Detective Fiction Portal

Master of the macabre Edgar Allan Poe made many great contributions to literature, and one of the most enduring was the creation of his great detective, C. Auguste Dupin. Combining reason and imagination to use ratiocination for solving baffling mysteries, Dupin anticipated detective fiction and revolutionized crime fiction, paving the way for Sherlock Holmes and many other iconic characters who followed. Poe drew on the Gothic storytelling tradition and on real-life, true-crime cases to create his complex and fascinating mysteries. In this module, we will investigate his three interconnected Dupin stories—" The Murders in the Rue Morgue" (1841), "The Mystery of Marie Rogêt" (1842), and "The Purloined Letter" (1844)— to appreciate the inspirations behind, innovations in, and legacies of Poe’s pioneering tales. Week 1: "The Murders in the Rue Morgue" Week 2: "The Mystery of Marie Rogêt" Week 3: "The Purloined Letter" Week 4: The Significance of the Dupin Stories [show less]