Edgar Allan Poe's "The Murders in the Rue Morgue" was published in 1841 in Philadelphia's Graham's Magazine. It is generally considered to be the first detective story--indeed the word "detective" did not yet exist. He called it "a tale of ratiocination." It became the prototype by which the genre is now known, as popularized by Doyle's Sherlock Holmes, with the 'locked-room' crime, the sidekick-narrator, and the gentleman-amateur detective.
Poe's analytic sense was praised and admired, apart from the writing, and he demonstrated this talent in his reading of Dickens's Barnaby Rudge, which appeared serialized the same year as Rue Morgue was published. Poe wrote two reviews of Barnaby Rudge in 1841. The first review was of the first few serialized chapters, the final review of the whole book. In the first review, again with only a few chapters, Poe deduced the killer. (He also, quite incorrectly, deduced the future plot of the novel.)
In his second review, Poe criticized Dickens for not making more use of the talking raven, Grip, in the novel, and then went on to borrow him for his famous poem.
Poe's analytic sense was praised and admired, apart from the writing, and he demonstrated this talent in his reading of Dickens's Barnaby Rudge, which appeared serialized the same year as Rue Morgue was published. Poe wrote two reviews of Barnaby Rudge in 1841. The first review was of the first few serialized chapters, the final review of the whole book. In the first review, again with only a few chapters, Poe deduced the killer. (He also, quite incorrectly, deduced the future plot of the novel.)
In his second review, Poe criticized Dickens for not making more use of the talking raven, Grip, in the novel, and then went on to borrow him for his famous poem.
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