Mystery and Detection in Poe's Tales [F-15-38]
| Presenter: | Bruce Weiner |
|---|---|
| Location: | SLU: Griffiths 08 |
| Classes: | 4 Sessions 1.5 hours |
| Dates: | Mon 4:00 PM 10/05, 10/19, 10/26, 11/02 |
| Status: | CLOSEDCourse Update: The classroom for the "...Poe's Tales" class has been changed to Griffiths 08 for the last sessions. Enter the building: take the elevator or stairs to the basement; walk straight back (not left or right) to room 08. (For details/photos: Go to "Locations"---> Canton--> SLU: Griffiths 08) |
Print Info
Edgar Allan Poe is widely acknowledged as the inventor of the detective story. We will consider this claim to fame by examining Poe’s creative use of mystery, crime detection, and the detective hero in several of his most famous tales.
READING LIST:
Day 1: "The Fall of the House of Usher," "The Black Cat," "Ligeia"
Day 2: "The Man of the Crowd," "The Murders in the Rue Morgue"
Day 3: "The Mystery of Marie Roget," "The Purloined Letter"
Day 4: "The Gold Bug," "The Oblong Box"
NOTE: Collections of Poe’s tales are easily acquired at local libraries, book sales, etc.; they are also available for reading online. All the stories above can be found inales and Sketches, The Collected Works of Edgar Allan Poe - Vol. II: Tales and Sketches 1831-1842) - edited by Thomas Ollive Mabbott (with the assistance of Eleanor D. Kewer and Maureen C. Mabbott), 1978
All found on The Edgar Allan Poe Society of Baltimore website (which was updated July 2015). Readers can click on The Collected Works of Edgar Allan Poe which is a comprehensive collection of e-texts of all of Poe's prose and poetical writings. " and then choose "Poe's Tales" If you scroll to towards the bottom (or navigate down by first letter of a particular title), you will find each of the stories online. The text of the stories at the bottom come from The stories are there with explanatory notes that might be helpful to the reader.
Bruce Weiner recently retired and is now an emeritus professor of English at SLU. He taught mainly early American literature. Bruce has published several essays on Poe, including “That Metaphysical Art: Mystery and Detection in Poe’s Tales” (1986).