American Literature / Unit 8 AML 0712 short lesson, about 20 seconds
Poe and the Invention of Detective Fiction
Captions available
The idea
In "The Murders in the Rue Morgue" and "The Purloined Letter" Poe created the analytic detective, a brilliant amateur who solves by reasoning while the police blunder, narrated by an admiring friend. The pattern became the template for the genre that followed.
In practice
A reasoning amateur, and an admiring friend.
Where people slip
The narrator's slowness measures the detective's speed.
Your place on the trail
Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.
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