A SHERLOCKIAN ADVENTURE IN SERENDIPITY
(Page Three)
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Edgar Allen Poe
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But
of even greater influence upon the Sherlock Holmes stories were three tales
written by Edgar Allen Poe in the 1840s, three tales in which Poe
single-handedly earned the title “Father of the Detective Story.” His
detective, Chevalier Auguste Dupin, demonstrates his use of ratiocination in
all three stories, “The Murders in the Rue Morgue,” “The Mystery of Marie
Roget,” and “The Purloined Letter.” Not only did Poe invent the
genre, but in these short three stories, he laid out the protocol, the
methods, the techniques and tricks, the science of deduction, that are used
down to this day in all detective tales.
At this point in my serendipitous
ramblings, I reached above my head for a book entitled The Mystery
Writer’s Art, edited by Francis Nevins, which contains an essay by Robert
Lowndes entitled, “The
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Contributions of Edgar Allen Poe.” In this essay,
Lowndes lists 32 elements that Poe inserted into one or more of his three
seminal stories and which appear in subsequent tales of mystery.
How many of these elements, I wondered,
appeared in BOSC? How many, indeed, relate to Sherlock Holmes? Let us see.
Here are those that apply to BOSC or Holmes:
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Dupin
is a private citizen, neither presently nor formerly a policeman, nor
associated with the police in their work — as is Holmes.
Dupin is an eccentric, with a genius
for induction and deduction as applied to human behavior — as is Holmes.
We see Dupin through the eyes of a
close friend and associate, whose capabilities are above average but lesser
than Dupin’s — just as we see Holmes through Watson’s eyes.
Dupin is attracted by the extraordinary features of the crime in the Rue
Morgue; ordinary crimes do not interest him — nor do they interest Holmes.
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Several important clues are presented squarely to the reader in the
initial accounts... what is important is that the reader is given a fair
chance to see an essential part of the truth before the detective reveals it
— Watson certainly tries to do so.
Dupin arranges to examine the scene of the crime with the consent of
the police — a regular practice of Holmes.
Dupin considers police methods adequate for most crimes, which are
committed by people with very little imagination. He is interested only in
the unusual cases, for which routine methods are inadequate — we can almost
hear Holmes’ voice saying this.
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Dupin
is spurred to solve the riddle of the Rue Morgue by the fact that a person of
whose innocence he is certain has been arrested and charged with the murders
— as does Holmes.
Dupin does not turn the guilty party
over to the police after he has heard the whole story, a good deal of which
he deduced — need I comment here?
Dupin presents just enough data to
insure the release of the wrongly arrested gentleman — and on and on.
Indeed, Lowndes proclaims, if Poe had
never written another Dupin story beyond the Rue Morgue, it would
stand as a monument for everyone today who loves the puzzle type of mystery
tale, wherein
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the
puzzle is solved by reason rather than by physical violence and the reader is
given the clues he needs to solve the puzzle himself if he is astute enough.
All of this information picked up by
simply wondering if the island of Bermuda has any canonical references! And
yet there is more, more than I can tell you about in the time allotted me.
For example, did you know that the Sherlock Holmes stories were the first to
appear in the popular magazines in serial fashion yet in a manner that
allowed them to be read independently of all those that had come before? Up
until their appearance, serial stores were sequential, requiring for an
appreciation of any one segment a knowledge of what had taken place before.
Not so the short stories of the Master. As you well know, each can stand
alone. True, we receive more information about Holmes and Watson and the
others in the canon as we read more and more of the adventures. But any one
tale can be read and enjoyed independently.
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