lovely review. And makes me look a little differently at the Hollywood films of the past twenty plus years, where some try to find that deeper or darker current.
Thanks for this valuable research, Jerry. Two points...
-I've been curious for some time about the issue you raise of perceived character differentiation in Doyle's mind, from Poe's Dupin. I wonder if it is simply an affectation of the latter being fictionally French, or if there was a sort of an inherited understanding of Poe's stories in Victorian times due to Baudelaire's famous translations into French in the 1850s, which made Poe popuar in France and I assume, inspired French-language detective authors with Dupin-istic tendencies. I imagine this is picked up by Chesterton's imagination of the French, for example.
-Your quoted section about the actor's mental disintegration from becoming Holmes could be a story by Borges!
I went back to read The Murders in the Rue Morgue and wound up reading all three of Poe's Dupin stories. In these, Poe established the fundamentals of the detective genre of mysteries. Conan Doyle was a bit unfair to describe Dupin as ““showy and superficial” though with “some analytical genius.” Dupin was just French. There was no word yet for detective so Poe went to lengths to describe the analytic approach of logical deduction from the evidence. Dupin applied this to thought processes as well as physical evidence. Sherlock mostly did the latter. He was not French. Poe captures that very French pedantic approach to what others may simply skip over. This is especially on display in The Mystery of Marie Rogêt, where Dupin “solves” a crime by analyzing the press reporting of the investigation. (Poe used this method as he was actually using the press reporting of a famous, unsolved 1838 murder in New York to provide his own solution. Poe was always desperate to make an impression and thus an earn living as a professional writer.) This tale was apparently Baudelaire’s favorite.
Thanks for these valuable additions, Jerry, I may have to cite them soon. (I will have to check the texts but I think he describes his character's method as 'rationcination' in The Purloined Letter and in personal correspondence)... there are possibly other predecessors or traditions that Poe is pulling from, and if I can get organized perhaps I will share a few ways in which Poe has affected my own writing decisions in this almost-completed novel. Almost there... Have a nice weekend!
lovely review. And makes me look a little differently at the Hollywood films of the past twenty plus years, where some try to find that deeper or darker current.
Thanks for this valuable research, Jerry. Two points...
-I've been curious for some time about the issue you raise of perceived character differentiation in Doyle's mind, from Poe's Dupin. I wonder if it is simply an affectation of the latter being fictionally French, or if there was a sort of an inherited understanding of Poe's stories in Victorian times due to Baudelaire's famous translations into French in the 1850s, which made Poe popuar in France and I assume, inspired French-language detective authors with Dupin-istic tendencies. I imagine this is picked up by Chesterton's imagination of the French, for example.
-Your quoted section about the actor's mental disintegration from becoming Holmes could be a story by Borges!
I don't know much about the French side, though Poe was dark enough to fascinate them. I'm going to reread the Poe story and get back to you.
I went back to read The Murders in the Rue Morgue and wound up reading all three of Poe's Dupin stories. In these, Poe established the fundamentals of the detective genre of mysteries. Conan Doyle was a bit unfair to describe Dupin as ““showy and superficial” though with “some analytical genius.” Dupin was just French. There was no word yet for detective so Poe went to lengths to describe the analytic approach of logical deduction from the evidence. Dupin applied this to thought processes as well as physical evidence. Sherlock mostly did the latter. He was not French. Poe captures that very French pedantic approach to what others may simply skip over. This is especially on display in The Mystery of Marie Rogêt, where Dupin “solves” a crime by analyzing the press reporting of the investigation. (Poe used this method as he was actually using the press reporting of a famous, unsolved 1838 murder in New York to provide his own solution. Poe was always desperate to make an impression and thus an earn living as a professional writer.) This tale was apparently Baudelaire’s favorite.
Thanks for these valuable additions, Jerry, I may have to cite them soon. (I will have to check the texts but I think he describes his character's method as 'rationcination' in The Purloined Letter and in personal correspondence)... there are possibly other predecessors or traditions that Poe is pulling from, and if I can get organized perhaps I will share a few ways in which Poe has affected my own writing decisions in this almost-completed novel. Almost there... Have a nice weekend!