Classical Detective Story A Subversive genre of the Victorian America
Hung Sau Chun (Rosanna)
Dr. Ki Magdalen
ENGL 3056
24 November 2014
Classical Detective Story─ A subversive genre of the Victorian America Detective novel has been under the limelight since eighteenth century when the genre of classical detective fiction was born, then the development of detective story has undergone the school of Golden Age and hard-boiled until now. With its prevalence among the society, critics have been drawn toward whether the genre of detective story could help sustain or subvert the existing value system. In my essay, I will use the school of classical detective story to prove the detective story genre is a subversion of our value system within the historical time by providing the following reasons: the revelation of the incompetent law system, shatter of the stereotype and incapability of upholding the justice. The revelation of the incompetent law system in classical detective story is the first significant proof revealing the subversion of our value system. In The Murder in the Rue Morgue , Dupin, the transcendent detective, develops his role of having the peculiar analytic ability. In his retracing step to the Rue Morgue, he thought that "The police are confound by the seeming absence of motive─ not for the murder itself─but for the atrocity of the murder. They are puzzled, too, by the seeming impossibility of reconciling the voices heard in contention, with the facts than no one was discovered upstairs but the assassinated Mademoislle L 'Espanaye, " (Greene 15-16)which implies the failure of solving "The Tragedy in Rue Morgue". Meanwhile, in A Scandal in Bohemia, the very first of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, the master detective is commissioned to procure a photograph which could "influence on European history". Sherlock Holmes observes the clue of where the photograph was put by creating a fire with Dr. Watson, disgusting as a groom and clergyman . The rational investigation process when Holmes dresses as "a drunken- looking
Dr. Ki Magdalen
ENGL 3056
24 November 2014
Classical Detective Story─ A subversive genre of the Victorian America Detective novel has been under the limelight since eighteenth century when the genre of classical detective fiction was born, then the development of detective story has undergone the school of Golden Age and hard-boiled until now. With its prevalence among the society, critics have been drawn toward whether the genre of detective story could help sustain or subvert the existing value system. In my essay, I will use the school of classical detective story to prove the detective story genre is a subversion of our value system within the historical time by providing the following reasons: the revelation of the incompetent law system, shatter of the stereotype and incapability of upholding the justice. The revelation of the incompetent law system in classical detective story is the first significant proof revealing the subversion of our value system. In The Murder in the Rue Morgue , Dupin, the transcendent detective, develops his role of having the peculiar analytic ability. In his retracing step to the Rue Morgue, he thought that "The police are confound by the seeming absence of motive─ not for the murder itself─but for the atrocity of the murder. They are puzzled, too, by the seeming impossibility of reconciling the voices heard in contention, with the facts than no one was discovered upstairs but the assassinated Mademoislle L 'Espanaye, " (Greene 15-16)which implies the failure of solving "The Tragedy in Rue Morgue". Meanwhile, in A Scandal in Bohemia, the very first of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, the master detective is commissioned to procure a photograph which could "influence on European history". Sherlock Holmes observes the clue of where the photograph was put by creating a fire with Dr. Watson, disgusting as a groom and clergyman . The rational investigation process when Holmes dresses as "a drunken- looking
Cited: Greene, Douglas G. Classic Mystery Stories. Mineola, N.Y: Dover Publications, 1999. Print. Doyle, Arthur Conan, Sir, 1859-1930. Sherlock Holmes: Selected Stories. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1980. Print. Cawelti, John G. Adventure, Mystery and Romance: Formula Stories as Art & Popular Culture. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1976. Print. Lemay, J. A. Leo. "The Psychology of "the Murders in the Rue Morgue"." American Literature 54.2 (1982): 165-88. Print.