The Detective Genre Development in the 19th Century - Essay Example

The Detective Genre development in the 19th Century Introduction The blatantly macabre stories such as “The Murders nthe Morgue”, “The Mystery of Marie Roget” and “The Purloined Letter”, define the very life and contributions of Edgar Allan Poe through his literary works. Poe presents himself as a pioneer of the genre of writing entailing mystery, detective, and crime fiction. The establishment of the writing on crime stories and groundwork for detective fiction came into existence in even before the word detective itself existed (Thoms 56). Thus, from the foregoing understanding of the literature development as established by Poe in his writings among other condescending writers, the revolution period made a notable addition to the comprehending of the modern real detective work. Poe wrote the work following his life and the consequential intelligence gathered through his life. The detective analysis began with the 1841 debuting of the narration; “The Murders in the Rue Morgue” that constitutes the first of the true pieces of literature produced bearing the subject of detective fiction. In this literary piece, Poe presents the character, Auguste Dupin, who is of Parisian origin and possess the unique character of a chess player. Notably, Duplin loves detecting and his leads him to the case of the murders in the Rue Morgue, which police had declared insolvable. The second of the stories involving Dupin that Poe wrote is “The Mystery of Marie Roget” which he released in 1842. This followed through with “The Purloined Letter” written in 1844. The amazing establishment of these literary pieces is that they all provide the blueprint for the sub-genres that followed his writings. As an established writer at this period, Poe uses the detective Dupin as the lead character providing a gothic and gruesome approach to the cases of murder that followed through the stories. The story of “The Mystery of Marie Roget” follows the real life case of the murder of Mary Rogers in the drawing room blackmail scheme. Thus, in this view, Poe did borrow from real life issues to reflect in his fictional writings. The following story, “The Purloined Letter” was also a flowing piece considering the hard-drinking character that Poe was adopting at this point of his life. The creation of the detective stories followed the critic and erratic aspects of Poe, which led him to establish Dupin as a master strategist of some sort of a chess game (Poe 43). The stories constitute a puzzle that reflects remarkably on the themes presented in the stories, as well as, the intent of Poe in writing the three stories, all following each other. The era of the industrial revolution was key in the emergence of the ideas of Poe in writing the stories. Notably, the industrial revolution experienced increased aspects and cases of issues relating to insecurity and other related cases of suffering. Industrial revolution forced the people to develop a mechanism for addressing the social life issues that pursued the society. Moreover, the police unit at this age was relatively less established, with the unit of the detective agencies being a new idea in practice in the government. Notably, the first league of detectives, although not called “detectives” at the time, emerged in 1815 (Thoms 16). Thus, at the period Poe wrote his extensively intriguing and enlightening literary pieces, he stood to come out as the pioneer of the detective genre in the literature continuum. Following his genius ability, he presents Dupin in solving the cases reflects accordingly in the thought and character of Poe. To get a full comprehensive understanding of the three literary pieces and their contribution to the establishment of the detective genre, it is essential to relate the stories to the writer accordingly. Notably, Poe presents most of his writing from a creative and critical approach, being a writer with flowing thoughts and incredible imaginative ability. He is key in seeing, perceiving, and elaborating real life happenings and establishing a possible literary piece of writing about the case in a remarkably flowing way. The leading factor for consideration in understanding the course of these writings is the cause that motivated him to write such gruesome and erratic stories. Notably, the inspiration for Poe to write the stories about the topic of crime is his early childhood and the events that followed in the early 19th-century events. Notably, since his early childhood, Poe suffered tragedy after another, starting with the death of his mother while at an early age (Meyers 25). This affected him remarkably in his early development as he remained with his father who later abandoned him while he was seven years only. The family was poor thus at this point; Poe had nothing left for him to live accordingly. However, he was lucky to get the family friend, John Allan, who adopted him, and they proceeded to live in England (Meyers 25). As a young, adult, he later returned to the United States and developed his career, earning honors in classical and modern languages. However, he suffered accordingly as he had a habit of heavy drinking and gambling, which constitute his last years of life (Meyers 23). He married a young wife who suffered from tuberculosis and died sooner after their marriage also contributed accordingly to the development of the psychology of Poe. Thus, following these series of his life events, we establish accordingly that Poe did face significant levels of psychological torture and instability (Meyers 67). The evidence of the suffering that he underwent during his childhood and young adult life reflect the way his thoughts developed accordingly to writing the extensively intriguing crime stories. It is possible to allude that Poe as he wrote the stories, he featured himself as the detective Dupin, and he was trying to come to terms with the happenings that occurred in his life, as well as, the happenings around him, which made the 19th century society appear cruel. For instance, in depicting his psychological state we observe the evidence in his all the stories “The Murders n the Morgue”, “The Mystery of Marie Roget” and “The Purloined Letter”, that there are women involved and they all die. Thus, this could be an illustration of his thoughts while he remembered his poor mother who died while he was young (Meyers 67). Additionally, the death of the helpless women in the stories could also be depicting the psychological torture he suffered when his young wife died. Thus, these deaths connect and correspond accordingly with the real-life events that occurred in the life of Poe. Therefore, he wrote the stories following the events that were happening around him and from the influence of his young troubled life. The losses in his life as he faced are key to motivating Poe to proceed with the stories, and the detective is trying to unearth the cause of the murders as they occurred. Similarly, the influences of the happenings of the 19th century are key to Poe’s writings. For instance, in the story The Mystery of Marie Roget”, Poe writes from an actual inspiration of the murder of Marie Rogers, reported in the newspapers as he read (Poe 54). Thus, such happenings follow through logically with the life events that occurred in the revolution period. The cases of unsolvable murders as was happening in the period are to the motivation for Poe to write about crime. Thus, following these establishments, Poe established his foundation for the detective genre in literature. The social class as depicted of Poe and his characters, Dupin and the Narrator presents remarkable similarities. Poe views himself as a detective in the stories, as he tries to unearth the mysteries he presents in the stories. The social establishment of Poe was poor which corresponds to that of Duplin, the chess master strategist solving the cases (Poe 19). Dupin was not a trained detective, but he posses intrinsic ability to read criminal mind and fathom the cause of the events as they happen in the story. Thus, Poe is remarkably similar to his characters as he used them in the stories. He incorporates the social class of his characters and himself in the flow and continuity of the literary pieces to establish the social setting of the stories, such as the area where he lived and that of the detective. They are similar, depicting his resemblance to the characters. With respect to the influence of the developments leading to modernity to the works of Paul, the evidence is unequivocally irrefutable. Notably, the region at the time of the industrial revolution was growing in both size and infrastructure. The expanding of the United States and development of transport systems including the use of train contributed accordingly to the stories of Poe. He reflected the aspects of modernity such as established building, well laid streets and transport system using trains in his narrations, all which are signs of the modernity that was taking place in the region (Poe 71). Thus, he did use the signs of busy cities and developed transport systems to reflect the modern world as would be, and linked them accordingly to the crimes in the stories. Poe uses a critical approach to incorporating the current society as was existent at the time in his stories. Conclusion Thus, following his writings, Poe elaborately explores the events of the 19th century, in addition to his personal experiences and intelligence to establish a foundation for a new genre of literary writing. He presents the detective genre as an intriguing and involving element of literature, which intrigues and connects with the mind of the readers. Thus, he was an exceptional writer, whose contributions in the development of the detective genre are undeniable. Works cited Meyers, Jeffrey. Edgar Allan Poe: His Life and Legacy. New York: Cooper Square Press, 2000. Internet resource. Poe, Edgar A. The Purloined Letter. , 1980. Print. Poe, Edgar A. The Murders in Rue Morgue. , 1988. Print. Poe, Edgar A, and Henry Austin. The Mystery of Marie Roget. New York: R. F. Fenno, 1899. Print. Poe, Edgar A. The Murders in the Rue Morgue: And Other Tales. New York: Worthington Co, 1887. Print. Thoms, Peter. Detection & Its Designs: Narrative & Power in 19th Century Detective Fiction. Athens: Ohio Univ. Press, 1998. Print. Read More