Delving Into the Mind of Poe

You have to wonder about the sanity of someone who wrote stories about walling people up, smothering old men, and pits and pendulums.

Actor Jerry Rockwood, who performs Friday night at Bridges Auditorium in Claremont as Edgar Allan Poe in his one-man show “A Condition of Shadow,” thinks that the great author was insane at the end of his life.

Rockwood--who bases his show on Poe’s letters, other writings and even the notes the author wrote in the margins of his books--thinks that the stories are largely autobiographical.

“All of his narrators were Poe,” the actor said. “It’s what he would have liked to have done. ‘Tell Tale Heart’ is Poe murdering his foster father.”

Cheryl Walker, Armour Professor of English at Scripps College in Claremont, disagrees.

“Poe was obviously a very neurotic and unstable character,” she said. But crazy?

“That’s part of the Romantic myth. There was evidence he was working on things at the end of his life, and corresponding with editors.”

However, the professor concedes that Poe suffered from acute depression and was liberal in his drinking habits.

That’s part of Rockwood’s fascination with Poe.

“He wanted to have nothing to do with society,” the actor said. “He was a wretched, miserable man.”

Rockwood relies largely on Poe’s lesser-known works during his performance, which is 95% Poe’s words with some transitional material by Rockwood.

“I’ve put all these things together to illuminate his life,” Rockwood said. “With Poe, I’m trying to present the insides of the man.”

Audience members are encouraged to come in costume to the 8 p.m. show in the auditorium on the Claremont Colleges campus, 4th Street and College Way. Tickets range from $9 to $20.