Poe Short Stories (from when I was sick)
This is a good time to blog about Edgar Allen Poe's stories, for I have now written one essay on "The Purloined Letter" and two on "The Murders in The Rue Morgue". I have only grown more fond of them since first reading: their nuances of storytelling, complexities of Dupin's character, and overall wit- sometimes subtle, sometimes blatant.
One thing I love about Poe's mysteries, is that they are multi-faceted and inter-disciplinary. Take this quote from "Murders in the Rue Morgue," where Dupin explains his mind-reading trick on the narrator:
Poe's mystery short stories have smaller mysteries within them! This harks at what many scholars deem an ingenious method of storytelling: the deferred voice. Poe goes from rule to small anecdote to grand mystery (which thankfully enough involved an orangutan). Taking this anecdote alone, Poe incorporates a play, a review of that play by a satirist, the art of stone-laying, and a line of Latin connecting it all. Poe charms in this way. He lulls the reader with his intellectual foreplay and interplay and thus makes for a strikingly effective mystery.
In the Purloined letter, Poe displays not only his knack for complex mystery, but also his mastery of story-telling. In the below passage he describes the scheme of Minister D--:
"His lynx eye immediately perceives the paper, recognises the handwriting of the address, observes the confusion of the personage addressed, and fathoms her secret. After some business transactions, hurried through in his ordinary manner, he produces a letter somewhat similar to the one in question, opens it, pretends to read it, and then places it in close juxtaposition to the other. Again he converses, for some fifteen minutes, upon the public affairs. At length, in taking leave, he takes also from the table the letter to which he had no claim. Its rightful owner saw, but, of course, dared not call attention to the act, in the presence of the third personage who stood at her elbow. The minister decamped; leaving his own letter - one of no importance - upon the table" (Poe, 368).
Lynx is a very interesting choice. It connotes not only the sharp cleverness and perceptiveness of a cat, but also a more exotic element: he is no standard con-man. He is deliberate and extremely cunning. Poe leads the reader on a mental whirlwind in which the Minister is thinking faster than the reader, with his plan seemingly unfolding before our eyes.
Ultimately, I very much enjoyed reading Poe. He falls second only to Borges, if not only because Borges has reliable online copies.
One thing I love about Poe's mysteries, is that they are multi-faceted and inter-disciplinary. Take this quote from "Murders in the Rue Morgue," where Dupin explains his mind-reading trick on the narrator:
"But in that bitter tirade upon
Chantilly, which appeared in yesterday's "Musée ," the
satirist, making some disgraceful allusions to the cobbler's change of name
upon assuming the buskin, quoted a Latin line about which we have often
conversed. I mean the line
Perdidit antiquum litera prima sonum" (Poe, 418).Poe's mystery short stories have smaller mysteries within them! This harks at what many scholars deem an ingenious method of storytelling: the deferred voice. Poe goes from rule to small anecdote to grand mystery (which thankfully enough involved an orangutan). Taking this anecdote alone, Poe incorporates a play, a review of that play by a satirist, the art of stone-laying, and a line of Latin connecting it all. Poe charms in this way. He lulls the reader with his intellectual foreplay and interplay and thus makes for a strikingly effective mystery.
In the Purloined letter, Poe displays not only his knack for complex mystery, but also his mastery of story-telling. In the below passage he describes the scheme of Minister D--:
"His lynx eye immediately perceives the paper, recognises the handwriting of the address, observes the confusion of the personage addressed, and fathoms her secret. After some business transactions, hurried through in his ordinary manner, he produces a letter somewhat similar to the one in question, opens it, pretends to read it, and then places it in close juxtaposition to the other. Again he converses, for some fifteen minutes, upon the public affairs. At length, in taking leave, he takes also from the table the letter to which he had no claim. Its rightful owner saw, but, of course, dared not call attention to the act, in the presence of the third personage who stood at her elbow. The minister decamped; leaving his own letter - one of no importance - upon the table" (Poe, 368).
Lynx is a very interesting choice. It connotes not only the sharp cleverness and perceptiveness of a cat, but also a more exotic element: he is no standard con-man. He is deliberate and extremely cunning. Poe leads the reader on a mental whirlwind in which the Minister is thinking faster than the reader, with his plan seemingly unfolding before our eyes.
Ultimately, I very much enjoyed reading Poe. He falls second only to Borges, if not only because Borges has reliable online copies.
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