Okay, so since Poe's character is a detective working in a
mystery, then he remains the first actual detective.
I've read the theory before. One of the stories in the Bible
is even presented as the first using this argument.
On 4/20/06, Jess Nevins <
jjnevins@ix.netcom.com> wrote:
> -----Original Message-----
> >From: Anthony Dauer <
anthony.dauer@gmail.com>
> >
> >What is a "proto-mystery /
proto-dective"?
>
> A "proto-mystery" is a work of fiction, written
before the advent of the modern
> mystery genre, which has the themes and motifs of
mystery fiction but is
> fundamentally about something other than the mystery
and its solution. This
> includes Gothics, works like CALEB WILLIAMS and
Voltaire's ZADIG, and
> the various pre-Poe short stories which included
mystery and detection
> themes and motifs.
>
> A "proto-detective" is a character in a
proto-mystery who solves
> a mystery or is instrumental in doing so but is
neither a professional
> crime-solver (and so not a policeman or policewoman)
nor one by
> habit or temperament. The leads in most
Proto-Mysteries solve a
> mystery or mysteries because they are forced to
through various
> plot complications; when the mystery is solved they
return to their
> previous position. So Susan Hopley, the maid in
Catherine
> Crowe's SUSAN HOPLEY (1841, and another pre-"Rue
Morgue"
> proto-mystery that Poe was aware of), solves the
crime that is tearing
> apart the Leesons, the family she serves, but once
the crime is
> solved and the status quo restores, she returns,
happily, to
> serving the Leesons.
>
> jess
>
>
>
>
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>
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>
>
>
>
>
>
>
-- Anthony Dauer Alexandria, Virginia
http://www.adau.net/
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