埃德加艾伦坡侦探小说的特点及影响（英语论文）

1、°£µÂ¼Ó£¬°¬Â×ÆÂÕì̽С˵µÄÌص㼰ӰÏ죨ӢÓïÂÛÎÄ£© °£µÂ

2、;¼Ó•°¬ÂוÆÂÕì̽С˵µÄÌص㼰ӰÏì I. Introduction Edgar Allan Poe was one of the most influential writers in the history of American literatur

3、e. He was famous as a critic, poet and short story writer. Shaw said ¡°Poe was¡­.the greatest journalistic critic of his time.¡± All of his works are the important elements in American literature, especially his short stories, which were divided into detective fiction a

4、nd horror fiction. As ¡°a man of literary genius¡± , Poe had a very miserable memory of his childhood and impoverished youths. Allan Poe only lived for 40 years (18091849). His parents were Street artists, who both died prematurely. Poe was adopted by a merchant. When he was a te

5、enager, their relationship became deteriorated. Maybe he was lack of the sense of security, he began to gamble and addicted to love affair. He could not bear the actual world, so that alcohol was the best way to escape, as well as writing. However, his miserable experience helped him to shape the fe

6、eling of fancy, and stimulate his eager to solve the problem. During his life, he had written almost 70 stories and a dozen poems, and they were immensely interesting and influential as a literary inheritance. Including the works, there were only a few detective fictions. But they marked the birth o

7、f western detective fiction. It was not until the first of the nineteenth century, with Poe¡¯s publication of The Murders in the Rue Morgue (1841) to be exact, that the detective story came into being and distinguished itself from pure mystery, and emphasizing detective procedures instead

8、of thrilling events, thus encouraging the reader to join with the author and the detective in discovering the truth behind the mystery. Besides that, Poe had another four typical detective fictions, The Mystery of Marie Roget, The Gold Bug, The Purloined Letter, Thou Art the Man, which represent the

9、 five patterns of detective fiction. The principle for the short story is clarity. Poe once said ¡°the short story must be of such length as to be read at one sitting, so as to ensure the totality of impression. No word should be used which does not contribute to the ¡®pre-establ

10、ished¡¯ design of the work. A tale should reveal some logical truth with ¡®the fullest satisfaction¡¯ and should end with the last sentence, leaving a sense of finality with the reader. ¡± He asserted that the story should be so short that readers can finish i

11、n half an hour or less. What¡¯s more, he also asserted the theory of ¡°art for art¡¯s sake.¡± And he gave the works a careful revision, and described the details even to trifling point. Allan Poe¡¯s novels are filled with so many incidents of strange

12、ness and novelty that researchers point out Poe has a particular proclivity for fantasies. This proclivity endows Poe with the poetic imagination and mathematical analysis in researching into matters of perversion and oddities and with the great insight into mysteries of strangeness. Thus he initiat

13、es the ratiocinative novel. Poe¡¯s detective fiction has ingenious structure and fantastic plot, and special theory inside, which have great influence in American literature and be imitated by following writers. ¢ò.The Characteristics of Allan Poe¡¯s Detective Fiction 2

14、.1 The four basic elements of detective fiction It would be possible, no doubt, to find indications of the later detective novel in many books during the early decades of the 20th century. Poe, however, is the authentic father of the detective novel as we know it today. His detective stories had fou

15、r important elements, suspenseful atmosphere, quirky plot, fixed characters and specific background. 2.1.1 The suspenseful atmosphere in Poe¡¯s detective fiction As a successful detective writer, Poe focused on the process of picking out the criminal, instead of the victim. In his detectiv

16、e story, the victim was a guide, and emphases were deciphering and solve the case. To arouse readers¡¯ curiousness, Poe made every effort to describe the strangeness or mystery, on purpose. For instance, violent and bloody occasion, mysterious atmosphere, and intense and stimulative plot,

17、were the basic ones in his story. In The Murders in the Rue Morgue, the suspenseful atmosphere was described successfully. Here are some typical sentences. ¡°On the hearth were thick tresses ¨Cvery thick tresses ¨Cof grey human hair. These had been torn out by roots¡­th

18、eir roots (a hideous sight!) were clotted with fragments of the flesh of the scalp-sure token of the prodigious power which had been exerted in uprooting perhaps half a million of hairs at a time. The throat of the old lady was not merely cut, but the head absolutely severed from the body¡­

19、;which the victim had fallen from the window¡­¡±These sentences were a part of which describing the appearance of the victim, and they were so scary that when readers had read them, they would sweat themselves totally. In addition, the windows and door were all locked, but the ke

20、ys were inside the door. Who were the murders? Who were so cruel and savage? What¡¯s his motivation? And how did he get out of the adytum? All of these attracted readers¡¯ attention and curiousness to the case rather than the victim. By using this method, when readers had read th

21、is period, maybe they were in the situation, as if they were the people beside the victim, and it can get the effort of suspense, in which detective story was necessary. Ignoring the victim was widely-used in Poe¡¯s, as well as other detective writers¡¯ detective story. 2.1.2 The

22、 quirky plot in Poe¡¯s detective fiction The plot is so indispensable in story, and the plot of detective fiction need to be fantastic. There must be some one was hurt, or even die horrifically. The more horrific, the more attractive they were. So that readers can be tied on the plot, to f

23、ollow the detector to find out the criminal. In Poe¡¯s detective fiction, there were six steps to propel plot, that is, the detector coming, narrating the clue of the case, investigating, clearing up the case, explanation, and the end. And in Poe¡¯s three detective fictions, whos

24、e protagonist was the one; called Dupin, Poe always designed Dupin came first and then narrated the case in details. Just like The Purloined Letter, when Dupin and ¡°I¡± were losing in their mind, the door was opened suddenly by an acquaintance. The quiet was broken, means someth

25、ing has happened; means the detector needs to solve the case. Nobody knew what to do, but after Dupin¡¯s careful investigation, he found who the thief was; however, no one could found the letter except Dupin, who found the letter finally, and it was the climax of the story. The same to the

26、 story The Murders in the Rue Morgue, the deplorable mother and her daughter and horrific scene showed that someone did this case, but the windows and doors were closed, showed that no one can get in and out. The fantastic and contradictory plot attracted readers¡¯ interests. And the evide

27、nce was delivered by newspaper. Everyone¡¯s evidence was true, but they were contradictory, which might complex readers. It was this kind of writing skill that made the case more fantastic and splendid. The contradictory created the condition as the detector can solve the problem. By caref

28、ul observation and inference, the detector, intelligent and capable, can control the whole situation, and declare who the criminal was suddenly; this was so amazing and unexpected. 2.1.3 The fixed characters in Poe¡¯s detective fiction Besides the plot, the constant character was another i

29、mportant element of detective fiction. There are four kinds of constant characters: criminal, victim, detector, and the innocents, including detector¡¯s friends, or audiences, even some futile police. As a detective fiction, the detector was the protagonist. In Poe¡¯s detective f

30、iction, the famous detector was Dupin. He was withdrawn, melancholy, imaginative, and had rational analysis. Howard, a proficient who is studying detective novel, once said ¡°Dupin was the ego ideal incarnation of Allan Poe.¡± Poe was exception, and always wanted to express them,

31、 so he created Dupin as an ideal person. He, Dupin, was a typical image in Poe¡¯s detective novel, always be imitated by the following novelist, especially Conan Doyle. In addition, on role designation, Poe always made criminal as the people with lowest possibility to commit a crime. After

32、 eliminating criminal suspect, the criminal was just the people with the lowest possibility. In Thou Art the Man, the criminal was the detector, the one always be ignored. This method took surprise and dramaticism. In The Murders in the Rue Morgue, Dupin¡¯s friend¡¯s doubt made t

33、he story fluent. That is to say, detector¡¯s friends were the most important image. Beside the detector, there must be a friend, who was always very inferior by comparison. That is to set off the intelligence and amazing of the detector. What¡¯s more, about the disruption of vict

34、im, Poe made the victim¡¯s background and the case had something in common. As usual, he put more description into the case rather than the background of victim. Thus, readers can pay more attention to the process of inference instead of sympathizing. For example, in The Murders in the Rue

35、 Morgue, readers can know the situation about the victim from the evidences of witness, without particular description of their background. After the case was found, the miserable situation would cause readers sympathy, so writer did not need to describe the background of victims. Nevertheless, he n

36、eeded to draw readers¡¯ attention to the inference of the case. As a result, the anticipation of the case replaced their sympathy to victims, so the inference of the case was the central point of the story. 2.1.4 The special background in Poe¡¯s detective fiction The last element

37、 is special background. In Poe¡¯s story, the background was always in a small area, such as an old house, or remote countryside, or a river that no one lives nearby, etc. Take The Murders in the Rue Morgue for example; the case happened in an old house, which was an adytum. And in The Myst

38、ery of Marie Roget, the victim was found floating on a river in the countryside. All of these places were full of loneliness, dim, and dismal, which added mystery to story. As the detector needed logic inference to solve the case, the closed circumstance helped them to gain the clues and latched the

39、 criminal. Auden, an English critic, considers that case should happen in a closed area, so that it can get rid of the extraneous interference. And on purpose, these places were independent and undisturbed, so that detector can easily find clues. The intensive atmosphere gave stress to readers and i

40、ncreased suspense. The special background, simplex background and remote places, had two special functions. About the simplex background, the detector could found some clues and collating of data easily. In The Purloined Letter, everyone knew that the letter was in minister¡¯s room, but no

41、 one could find it. However, Dupin used unnatural method to think about the clues, and he judged that the letter was not hidden. And at last, it was proved that he was the winner. The stolen letter was put under people¡¯s eyes. Just this simplex background extrudes the skills that detector

42、 used during investigation, and reveals detector¡¯s excellent thinking ability. The mystery of Marie Roget was designed nearby a remote place, where can keep away from the confusion, to centralize the interest of readers. To sum up, the detective fiction has its own basic pattern, which is

43、 so important that in the following writers, no one can surpass Poe¡¯s achievement in detective fiction. In some extent, Allan Poe opened the basic pattern of western detective fiction all by his own hands. 2.2 The writing skills of detective fiction Poe had five typical detective fictions

44、, The Murders in the Rue Morgue, The Mystery of Marie Roget, The Gold Bug, The Purloined Letter, Thou Art the Man. That is, using analyzing of the character¡¯s psychology and using science and technology to solve the case. 2.2.1 Logical inference in Poe¡¯s detective fiction Allan

45、 Poe¡¯s inference included details and logic. That writing skill was never used by others. Before inference, there must be so much emphasis and tension on atmosphere and then the detector entered the field, using logical inference to pick out who was criminal. Just like the work The Murder

46、s in the Rue Morgue and The Purloined Letter, both of them were the representative of logic inference and psychoanalytic criticism. ¡°Erich Heller saw Poe¡¯s fiction as a vast contribution to ¡®the discovery and colonization¡¯ of the mind.¡± Poe was

47、also a rational man, logical to a fault, and interested in deduction and induction. Take The Purloined Letter as an example, Dupin had the ability that can read the criminal¡¯s mind. By using the logic inference, he can solve the case without even having to leave his chair. Before finding

48、the letter, he can predict where the letter was. As well as The Murders in the Rue Morgue, the story was very funny. The room was an adytum, without the murderer and the weapon there. Also by logic inference, he found the murderer was an orangutan. Another typical example is The Gold Bug, in which t

49、he writer showed us how the protagonist found the treasure-trove, and then when they were sitting beside the millions of the golden coins, they started to remind the process of looking for the coins. All the process was by inference of details and logic. Poe¡¯s greatness was that he antici

50、pated these developments as no one else did. We can say that, he was the father of detective story. 2.2.2 Scientific and technology in Poe¡¯s detective fiction Besides the psychoanalytic description, the scientific knowledge was first found in the story of that time. From the seventieth an

51、d ninetieth century, the development of nature science got his climax. America began to become more and more industrial as industry developed rapidly, science and technology took an important part in people¡¯s daily life. But Poe opposed the blind belief and dependence on science and techn

52、ology, and he also objected to excessive exploitation of nature. About the birth of detective story, it is not only because the judicial system, but also the great process of science. Science was widely and directly used into variety case. In detective process, investigation evidence collection and

53、identified and also case inference, they all need the support of the science. Therefore, the explanation of detector can be more convictive. Take The mystery of Marie Roget for example, in refuting the opinion of a newspaper, who said ¡°the body float on the surface of river, so that, she

54、must have died more than 15 days.¡± Dupin made sure that the body was not Marie Roget. In order to get the truth, he used the knowledge of the physics of buoyancy and density and showed the grasp of the biology of human body. After a series of scientific proof, Poe showed the conclusion, w

55、hich gave a feeling of relax to readers. The writers knew the meaning of science. During the inference of case, detector needed to investigate, collect, and infer the case. Because of the lack of wisdom, the works of those writers may be lack of the related knowledge, especially the natural science.

56、 During the process of inference, they will be related to knowledge in all directions. Therefore, the writers should be specialist in medical science. The detectors under Poe¡¯s description were all able to use a variety of scientific knowledge to solve the mystery as a symbol of wisdom. T

57、he spirit of scientific was not only the most important value, but also the glamour of detective novel. By using science and technology, the process and the conclusion make the fiction more credible and actual. Poe¡¯s detective fictions were different from any other novels before. 2.3 The

58、Symbolism of Poe¡¯s detective fiction Edger Allan Poe was a creative writer. During the mid-20th century, with the rise of modernity, his reputation got an unprecedented level. Wilbur, a famous modernist poet, admitted the modernity of Poe¡¯s works. He considered that in Poe¡

59、;¯s works, he created a new field, and he was the best in this field. And the Ph. D. Chang Yaoxin, mentioned the special status of Poe in American literature. It is the realism in spirit, which includes the description of dream and abstract world. However, it describes the statement of the natu

60、re and the reality of mind. In other words, modernity seeks the internality directly, explores the mystery of human mind and shows the activities in mind. Poe was a pioneer of modernist novelist, and insisted that the purpose of art is to entertainment, not the truth. In his short stories, he strive

61、d to create thrill, horror, and intense feeling, resulting in the unity of effort. Briefly, Poe¡¯s theory of detective fiction had something in common with modernity. What¡¯s more, symbolism was very obvious in Poe¡¯s detective fiction. Poe was the precedent of symbolis

62、m literature. The influence to symbolism literature had the aid of Charles Pierre Baudelaire£¬the precedent of symbolism of France, and Stephanie Mallarme£¬the post- symbolism poet. But it did stop in France, and it extended back to America, influencing the whole movement of modernism. On the one hand, as one of the most important schools of modernism literature, symbolism has full-bodied mystery. On the other hand, symbolism is good at setting various images to strengthen the art effort. And this m