Similarities in Detective Works Between Edgar Allan Poe and Arthur Conan Doyle

Abstract

This thesis compares patterns of crime and investigation， characterization and plot models in Poe’s and Doyle’s detective works and finds that Conan Doyle inherits Allan Poe’s detective fiction writing mode. The writing mode created by Allan Poe and carried forward by Conan Doyle becomes a milestone in the history of detective fictions.

Key words： Edgar Allan Poe， Arthur Conan Doyle， detective fictions， similarities

1. Introduction

Edgar Allan Poe （1809-1849） is known as the American short story writer， poet and literary critic of the romantic period. Poe is regarded as the father of the modern detective stories as well as the father of psychoanalytic criticism. Poe was the first to set down a consistent set of principles about what he thought was acceptable in art and what should be essentially rejected in art.

Arthur Conan Doyle （1859-1930）， one of the founders of the modern detective fictions， the father of British detective fictions， has been accepted as a classic writer and occupies a distinctive position in English literary history. Doyle was a Scottish physician and writer and was most noted for his fictions and stories about the detective Sherlock Holmes， which is generally considered milestones in the field of the detective fictions and stories.

2. Similarities in Detective Works Between Edgar Allan Poe and Arthur Conan Doyle

2.1 Similarities in Patterns of Crime and Investigation

There are great similarities in the patterns of crime and investigation between Poe’s and Doyle’s detective fictions and stories. Although Doyle makes these patterns more concrete and complete after more details being added and there are more patterns of crime and investigation， there is no doubt that Poe employs Doyle’s patterns of crime and investigation. And their patterns of crime and investigation are killing in an inaccessible room， solving a case by reasoning， solving a case by decoding， solving a case by making use of the psychology of human beings and solving a case by finding the subtle things that people easily neglect. And it is the first similarity shared by Poe and Doyle. And due to the effect of these patterns， the latter writers use them over and over again.

2.2 Similarities in Characterization

When the fans of detective stories read the detective fictions and stories of Poe and Doyle， it is easy for them to feel that C. Auguste Dupin， the detective in Poe’s detective stories， and Sherlock Holmes， the detective in Arthur Conan Doyle’s detective fictions and stories， are the same person because they share so many similarities.

First， C. Auguste Dupin and Sherlock Holmes both come from the upper class. Second， they have superior wisdom and great courage. Third， they have very strange hobbies. Forth， they are single. Dopin lives with a friend to share the house rent. Fifth， they are expert in reasoning and deducing. Sixth， they are private detectives. Seventh， they are passionate.

2.3 Similarities in Plot Models

Both Poe and Doyle employ such plot model： introducing the detective-describing a crime-the detective’s investigation-announcing the result of investigation and the criminal-explaining how the detective solves the case-the end of a case. And this plot model was originally created by Poe. And Doyle makes it appreciated and welcomed by the public. Although many latter writers create other plot models， these plot models change from the one that Poe and Doyle use. What’s more， this model is still widely used by the detective fiction writers and achieves good effect.

3.Conclusion

As two significant writers in the western world， Edgar Allan Poe and Arthur Conan Doyle make noble contribution to the birth and development of modern detective fictions respectively. By comparison， readers can know that there are great similarities in patterns of crime and investigation， characterization and plot models between Poe’s detective storiese and Doyle’s detective stories and fictions.

Doyle learns from Poe and makes detective fictions an acceptable kind of art， which is helpful to the popular age of detective fictions， the Golden Age of detective fiction. And the method that these two writers used to write detective fictions has become a classic one adopted by the latter writers so both writers have great influence on the detective fiction writers throughout the world.

References

Doyle， A. C. The Complete Sherlock Holmes [M]. 1986.中譯本：《福爾摩斯探案集》 [M]，俞歩凡譯， 人民文學出版社，2008。

Poe， A. P. The Selected Writings of Edgar Allan Poe [M]. 2004.中譯本：《艾倫· 坡精選集》劉象愚譯，山東文藝出版社，1999。

尹鴻濤，2012，論愛倫坡、柯南道爾對西方偵探小說情節模式創立的貢獻[J]， 《前沿》，第8期， 170-171。