Readers and Writers: St. Paul Winter Carnival-inspired thrillers and plenty of words about its history
Jan. 22—It's Winter Carnival time, and while many of us will take advantage of outdoor fun, others might be happy to stay in front of the fire and vicariously enjoy the Carnival through the pages of books.
In fiction, award-winning novelist and architecture writer Larry Millett uses Carnival as a setting for "Sherlock Holmes and the Ice Palace Murders," one in a series of thrillers featuring Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson in the Midwest. When a scion of one of St. Paul's wealthiest families loses his head — literally — it's up to Holmes and Watson to track down the cold-blooded killer. Set in 1896, with the Carnival under way, Holmes and Watson, along with investigator Shadwell Rafferty, trail the cruel and ruthless murderer across the city and onto the treacherous ice of the Mississippi River. (University of Minnesota Press, 2011)
Sometimes, the cold we Northerners learn to live with is downright frightening to others, as F. Scott Fitzgerald vividly describes in his modernist 1920 short story "The Ice Palace," in which Sally, a young woman from Georgia, visits her fiance's family in an unnamed Northern city that is St. Paul. She doesn't like Harry's stoic parents and the way women are treated. She longs for the sweet sunshine of her home. When she is lost and alone in the labyrinths of the ice palace, she panics and is sure she is going to die. She felt "some deep terror far greater than any fear of being lost." Convinced she will never be happy in the North, she returns home and the story ends where it began, with Sally sitting in the southern sunshine. Fitzgerald wasn't born until 1896, but he would have heard about the spectacular palaces of 1887 and 1888. This story is reminiscent of Fitzgerald's relationship with Zelda, his Southern Belle wife. (Included in "The St. Paul Stories of F. Scott Fitzgerald," Minnesota Historical Society Press, edited by Dave Page and Patricia Hampl, 2004.
(NONFICTION)
"Fire & Ice: the History of the Saint Paul Winter Carnival" by Moira Harris. (Pogo Press, 2003)
"St. Paul Winter Carnival 100th Anniversary History, 1866-1986" by Judith Yates Borger (Jan Wiggs, 1986)
"Pioneer Press Treasure Hunt History" by Jesse C. Anibas, (White Bear Lake, MN: Treasure Hunt Headquarters, 2005)
"Icy Pleasures" by Paul Clifford Larson (1998, Afton Historical Society Press, 1998) and "The 1992 Saint Paul Winter Carnival Pepsi Ice Palace: A Pictorial Souvenir Book" (no author listed, Minnesota Winter Carnival, 1992)
ARTICLES available at Minnesota Historical Society, as are copies of the above books.
"Another Siberia, Unfit for Human Habitation: St. Paul's Super Ice Palaces, 1886, 1887, 1888" by Bob Olson (Ramsey County History magazine, Vol. 52, #4)
"Rollicking Realm of Boreas: A Century of Carnivals in St. Paul" by Jean E. Spraker (Minnesota History, Vol. 49, #8)
"Chilling Tales: A History of the St. Paul Winter Carnival Ice Palaces" by Mary Jean Jecklin (Architecture Minnesota, Vol. 18, #1)
"Winter Carnival: St. Paul's Annual Snowfest" by K.M. Kostyal (National Geographic Traveler, Vol. 1, #4)
