|
In the April 1841 issue of Graham\'s Poe published \"The Murders in the Rue Morgue\", it is said to be the first modern detective story since nothing like it had ever been published before. The nearest to a detective story to be found would be Voltaire\'s 1748 \"Zadig\". Poe referred to this new literary style as \"tales of ratiocination\", the word detective didn\'t even exist at the time.
Problems with crime was spreading out in the US and the police forces were increased in American cities. The periodicals at the time reported of bloody murders and suicides which influenced Poe, and the especially articles he found about razor wielding apes.
Even if the detective story was a new concept it was a natural continuation of Poe\'s writings. Especially its Gothic element, with the gloomy mansion Dupin is kind of a Parisian Roderick Usher. The logic deductions and the detective work of Dupin is in no way coincidental, but the whole story is written backwards. Everything in the narrative is adapted to the given outcome. This \"backward writing\" creates a brilliant effect and as Poe himself said: \"where is the ingenuity of unravelling a web which you yourself... have woven for the sole purpose of unravelling?\"
Poe was praised for the novelty of the story and has influenced stories and movies ever since. Many features has been used such as the use of a detective that is not connected to the police, a narrator who is not the detective (like Dr. Watson) and that the murders take place in a locked room, which was a concept never introduced before \"The Murders in the Rue Morgue\".
|
