The short story “Bon-Bon” is strange, and I admit that I do not entirely understand it. I have read it because it is a devil tale and because it is American, written by none other than the illustrious Edgar Allan Poe.
Bon-Bon is a successful French restaurateur who is engaged in writing a philosophical treatise on the French philosophy of his day. Apparently, Bon-Bon is an expert at philosophy, and if only he did not drink so much, maybe he would finish his book. The devil visits Bon-Bon for reasons unknown to me. Is he looking for a soul to eat? Is he particularly interested in tasting the soul of a philosopher?
Poe describes the devil as tall and skinny and wearing worn clothing made for a shorter person. Most of his head is bald except for the very long hair reaching down his back. Even though he wears “green spectacles, with side glasses,” he has no eyes. Besides the spectacles, he carries two other items on his person: a stylus and a little black book.
Bon-Bon is not at all disturbed by the identity of his visitor. Instead, he sees an opportunity to learn about philosophy. The devil critiques Bon-Bon’s book as “clever” but needing improvement. He says that Bon-Bon’s “notions” remind him of Aristotle, who had only hit upon “one solid truth in all that he has written.”
As their conversation progresses, Bon-Bon becomes increasingly drunker while learning nothing useful about philosophy and too much about which souls the devil finds tasty. Bon-Bon discovers only that his soul is not a shadow or a stew or a soufflé. It is a fricassée.*
The drunk restaurateur is quite all right with having his soul be a fricassée and offers it to the devil. But the devil refuses it, saying that he is well supplied at the moment. What then was the devil’s intent in visiting Bon-Bon? Perhaps, the devil is a kind of chef and has work to do on Bon-Bon’s soul before it is ready to eat.
*The meat in a fricassée is cut into pieces, braised, and then served with a white sauce.
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What, for instance, do you mean by all that humbug about the soul? Pray, sir, what is the soul?
the devil in “Bon-Bon” by Edgar Allan Poe
The Tale is a Lie 
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