ENL 200 The Short Story

by Lisa Lerman

Today is the last day of my summer class. Reading 100 short stories in four weeks was challenging, but also enlightening. For those of us familiar with Sir Arthur Conon Doyle’s work, it was fascinating to come across the works of Edgar Allen Poe. The parallels are infinite. If there were only one or two similarities in theme, then this argument would not be valid. But, “The Study in Scarlet” feeds off of many elements of “The Murder in the Rue Morgue.” Therefore it is obvious that Poe has had an influence on Doyle’s work.

It was challenging, but well worth the effort. Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Murders in the Rue Morgue”  was published in 1841. It was in this story that Poe developed his plot. For the first time, Poe used a master detective to discuss his cases with a loyal admirer.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was not the creator of this concept, and he wasn’t the first author to invent the detective mystery. Doyle’s A Study in Scarlet was published until 1887, 46 years after Poe’s detective stories. Each literary period influences the next. This is evident when contrasting Poe’s and Doyle’s detective stories.

The summer reading list consisted of many stories I’ve read before:

But some stories I read for the first time:

 

The hero in each, Monsieur C. Auguste Dupin and Sherlock Holmes, have some admiral qualities that make them stand out from the rest of the world. Each possesses an exceptionally mind which is articulate, intelligent, and even arrogant. Although, as readers, we can forgive this overconfident nature because the stories are so compelling, they satisfy our need for intrigue. The narrator in Poe’s story admires Dupin’s intelligence, “At such times, I could not help remarking and admiring (although from his rich ideality I had been prepared to expect it) a peculiar analytic ability in Dupin.” Doyle alludes to a similar admiration in Holmes, “Yet his zeal for certain studies was remarkable, and within eccentric limits his knowledge was so extraordinarily ample and minute that his observations have fairly astounded me.” Both narrators give details and analysis to arouse our curiosity and then deliver a clever ending to both satisfy and entertain us.

A second similarity is that the stories are retold by an eye witness. Both Dr. Watson and the narrator of “The Murder in the Rue Morgue” are friends (of the hero), retelling an interesting story about how the mystery is solved. Poe tells the reader that this is a story about the narrator meeting Dupin, “Our first meeting was at a library in the Rue Montmarte … “ Although Doyle’s “A Study in Scarlet” does not go in to the depths of the murder they are about to solve, Watson relates how he was introduced to Holmes by a mutual friend. Stamford says that he knows someone who is looking for a roommate, “A fellow … was bemoaning himself this morning because he could not get someone to go halves with him in some nice rooms which he found … “ Both are distinct in their own voices, yet similar ideas can be seen.

If it were just these two incidents, one could say it was a coincidence, but there are many similarities. In both narratives, the police have exhausted all their methods of deduction and are forced to go to the hero for assistance in solving the murders. The Purloined Letter has many similarities to A Scandal in Bohemia. Instead of solving a murder, the hero is looking for an item (Dupin a letter, Holmes a photo.) What is shocking is that they both use a distraction (one, a man in the street, the other I believe starts a fire) to gain the information they need.

Growing up with Sherlock Holmes, it was an enlightenment to see the resemblances in each author’s styles and ideas of what makes a good detective story.