Seminar paper from the year 2002 in the subject American Studies – Literature, grade: 1, 3 (A), Martin Luther University (Institute for Anglistics/ American Studies), course: Short Fiction, language: English, abstract: Edgar Allan Poe is generally regarded as one of the most important and famous American
authors. He wrote many short stories, poems and reviews. This term paper has not the aim to
concentrate on his whole work but to examine a certain story.
The writer is especially famous for his “ tales of ratiocination” (Carlson 319). One of these
stories, “ The Murders in the Rue Morgue” , shall be the central subject of this paper. Poe
himself commented on this story to be “ something in a new key” (Silverman 173). What I
want to prove throughout this work is why “ Rue Morgue” nowadays signifies not only
VRPHWKLQJ that was new, but the prototype of the modern detective story (a thesis we find in
most of the literary encyclopaedias).
For reaching a satisfactory final result, it is necessary to have, at first, a look at the
definition of the “ short prose narrative” (Ahrends 19), which was given by Poe himself. This
term is closely connected to the “ tales of ratiocination” in which the usage of Poe’s primary
principles reaches nearly perfection. This “ perfection” is above all to be found in the story
“ Rue Morgue” , one of the best examples of Poe’s writing skills and the beginning of the
creation of a new establishing literary genre. The analysis of the “ Rue Morgue” will try to
justify this thesis. Therefore, a further look at the main characters, the structure of the story,
the reader’s expected reaction and more is required.
Finally, this working process shall lead me to my actual aim: The justification of the
prototypical character of the “ Rue Morgue” for (modern) detective fiction by summarizing the
important features and elements of this literary genre. […]
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