* * *
As a consequence, several critics have followed the line of thought that Dupin is actually beyond human, striving to recast him as something otherworldly, in a manner that implies that he should be considered in terms of the 'superhuman,' in the tradition of the mythical Hero figure. Maurice J. Bennett believed that "for Poe, the detective story reflects a pre-existent divine order from which man is excluded by erroneous methods of investigation and inadequate habits of perception,"13 which fascinatingly positions Poe as a religious agent, sent to ensure that events pan out as intended by a higher power; 'man' may be excluded from the process, but Dupin is crucial to it. Joseph J. Moldenhauer also elevates him to a higher realm when writing that "his reason is so intense and lofty as to constitute a "creative" faculty, and the detective can "dream" a solution to the most tangled mystery without so much as stirring from his armchair. He is, then, a master artist, dictating or imagining - i.e. imaging - a coherent order for discordant experience,"14 repairing the broken fabric of humanity in a manner beyond that of the mere mortal, through the sheer force of his imagination.
Robert Shulman is also interested in the idea of imagination, noting that "this dramatizing of the superiority of the poetic power of imagination gives the Dupin stories much of their urgency, distinguishes them from the ordinary detective story, and constitutes a large part of their appeal."15 Such a statement is important because it cannot help but evoke the ideas of transcendentalism that were achieving prominence at the same time as Poe was working on his Dupin trilogy. Celebration of the potential of the imagination was one of the key tenets of the movement, and the self-reliance implied in the narrator's statement that "we existed within ourselves alone"16 has an obvious parallel with Walden, Henry David Thoreau's account of his woodland sojourn. Dupin intends to learn about himself in the same manner as Thoreau did; through a period of isolation and unique intellectual contemplation, in the pursuit of absolute autonomy. When Kinsman notes that "the detective historically remained immune to the ordinary feelings, passions and weaknesses experienced by those around him,"17 we must remember that Poe was responsible for this convention, and the circumstances under which Dupin and the narrator live certainly invite comparisons to the transcendentalists.18
At its core, though, the Dupin trilogy is undeniably simplistic in its intentions; in each case, "the solution of the mystery signals the restoration of law and order, after which the world resumes its course and the body social and politic can return to business as usual." 19 Hans Bertens and Theo D'haen most likely use the word 'business' without intending for it to have a wider significance, but it actually does takes on a greater importance when you consider Christopher Rollason's suggestion that "the social order which the detective sets out to defend is that of expanding mid-nineteenth century capitalism...[he] closes his work and is paid the rate for the job; detection has become a scarce and valuable commodity, which the owner sells dear."20 Whilst this idea is underplayed in the narratives, Dupin does not take employment purely for his own amusement; he expects financial recompense for his efforts, which is noteworthy simply because money becomes such a crucial element within the genre, in the work of those following on from Poe. It drives detectives onwards, drives clients to desperation, and drives many a character to their death. Put simply, crime fiction revolves around it, and the advent of hard-boiled fiction really drives the point home.
One final point remains; for all his supposed infallibility, Dupin is fighting a battle that can never be won. As David Schmid points out, "even if the Great Detective manages to solve an individual murder and thus to restore the image of a benevolent and knowable world, this same image will be disrupted once more almost instantly."21 This sense of futility becomes another one of the driving forces of the crime fiction genre; ultimately, no matter how much good one man may do, it is never enough. The sub-genres that emerge in the wake of Poe's formative vision deal with the inevitability of crime as a recurrent, inevitable element in different ways, and the fictional worlds that emerge post-Poe feature detectives far less romantic than the flawless Dupin.
Footnotes:
13. Bennett, 'The Detective Fiction of Poe and Borges,' page 266
14. Joseph J. Moldenhauer, 'Murder as a Fine Art: Basic Connections between Poe's Aesthetics, Psychology, and Moral Vision,' from PMLA, Volume 83, Number 2 (May, 1968), page 290
15. Robert Shulman, 'Poe and the Powers of the Mind,' from ELH, Volume 37, Number 2 (June, 1970), page 254
16. Poe, 'The Murders in the Rue Morgue,' page 415
17. Kinsman, 'A Band of Sisters,' page 159
18. To argue assertively that Poe was an advocate of transcendentalism is a largely futile exercise; no literature exists to prove the link, and indeed, his 1841 short story 'Never Bet the Devil Your Head: A Tale With a Moral' is an undisguised attack on a movement that he calls a "disease," lamenting their insistence on morality in literature. Yet the parallels are there for anyone to see, and the crime fiction genre that he created is an inherently moral genre (focussed as it is on the idea of justice prevailing over the criminal elements of society).
19. Hans Bertens and Theo D'haen, Contemporary American Crime Fiction (Basingstoke: Palgrave, 2001), page 175
20. Christopher Rollason, 'The Detective Myth in Edgar Allan Poe's Dupin Trilogy,' from American Crime Fiction: Studies in the Genre, page 12
21. Schmid, 'The Locus of Disruption: Serial Murder and Generic Conventions in Detective Fiction,' page 76
No comments:
Post a Comment