C. Auguste Dupin
Created by: Edgar Allan Poe
First Appearance: April 1841
Before the Holmes,
Poirots, and Blancs, there was
C. Auguste Dupin, the precursor to the modern gentleman
detective archetype that everyone loves. I was shocked too
when I read that one of the most influential horror writers,
Edgar Allan Poe (who famously defeated Stephen King in a rap battle) essentially started the genre i'm obsessed with. Dupin is a
frenchman from an aristocratic family (though he is mostly
broke due to some undisclosed circumstances) who has a
penchant for solving puzzles and mysteries. He's very
observant and analytical, even being able to deduce what
someone is thinking just by analyzing their expressions. He
and the unnamed narrator of his stories live together in an
abandoned mansion that was said to be haunted, spending their
time reading and writing books as it is their common passion.
They have a Holmes-Watson dynamic even before Holmes and
Watson, with the narrator serving as the audience's surrogate
as Dupin explains his line of reasoning.
Books
Edgar Allan Poe has only written 3 short stories starring C. Auguste Dupin.
2 of 3 stories read (67%)The Murders in the Rue Morgue
Introduces the character of Dupin and then presents a
mystery of two women who are mysteriously killed in
their own room. This is apparently the first locked room
mystery in fiction.
Read this one a couple years ago so this is due for a
re-read. But it's a decent mystery and you can see how
it influenced the genre of detective stories since the
core elements and tropes are already there amidst Poe's
wordy prose.
The Mystery of Marie Roget
Based on a real-life crime, Dupin solves the mystery of
a woman's dead body found in a river.
This one was personally, a tough read...
It's based on a real-life crime but the story itself was
more of Dupin criticizing the sensationalism of the
media... or at least that's where I got to before
dropping it. I tried multiple times to continue but have
found myself falling asleep while reading it. The
wordiness and the very technical writing of Poe worked
against the story here. Maybe someday i'll be able to
get through it...
The Purloined Letter
Dupin is consulted to help find a letter cleverly stolen
from the princess by a minister.
A short and simple story. The story ended a bit bluntly
though and I ended up reading some of the
interpretations about it especially regarding the
identity of the culprit and his relation to Dupin which
was emphasized in the closing lines of the story.
Reading the interpretations seemed more fun than the
story itself actually... but I don't think it's a
detriment to the book. Most of Edgar Allan Poe's work
actually feels like this for me where it doesn't seem
much on a surface level until you read the
interpretations of the themes behind the story and see
how well thought out it is.
