Fans of Sex and the City will recall that in Season 6 Carrie fell madly in love with a Russian artist, Aleksandr Petrovsky (as played by the ever sexy Mikhail Baryshnikov). Petrovsky was a very modern artist (he created "light installations" as I recall) however in his mannerisms and more importantly in his need for Carrie, he was extremely old fashioned. Their courtship was highlighted by the reading of poetry, the writing of classical music in her honor and sleigh rides in the snow through Central Park. At one point the couple are shown bundled up before the roaring fire at Petrovsky's apartment as they read and watch the snow fall outside. Carrie phones her friends and tells them she can not meet them that day; she is deep in her Doctor Zhivago-like romance and can not tear herself away. In short order Petrovsky invites Carrie to move to Paris with him and she, defying all sensibility, quits her job, says goodbye to her friends and leaves for a thousand unknowns, grounded only by her love. And then she finds herself with nothing but Petrovsky and he is a busy and powerful man - a man who has many things other than Carrie. The defining moment of their romance is when he declares his need for her to give up everything to accompany him to a preview of his show and then - when adulation pours over him from other corners - he literally and metaphorically drops Carrie. He doesn't need her anymore and so she finds herself with nothing and it is only then that the realization of all she gave up for this man -for the ideal of their romance - hits home.

And then, well it is Sex and the City so I'll let you imagine how the whole happy ending bit comes to pass.

I was thinking of this arc a lot as I read Delia Sherman's short story "The Red Piano" in the anthology Poe. I know that she was a wee bit surprised when I mentioned the comparison in an unrelated email exchange - one does not automatically think Poe = Carrie & crew but if you stay with me, I think the comparison and thus the continued significance of a certain group of Poe stories, will become clear.

"The Red Piano" is about university Professor of Archeology Dr. Arantxa Waters and the odd house she buys. With large mansions (one modern, one in a slight state of disrepair) on either side, her house is the old stable of the larger estate that once comprised the block. Along with all of its interesting design quirks, the house comes with a magnificent piano that by the terms of the will of the original owner (from so long ago) can never be removed. Arantxa, who is not a terribly romantic person, finds the idea of the piano to be quite appealing. She gets it tuned and cleaned and the piano seems to fit right into the solitary but independently fulfilling world she is creating for herself. The problems start when she hears piano music late at night which disturbs her sleep. Assuming it must be coming from her neighbor (in the older mansion) she knocks on the door to complain. That's when things get tricky.

Arantxa's neighbor is the very old world Roderick Hawthorne. He is terribly mysterious. He never leaves his house, moons about in a dusty, dusky interior with no electricity, outdated appliances and a design aesthetic straight out of Victoria Holt. Arantxa is wary but the story he tells of a doomed love bound to matching pianos, and the way he plays his which mirrors her own, is so incredibly over the top that she can't resist it. She also can not deny that there is no way the music she hears comes from his instrument - it must come from hers even though no one is playing the piano.

This is the part where you want to scream "RUN FOR YOUR LIFE GIRL!"

Arantxa starts to spend more and more time with the very attractive Roderick; she just can't help herself. The man is sexy as all that and he wants to be with her. He plies her with music and atmosphere; he seems to transport her to another time. And when she starts to feel ill, when she finds herself becoming more and more exhausted, his concern for her is really quite tender. The fact that Roderick and his house seem to be looking better and better as Arantxa becomes sicker does not escape her notice. But doesn't that just mean he has hired a maid and is taking a few more showers? It couldn't be anything more significant than that, right?

All together now: "RUN FOR YOUR LIFE, GIRL, RUN!"

Well you know what is going to happen although I will stress this is a 21st century heroine and you don't get to be a college professor without having some level of smarts. Arantxa does not disappoint, just as Carrie Bradshaw did not either. But the amount of time it takes them to figure out just how great the demands are from these men who need them so much, well that is the tension that rockets these stories along and keeps you on the edge of your seat until in Sherman's case, the last finally bang-up page.

In her afterword, Sherman explains "The Red Piano" was written as an homage to so many ladies, "...pale, learned, sickly, beautiful, and doomed, doomed, doomed to die horribly so that their pale, learned, beautiful, and tortured lovers could enjoy - and lovingly, lingeringly describe - torments of grief and/or guilt." The men are always so very sorry aren't they? Sorry they are such brutes and need these women so much; sorry it has to be this way; sorry that their needs are so much more important.

Sorry you gave up everything for Paris, Carrie. Now stand here like a good little girl while Aleksandr receives his glory.

"The Red Piano" is a classic Poe tale right out of the Victorian gothic tradition but with a truly believable modern twist. Sherman shows just how easily a bright articulate accomplished woman could fall for Roderick Hawthorne, and how very good he is at getting her to do just that. The author shows us how timeless this trope is, and how even at the end, even when Arantxa knows what is happening, there is still that moment of hesitation, that hope that really, it can't be true. He loves her; he wants to marry her; it can't be what it seems, can it? Doesn't happily ever after always have to be for both of you?

Go ask Carrie - she had to be slapped in the face before she figured that one out. (Her happily ever after came later of course, just like we knew it would....)

[Post pic from Rakowicki cemetery in Cracow.]