being historically accurate are concerned, there can be no question that this is the case. The books are impeccably researched. Little details that other authors occasionally get wrong can ruin the reading experience for someone as picky as me, but no matter how deep I go in checking the historical detail in these books, they’re always accurate. It’s always a relief when I re-read one of the books to know that I won’t be irritated by a reference to a piece of clothing or a building or even a psychological theory that is out of place for the time period the books are set in. The only other literature I can always be sure of finding that level of accuracy in are classics written during the nineteenth century, or in equally impeccably researched non-fiction works. Mr. Carr is a historian first and foremost, and it shows.

Do you think Kreizler’s “collecting” of people for his household is motivated by compassion? Or something more unsavory, like a P.T. Barnum of the psychological world?

The idea of Dr. Kreizler being “a P.T. Barnum of the psychological world” gave me a chuckle. No, I don’t see anything unsavory in how Cyrus, Stevie, and Mary came to be part of his household. Throughout both Alienist books, we are provided with perfectly reasonable explanations for how these characters ended up under the Doctor’s protection. In fact, during The Angel of Darkness we see that Dr. Kreizler has hired a Russian housekeeper who has no connection to his professional work, making it fairly clear that he doesn’t aim to compose his household of former patients.

Do the characters seem, as one reviewer put it, anachronistic?

I don’t see the characters as anachronistic either. Certainly, it’s clear that Mr. Carr took the opportunity to fill the investigative team with an unusually eclectic group to show as many different aspects of the New York experience during the late nineteenth century as possible, but it wasn’t an impossible collection of characters for the time period: Theodore Roosevelt did hire the first female police secretary, there were Jewish police officers at the time, and Dr. Kreizler would have had close contact with youths like Stevie and individuals like Cyrus and Mary through his work.

NY Public Library Discussing The Alienist in December

Posted on December 3, 2013No Comments

The Reader’s Den at the New York Public Library will be featuring The Alienist as their discussion book this December. As stated in the novel’s introductory post this week, the three parts of the book will be discussed in turn over the coming weeks: next week’s discussion will feature Part I: Perception, the following week’s discussion will feature Part II: Association, and the final week’s discussion will feature Part III: Will. So, with the 20th anniversary of The Alienist’s publication taking place next year, why not take this opportunity to reacquaint yourself with Caleb Carr’s beloved psychological thriller and join the Reader’s Den in their discussion this month?

Don’t forget that aids to enhance your reading experience can be found throughout 17th Street. The complete timeline for The Alienist, with part and chapter numbers, along with a 40-question quiz to test your knowledge of the book can be found in The Alienist section; interactive maps featuring all The Alienist’s settings can be found in the Locations section; and a full character list (currently in the process of being expanded) can be found in the Characters section. Happy reading!

The Line Between Fact and Fiction in the Alienist Books

Posted on September 25, 2013No Comments

It didn’t surprise me to learn that Caleb Carr’s agent and editor had believed him when he originally pitched the story of The Alienist as non-fiction (see the afterword to The Alienist’s 2006 trade paperback edition for the complete–and amusing–tale of intrigue and deception). Even though I had known the novel was fictional when I first read it, many of the background details in the story had such a feeling of authenticity to them that I distinctly remember closing the book upon finishing it and wondering just how much of what I’d read might really have happened. Certainly, I had known that Dr. Laszlo Kreizler, his principal investigative colleagues, and the murderer had been fictional, just as I had known the major historical figures featured in the book were real; but there were minor characters mentioned or included throughout the story who had felt real, but who I knew could have been just as fictional as the principal investigators, developed to meet the needs of the plot.

Some of the characters who intrigued me the most were the other criminals Dr. Kreizler assessed throughout the novel in order to determine whether they could be connected to the case. Indeed, the first of these individuals provided us with our introduction to the Doctor and his methods in Chapter 4. After speaking to our narrator, John Schuyler Moore, on the telephone–and deducing in true Sherlock Holmesian style that Moore was still in his nightclothes–the Doctor requested his friend read an article in The New York Times (while dressing) about a certain Henry Wolff who had shot a five year old girl in the head. The Doctor explained that he was to conduct the psychiatric assessment of Wolff later that morning at Bellevue Hospital’s Insane Pavilion, and he wanted Moore to accompany him on the chance that it would prove relevant to the case.

The original article Dr. Kreizler was referring to can indeed be found in the archives of The New York Times, with a date appropriate for the timeline of the novel (March of 1896). “HE SHOT A CHILD IN THE HEAD”, the headline reads, and the article goes on to state that the aforementioned Henry Wolff had shot Louisa Rudesheimer, the five year old daughter of Wolff’s neighbour, Conrad Rudesheimer, while Louisa had been sitting on her father’s lap. The two men, along with an additional third man, had been drinking in the tenement rooms where Rudesheimer and his daughter resided on East Tenth Street. The article indicates that Wolff had used inappropriate language in front of the girl that offended the father and resulted in a quarrel. Although peace was restored temporarily, the men continued drinking and Wolff drew a revolver, firing three shots into the air before targeting the five year old girl.

We can find another such example in Chapter 12, although in this instance the case appears to have been adapted slightly for the purposes of the novel. Specifically, Harris Markowitz of No. 75 Forsyth Street had been accused in the novel of murdering his grandchildren by poisoning their milk prior to gassing them while they slept. Even though the investigative team were already confident by this stage that the serial killer they were hunting was not a poisoner, they felt it might be useful to develop a “negative image” of the killer by looking into such cases; that is, they hoped that by being able to identify more clearly who their killer was not, a clearer picture would emerge of who their killer was. Once again, an article in The New York Times with a date that matches the novel’s timeline can be found that details a highly similar case; however, in the Times’s version of the story, Markowitz had not succeeded in killing the children and had only been accused of attempted murder.

So, if you’ve ever wondered whether some of the background detail in The Alienist or The Angel of Darkness have their origins in fact or are completely fictitious, it’s worth taking the time to look it up through whatever means you have available to you. Over the years that I’ve spent running this website, I can attest that doing so can provide an interesting insight into both the history of the period and the creative process involved in writing the books.