On Formulas of the detective story of Edgar Allan Poe

【Abstract】Edgar Allan Poe is considered the founder of detective stories， he created the five basic formulas of the detective stories， and he created the first detective， Auguste Dupin. The Murders in the Rue Morgue is a typical formula of locked room case. This paper will talk about this kind of pattern.

【Key words】Edgar Allan Poe detective story Formulas locked room

【中圖分類號】H319 【文獻標識碼】A 【文章編號】2095-3089（2013）02-0113-01

1.Introduction of Edgar Allan Poe

Edgar Allan Poe （born Edgar Poe； January 19， 1809–October 7， 1849） was an American author， poet， editor and literary critic， considered part of the American Romantic Movement. Best known for his tales of mystery and the macabre， Poe was one of the earliest American practitioners of the short story and is considered the inventor of the detective fiction genre. He is further credited with contributing to the emerging genre of science fiction. [1]

2.Formulas of the detective story

Poe created five different formulas of crime. The tale， The Murders in the Rue Morgue， gives an account of revealing a murder case， in which the dead was found in a locked room. And at the end it turned out that the murderer was an orangutan. The Purloined Letter narrated a letter has been stolen from the boudoir of the queen by the unscrupulous Minister. The detective， Dupin solved the case by his psychological analysis. This tale introduced another mode of detective stories： the obvious things are easily be neglected. The Murder of Roger Ackroyd told us a story of a “missing” person. Dupin just read the paradoxical report on newspaper in an armchair， and solved the case. And it is regarded as the first “armchair detective” of detective fiction. And in the tale， The Gold-Bug， the author narrated the murdered was found through decoding. And in another work， Thou Art the Man， the detective revealed the truth through psychological observation.

Fixed Characters：

In the The Murders in the Rue Morgue，Poe created the first detective， Monsieur C. Auguste Dupin. Dupin once had a rich and eminent family， however， after he suffered some untoward events， he became a poor guy. However， he is good at using deduction and psychological analysis…

Poe initiated the mode of locked room case. In his detective story， he created such kind of characters： victims， murderer， medical examiner， witnesses， a detective and his assistance， and several incapable policemen. In the The Murders in the Rue Morgue， we know that the murder case occurs in a certain time， a certain place， and a relatively closed space， and the dead body was found in this closed room. These are the basic elements of a locked room case.

Then the policemen appeared. According to the case solving procedure， the policemen should analyze the case. Firstly， we know that the locked room is the first scene of this blood murder， because “the body was quite warm” when the policemen and victims’ neighbors rushed into the locked room. And the razor found in the chair maybe the tool for criminal purpose. From the murder scene， the policemen found the murderer didn’t take any valuable things. What’s the purpose of the crime？

The next step is to investigate some people who contacted with the victims before they had killed. The investigating suspects are Pauline Dubourg， Pierre Moreau， jules Mignaud， Adolphe le Bon. According to their testimony， the victims did not contact them too much. And the witnesses， Isidore Musét， Henri Duval， Odenheimer， William Bird， Alfonzo Garcio， Alberto Montani， proved that they heard something before they came to the murder scene， but when they forced the door open， they didn’t find anybody except the corpse， and they also proved that the door was locked inside. And two medical examiners made a conclusion which shows that this murder case is an insoluble mystery， so the police had to arrest Adolphe le Bon in order to solve the case， although they didn’t have any evidence.

Next， let’s welcome the detective Dupin. Dupin is a scrupulous man， and he is very good at analyzing people’s psychology. Dupin uses his powerful reasoning to solve this case.

Edgar Allan Poe created these basic formulas for detective stories， and these formulas became the classical type for detective stories， which inspired more writers to write detective fictions. And detectives fictions will have a long way to go.

參考文獻：

[1]Edgar Allan Poe. The Murders in the Rue Morgue. From Yuan Honggeng. The Detective Story： Works and Criticism.Beijing.2011.P35.

[2]曹正文.世界偵探小說史略[M].上海：上海譯文出版社，1998.

[3]王巧俐，朱振武. 西方偵探小說模式的創立[J].上海.2005.

[4]袁洪庚.偵探小說：作品與評論.北京：外語教學與研究出版社，2011.