Non-Fiction Matrix for Devil in the White City

 

I chose to make my non-fiction matrix for the novel The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America (2003) by Erik Larson. The novel is a dramatic retelling of the 1893 Chicago World's Fair, and the simultaneous true-crime horrors of H.H. Holmes, based in Chicago at the time.

1. Where is the book on the narrative continuum?

This novel is presented in a highly narrative style.

2. What is the subject of the book?

The novel tells two simultaneous, seemingly unrelated stories of the main event designers and architects of the 1893 Chicago World's Fair, switching back and forth with the life and exploits of H.H. Holmes, prolific serial killer. They intertwine as the Fair attracts people from all over the world, and unknowingly, to Holmes's "Murder Castle".

3. What type of book is it?

While the book draws from official documents, records and newspapers for its material, the narrative presentation highly dramatizes the events.

4. Articulate Appeal

What is the pacing of the book?- The book may drag for some that are uninterested in the retelling of the World's Fair planning, but the simultaneous interweaving of the H.H. Holmes story gives a slow build up of tension til the later chapters play out in rapid succession.

 

Describe the characters of the book- The main architect of the Fair, Daniel Burnham, is an enterprising man dedicated to the progression, and national pride, of the spirit of the turn of the century World’s Fairs. His determination and flexibility allow him to over come logistic and personal struggles. The main character of the second plot, H.H. Holmes, is an enigmatic and sadistic person, obsessive and psychopathic, a dark mirror to Burnham as he carefully crafts his “Murder Castle”.

How does the story feel- Enterprising, nostalgic, with sinister undertones

What is the intent of the author?- The author is tensely marrying the shining utopia construction of the World’s Fair through Burnham with the dark parallel of H.H. Holmes crafting his house of torture and traps in such close proximity. The dramatic narrative heightens the tension more than a factual, procedural text would.

What is the focus of the story- The majority of the narrative follows Burnham and the Fair, but the intermittent sections of the Murder Castle provide such a violent and shocking punch that it becomes impossible for the reader to forget the dangers lurking while the architects build their utopia.

Does the language matter?- Yes, the dramatic language is important to keep the dramatic tension, the “heaven and hell” metaphor. I believe it also intentionally does so to mimic the sensational “Yellow Journalism” popular in newsprint at the time.

Is the setting important and well described?- The setting is integral to the narrative. The author uses dramatic and poetic language describing the shining utopia in the center of industrial Chicago. The juxtaposition of their idealistic goals and the grim grimy reality around it is integral to the narrative.

Are there details and if so, of what?- There are historical facts from documented sources spaced throughout the dramatic narrative, down to medical conditions such as gout among the Fair founders and psychiatric diagnoses of H.H. Holmes. Details of the Fair, of the construction and engineering feats that became the Ferris Wheel and the curiosities of the Fair like the introduction of waffle ice cream cones play up the idealism and triumph of the Fair. The details of Holmes’s death traps in his home come from documented sources, but the details inevitably play up the sensationalism, the macabre curiosity that the dramatic narrative plays up.

Are there sufficient charts and other graphic materials?- None.

Does the book stress moments of learning, understanding, or experience?- I wouldn’t necessarily say that the book is stressing learning and education from the historical narrative it is retelling, more that there is a fascinating and darkly curious dichotomy that happened in this particular place and time.

5. Why would a reader enjoy this book?

- Macabre fascination with the dichotomy of the utopic Fair and the horrors of Holmes’s murder spree “across the street”.

- Vivid, if sometimes sanitized perhaps, depictions of turn of the century enterprisers of Paris and the US, their drive and determination to build that utopia, which would carry on into the art deco era.

- Learning about this particular place and time in history, if dramatized, and witnessing the introductions of many nostalgic “Americana” artifacts like the Ferris Wheel.