Michael Robison wrote:
> Tribe wrote:
>
> I don't think that Stansberry sees "the
supernatural
> as a significant element" in Poe's detective
fiction.
> The way I interpret it is that Poe sees the
rational
> method of crime-solving as just another
manifestation
> of the supernatural, according to Stansberry
"process
> and logic-indeed the act of analysis
itself-are
> ultimately viewed as further manifestations of
the
> supernatural."
>
> ***************
> I think the detective's reasoning is a
significant
> element in the stories. Stansberry finds his logic
to
> be a "manifestation of the supernatural." I
link
> these two premises and come up with the
supernatural
> as a significant part of the stories.
>
> I didn't see any "manifestation of the
supernatural"
> in "Murder in the Rue Morgue" or "The Death of
Marie
> Roget".
>
> His comment about rational thinking being close to
the
> supernatural is conceivable, since rational
thinking
> accepts truth outside experience, but if we're
playing
> word games and leaning towards that definition,
then
> the detective's logic is empirical, not rational,
and
> I see nothing supernatural about that.
Another angle on this -- using as an example the
recently broadcast Sherlock Holmes pastiche "Sherlock Holmes
and the Case of the Silk Stocking," with Rupert Everett as
the Great Detective, on Masterpiece Theatre here in the U.S.
(http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0429032/)
-- is the detective's ratiocination as a method for making
explicable those events or behaviors which have been
previously considered unthinkable. (While I have some
reservations about turning Holmes into an Edwardian CSI
adventurer, the production was well executed.) In the "Silk
Stocking" story, the fetish-murders of young women, whose
bodies also are dressed in clothes other than their own, is
considered a horrible, devilish act by the contemporary
culture at large. Holmes, relying on the research on sexual
perversity by psychiatrist Richard Freiherr von Krafft-Ebing,
brings logic and rationality to crimes that are otherwise
considered irrational, frightening, and perhaps otherworldly
or demonic. In this manner the
detective dispels the seemingly supernatural with
ratiocination, which -- in the canonical Holmes -- frequently
seems magical itself. (And I'm reminded of Arthur C. Clarke's
note about technology that is so advanced it can't be
explained by the contemporary world will seem like
magic.)
- Duane Spurlock proprietor The Pulp Rack
www.pulprack.com
---------------------------------
Yahoo! FareChase - Search multiple travel sites in one
click.
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor
--------------------~--> Life without art & music?
Keep the arts alive today at Network for Good!
http://us.click.yahoo.com/FXrMlA/dnQLAA/Zx0JAA/kqIolB/TM
--------------------------------------------------------------------~->
RARA-AVIS home page: http://www.miskatonic.org/rara-avis/
Yahoo! Groups Links
<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/rara-avis-l/
<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email
to:
rara-avis-l-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : 28 Oct 2005 EDT