Edgar Allen Poe and his detective tradition

      Poe introduces one of the most basic elements of the detective story, which is the presentation of clues for his readers. This idea becomes very important in all subsequent works of detective fiction. That is, in all such fiction, all of the clues are available for the reader and the detective to solve the crime (usually murder), and at the end of the story, the reader should be able to look back on the clues and realize that he could have solved the mystery. A detective story in which the solution is suddenly revealed to the reader in considered bad form. Poe was a man so devoted to concealment and deception and unraveling and detection that it was only natural for it to be displayed in his writings.

      He managed to manipulate setting, character, and dialogue to lead the reader inescapably to the emotional state most appropriate for the perfect murder. Poe does not allow the reader to merely sit back and observe, but makes the reader accompany the detective toward the solution and apply his own powers of logic and deduction alongside those of the detective. Although a crime usually has been committed, the reader's attention is diverted to the baffling circumstances surrounding the crime rather than to the event itself. The tale's climax is the solution of the puzzle, and the bulk of the narrative concerns the logical process by which the investigator follows a series of clues to this solution. Very often the "detective" solves the mystery by means of deductive reasoning from facts known both to the character and the reader. [11]

      Poe wrote short narratives in which he originated almost every significant principle used by detective story writers for more than a century afterward. He called them "tales of ratiocination" (reasoning). Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Dorothy L. Sayers have placed Poe at the beginning of the tradition of detective fiction. They believe he used numerous conventions of the genre, in particular the "armchair detective" and sidekick/narrator to serve as an intermediary between the detective and reader.

      Poe mediates between reader and detective, presenting what information he has to the reader, while allowing the detective to keep certain information and interpretations to himself. This technique has since been employed by numerous writers of detective fiction, the most famous being the Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson combination. Because it was Poe's first "tale of ratiocination", "The Murders in the Rue Morgue" introduces more basic features of detective fiction than any of Poe's other short stories. Among these basic features are three central ideas: [11]

1. the murder occurs in a locked room from which there is no apparent outlet. The police are completely baffled as to how the murderer has escaped, because the doors were locked from the inside with the key inside with the victim, the windows apparently nailed shut, and the chimney blocked by one of the victims' bodies;
2. motive, access, and other surface evidence points to an innocent person. Frequently in detective fiction, the amateur detective is drawn into the case because a friend or acquaintance has been falsely accused, as is Adolphe Le Bon, who "once rendered me a service for which I am not ungrateful". Thus, M. Dupin is drawn into the case because of an obligation to the accused.
3. the detective uses some sort of unexpected means to produce the solution. One basic appeal of detective fiction lies in the unexpected solution, which becomes logical only in retrospect.

      Poe also began the tradition so fondly embraced by connoisseurs of crime fiction – what became known as "The Rules of the Game", which state, among other things: [6]

      (1) The detective story must play fair.

      (2) The detective story must be readable.

       The detective story emerged from Poe’s long-standing interest in mind games, puzzles, and secret codes called cryptographs, which Poe regularly published and decoded in the pages of the Southern Literary Messenger. He would dare his readers to submit a code he could not decipher. More commonly, though, Poe created fake personalities who would send in puzzles that he solved. Dupin becomes a stand-in for Poe, who constructs and solves an elaborate cryptograph in the form of a bizarre murder case.

      Poe’s greatest contribution can be proved by the words of one of his famous follower – Arthur Conan Doyle: "Edgar Allan Рое was the father of the detective tale, and covered its limits so completely that I fail to see how his followers can find any fresh ground which they can confidently call their own. For the secret of the thinness and also of the intensity of the detective story is that the writer is left with only one quality, that of intellectual acuteness, with which to endow his hero. Everything else is outside the picture and weakens the effect. The problem and its solution must form the theme, and the character – drawing is limited and subordinate. On this narrow path the writer must walk, and he sees the footmarks of Рое always in front of him ".

      Literary critic and writer Vincent Buranelli said next about Edgar Poe: "With “The Murders in the Rue Morgue” Рое became the only American ever to invent a form of literature. He invented the detective story. He also perfected it".

      "Take, again, the marvelous train of analytical reasoning whereby he arrives at truth in the “Rue Morgue”, a tale wherein the horror of the incidents is overborne by the acuteness of the arguments; and is introduced by a specimen of mind-reading...» These words belong to English writer and poet Martin Farquhar Tupper. [13]

      From all mentioned facts we can definitely say, that Edgar Allan Poe deserves to be named “the father of the detective story”, and his contribution into the formation of American literature can not be overemphasized. He created so much that is of importance in the field – literally creating the template for all of detective fiction to follow.

3. The most famous detective stories of the author

 

1. “The Murders in the Rue Morgue”

 

      When first published in 1841, "The Murders in the Rue Morgue" was not "typical" Edgar Allan Poe. Gaining momentum as a Gothic horror writer, Poe had already penned "The Fall of the House of Usher" and several poems before "The Murders in the Rue Morgue" came to be. The latter work, however, proved that the author was so much more than a horror specialist. In fact, "Rue Morgue" was the first of three Poe tales that warrant his distinction as the father of detective fiction and the modern-day mystery.

      For what would be his first detective story, "The Murders in the Rue Morgue", Poe created Monsieur C. Auguste Dupin. Often credited as the "first-ever fictional detective", Dupin is an analytical and frightfully perceptive amateur private investigator. He earns the "detective" distinction if not in title than through his process. [4]

      Poe's so-called "detective", C. Auguste Dupin is not much more than an unemployed philosopher with keen gifts of observation and rational assumption. Dupin earns his private investigator status through sheer curiosity. As a member of a once wealthy family that "by a variety of untoward events" has lost its wealth and, thus, its status, Dupin (though certainly not destitute) retreats from Parisian society. He hides away, collecting rare books, until a chance meeting with the unnamed narrator starts a firm friendship. It is here that "The Murders in the Rue Morgue" and, hence, Dupin's legacy begin.

      Together, the unnamed narrator and Dupin spend most their time reading or analyzing the world they have shut out. However, when a newspaper chronicles the unsolved murders of Madame L'Espanaye and her daughter, Dupin's intellectual mind cannot resist the challenge presented by them.

      Further, Dupin's acquaintance has been imprisoned for the crimes. With no experience in crime solving or police work, Dupin offers his services to the local police prefect for the sake of his own amusement, confident in his ability to deduct what the police could not.

      Dupin begins his investigation with a thorough review of the Gazette des Tribunaux, a Parisian newspaper. From it, he learns the location and condition of the bodies as well as the extent of the police's investigation.

      The newspaper also discloses that several witnesses rushed to the scene upon hearing shrieks from inside Madame L'Espanaye's home. Each witness gives an account of what he or she saw and heard. Upon prying open the gate, they rushed in, but the screaming had already stopped. As they climbed the stairs, many of the witnesses heard two voices arguing. They agree that one voice was that of a Frenchman, but no two witnesses agree as to the language of the second voice.

      With the prefect's consent, Dupin and the narrator head to L'Espanaye's home in the Rue Morgue. From a detailed review of the crime scene, Dupin determines the manner of entry and the methodology of the killer. Finding non-human hair and noting the superhuman strength necessary to achieve the homicides and, in particular, the concealment of the Mademoiselle L'Espanaye's corpse, Dupin confirms his suspicions — that the murderer is not human!

      Surmising the culprit to be an "Ourang-Outang of the East Indian Islands" (presumably an orangutan), Dupin places an advertisement in a local newspaper to effectuate the return of the animal to its owner. When the owner comes looking for the beast, Dupin is ready with gun in hand. Thus confronted, the owner confesses the animal's crimes. [14]

      Is C. Auguste Dupin truly a genius? Poe, through Dupin, is quick to criticize the investigatory techniques and mental acumen of the Paris police force. However, what inner-city Paris police officer, or any city officer for that matter, would suspect a large Asian primate running loose in a European city? Not to mention, it's 19th century Paris! The police don't exactly have high-tech lab equipment and DNA samples to work with.

      With that said, Dupin is able to solve the crime where others cannot. He does so through thorough observation, deductive reasoning, and logical assumption, even if that logical assumption results in the conclusion that an orange monkey is terrorizing his not-so-beloved Paris.

      Thus, Dupin is literature's first "detective". With "The Murders in the Rue Morgue", fiction gained a new genre, the detective story. Poe continued the genre with two later C. Auguste Dupin tales, "The Mystery of Marie Roget" and "The Purloined Letter".  

2. "The Mystery of Marie Rogêt"

 

      With the success of "The Murders in the Rue Morgue", C. Auguste Dupin was destined to return.

      In his 1842 short story, "The Mystery of Marie Rogêt", Poe refuses to give his audience something that merely copies Rue Morgue. The only constants between it and the earlier Dupin tale are the reasoning and rational assumption abilities (what Poe called "ratiocination") of Dupin himself and the storytelling ability of an unnamed narrator sidekick. [5]

      In his second try at mystery writing, Poe focuses almost entirely on Dupin's reasoning skills, so much so that the solving of the murder loses all its importance. The setting of "The Mystery of Marie Rogêt", like that of "The Murders in the Rue Morgue", is Paris. But in few ways are the stories structurally comparable.

      "The Mystery of Marie Rogêt" begins sometime after the murders in the Rue Morgue. Dupin's credentials as a problem solver is now well established. Here, he invokes logic to unravel the mystery surrounding the brutal murder of a young perfume saleswoman, Marie Rogêt, Marie's body has been found floating in a river, and her apparent murder has gone weeks unsolved. Speculation on motives and culprits is plentiful, with the majority view being that she was overcome by a murderous gang.

      "The Mystery of Marie Rogêt" is limited to a single setting detached from the scene of the offense. In the company of the narrator, Dupin reads several newspaper articles pertaining to the murder and explains his conclusions to his friend. Unlike "Rue Morgue", Dupin does not visit the crime scene, examine evidence, or exert himself in capturing its perpetrator.

      Upon scrutinizing the articles, Dupin solves the crime to the point of knowing how to find the murderer but without actually learning his identity. He explains to the unnamed narrator the falseness of particular theories and witness statements. In doing so, he often makes assumptions the reader must accept as learned but that are often nearly as conjectural as those of the journalists and law enforcement officers he criticizes. In the end, Dupin constructs the method for discovering Marie's killer, but he does not employ it. The killer himself is not captured within the confines of Poe's tale.

      In stark contrast to "The Murders in the Rue Morgue", C. Auguste Dupin is not met with an extraordinary or fantastical crime to solve. He also is not privy to entirely true (though not always correctly comprehending) witness accounts of the circumstances.

      Instead, Dupin must wade through false assumptions and irrational conclusions in order to decipher the truth. The murder is common in its elements, yet unsolvable, and all too real. Much like Law & Order and other crime dramas often tote their episodes as "ripped from the headlines", Poe fictionalized the real-life, New York murder of Mary Rogers, even quoting heavily from actual newspaper articles concerning Rogers' death.

      Through reasoning, which at times seems a lot like educated guessing, Dupin is able to solve the crime. However, Dupin's analysis reads more like a lecture than a detective story, void of any tension or climax. Reviving C. Auguste Dupin for a third and final story, "The Purloined Letter", Poe would give new dimension to his crafty logician.  
 
 
 
 

3.   “The Purloined Letter”

 

      In "The Purloined Letter", there are no murders to be solved, nothing extraordinary to behold, and no complexity to the problem Dupin is called upon to solve. However, the beauty of the tale is in its simplicity.

      "The Purloined Letter," of course, begins with a crime. But the crime is as basic as the story's name explicitly states — a stolen letter, one of royal significance. The culprit of the crime is known to all. To simplify things further, the location where the letter is concealed is also known. Dupin's sole quest is to find where on the premises the letter is hidden and secure it before its contents can be used for blackmail. [5]

      By merely placing himself in the shoes (and mind) of the crafty criminal, Dupin speedily surmises that the letter must be hidden in plain sight — hidden in such a way that intense scrutiny, such as that employed by the police, would cause the searcher to overlook or disregard the letter. Gaining entry into the blackmailer's home under false pretenses, Dupin spots the letter and replaces it with a fake. He returns it the police for a large reward.

      So Dupin steals a letter from the thief who stole it in the first place. What's as great about so simple a story as "The Purloined Letter"?

      When playing Texas Hold-Em, good players play their opponents, not their cards. Being able to anticipate what a player will do based on past hands, body language, and whatever else one can devise about the personality of his/her opponent separates the winners from the losers.

      Likewise, the genius of "The Purloined Letter" is that Dupin goes beyond analysis of the evidence, testimony, and crime scenes as in Poe's two earlier stories to attempt to think like his adversary. He sums up all he knows about the thief, weighing such personality traits as his intelligence, his egotism, and his audaciousness. To outwit the thief, Dupin has to think like the thief.

      A short, crisp tale, "The Purloined Letter" isn't as fantastical as "The Murders in the Rue Morgue", nor is it as endless and anti-climatic as "The Mystery of Marie Rogêt". Instead, it offers another dimension to Poe's eccentric logician, C. Auguste Dupin, a character who continues to serve as the prototypical detective [14]. 

4. Edgar Allan Poe’s contribution into the further development of the detective tradition

 

      Contributing greatly to the genres of horror and science fiction, Poe is now considered as the father of the modern detective story and highly lauded as a poet. Walt Whitman, in his essay titled “Edgar Poe’s Significance” wrote:

      «Poe’s verses illustrate an intense faculty for technical and abstract beauty, with the rhyming art to excess, an incorrigible propensity toward nocturnal themes, a demoniac undertone behind every page. … » [15]

      Poe was one of the first to shift the focus of mystery stories from the aesthetics of the situation to a more intellectual reality, moving the story from "a focus on the superficial trappings of eerie setting and shocking event to a study of the criminal's mind".

      Poe’s "The Murders in the Rue Morgue” changed the history of world literature. Often cited as the first detective fiction story, the character of Dupin became the prototype for many future fictional detectives, including Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes and Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot. Once Sir Arthur Conan Doyle said, "Each [of Poe's detective stories] is a root from which a whole literature has developed.... Where was the detective story until Poe breathed the breath of life into it?"

      The new genre, created by Poe is distinctive from a general mystery story in that the focus is on analysis. The story also established many tropes that would become common elements in mystery fiction: the eccentric but brilliant detective, the bumbling constabulary, the first-person narration by a close personal friend. Poe also portrays the police in an unsympathetic manner as a sort of foil to the detective. Poe also initiates the storytelling device where the detective announces his solution and then explains the reasoning leading up to it. It is also the first locked room mystery. [10]

      The popularity of these tales Poe attributed to their being "something in a new key .... people think they are more ingenious than they are – on account of their method and air of method. In the 'Murders in the Rue Morgue,' for instance, where is the ingenuity of unraveling a web which you yourself (the author) have woven for the express purpose of unraveling".

      The importance of Edgar Allan Poe to American Literature should not be under-estimated. In modern times, everything from Agatha Christie to "Murder She Wrote" finds its roots in Poe's detective stories.

      Edgar Allan Poe’s importance as a detective writer may be seen in his pioneering contributions to the genre, in the rich variety, meaning, and significance of his stories, and in their influence on writers the world over. And Poe’s character C. Auguste Dupin, a private detective, became the model for many later fictional detectives.  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

      Conclusions

      The first true detective stories were written by Edgar Allan Poe. Many writers and critics have plainly stated that he is the inventor of detective fiction. Poe introduces one of the most basic elements of the detective story, which is the presentation of clues for his readers. This idea becomes very important in all subsequent works of detective fiction. That is, in all such fiction, all of the clues are available for the reader and the detective to solve the crime (usually murder), and at the end of the story, the reader should be able to look back on the clues and realize that he could have solved the mystery. A detective story in which the solution is suddenly revealed to the reader in considered bad form. Poe was a man so devoted to concealment and deception and unraveling and detection that it was only natural for it to be displayed in his writings.