[bksvol-discuss] first detective and mystery honors go to...
- From: Cindy <popularplace@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sun, 24 Sep 2006 13:37:17 -0700 (PDT)
I checked the publication dates, and you're certainly
right, Amy.
I had heard, too, that Poe's stories were the
first--but then I'd learned that Wilkie Collins' were
first. However, clearly Poe's were published first--I
wonder how Wilkie Collins ever got the honor.
I did some more research--here's one excerpt "...the
latter work [The Moonstone} is often regarded as the
first true detective novel, though of course Edgar
Allan Poe created the genre with his tales of
ratiocination..." I don't quite understand the word
"ratiocination," even though I looked it up.
Ah--the distincion made--"...Although Edgar Allen Poe
is often regarded as the originator of the detective
story with "Murders in the Rue Morgue," Collins was
the creator of the mystery novel,..."
I guess the difference is that Poe originated the
genre and detective and mystery stories, but Collins
wrote the first detective and mystery novels--the
longer form.
Thanks, Amy, for inspiring me to do some research and
clarify the distinction, at least in my own mind.
smile
Cindy
--- Amy Goldring Tajalli
<agoldringtajalli@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> Sorry folks but the honor of inventing both the
> first true mystery (story and poem) and detective
> story go to Edgar Allen Poe. While the British like
> to claim to be the originators of almost all types
> of literature and certainly have perfected some,
> they neither created nor perfected these two but
> they were the precursors of some. The first
> detective story was his "The Murders in the Rue
> Morgue" with August Dupon. There is some debate
> about the first detective but this was the first
> true detective story written in 1841, followed by
> "The Gold Bug" and "The Mystery of Marie Roget".
> Godwin and others had element of the detective
> stories but Poe pulled them all together. As for the
> first mystery story one can look at "The Fall of the
> House of Usher". Unlike the Gothic literature which
> has elements of the mysterious the are not true
> mysteries and all of the elements get explained
> rationally by the end. Now with the House of Usher
> we are left not knowing what was or was not real and
> what really caused the "fall". Many of Poe's stories
> leave us wondering, to quote another poet, "was it
> truth or illusion or . . ."* what? The true mystery
> leaves us wondering though more modern writers bow
> to modern readers who want answers. Even before he
> wrote the mystery story Poe wrote the mystery poems
> one need only look to "The Raven".
>
> Amy
> omst
> *The quotations is from Louis Untermeyer's "At the
> Bottom of the Well"
>
>
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Cindy" <popularplace@xxxxxxxxx>
> To: <bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Sent: Sunday, September 24, 2006 12:23 AM
> Subject: [bksvol-discuss] Re: Using Library Catalog
> System
>
>
> > You're welcome. Enjoy.
> >
> > Speaking of mysteries, The Moonstone, by Wilkie
> > Collins, is considered the first detective
> story--and
> > I think The Woman in White was the first mystery.
> >
> > I checked the collection--not only are both in the
> > collection--and in public domain so anyone can
> > download them--but there are lost of other books
> by
> > him that I didn't know about. I loved Woman in
> White
> > especially, but I enjoyed The Moonstone, too. Now
> that
> > I know about the othersm, I'll have to read some
> of
> > them and hope they're as good--although you'd
> think
> > we'd have heard more about them if they are good.
> >
> > Cindy
> >
> > --- Monica Willyard <plumlipstick@xxxxxxxxxx>
> wrote:
> >
> >>
> >> >Thanks Cindy and Shelley for your help. Cindy,
> >> your idea worked
> >> >like a charm. :D My library seems to have a
> much
> >> larger mystery
> >> >section than I knew about. They even have some
> of
> >> the classics I've
> >> >wanted to read for ages. I found out that I can
> >> put in a request
> >> >the day before, and the library staff will set
> >> aside the titles for
> >> >me. Now I won't have to spend quite so much
> time
> >> begging/cajoling
> >> >my mom into taking me there to get books. I'm a
> >> happy camper!
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> Monica Willyard
> >>
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> >>
> >
> >
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