We have examined some of the authors and sub-genres of this extremely popular topic several times over the past year or so (see, e.g., our posts of 24 May 2009, 30 June 2009 and 27 September 2009). Over the next several days we will examine this genre in more general terms:
Arguably the earliest known work of fiction to incorporate the major elements of what we today recognize as a mystery (puzzles, detection. multiple plot twists) is a tale that was compiled as part of The Arabian Nights. It concerns a locked chest that is found by a fisherman, who sells the chest to a local ruler. The ruler, ordering the chest opened, discovers inside the body of a young woman which has been cut to pieces. The ruler orders an advisor to solve the murder or be executed himself. The advisor fails, but.... This tale usually is translated as The Three Apples or The Tale of the Murdered Young Woman.
As we pointed out in our post on hard-boiled detective fiction, most scholars of the genre consider Poe's Murders in the Rue Morgue to be the fountainhead of modern mysteries, a case made most forcefully by Robert Lowndes in his much-cited essay, The Contributions of Edgar Allen Poe (in Nevins' The Mystery Writer's Art). Among the many elements of the genre credited to Poe are
the brilliant, if eccentric private detective with a genius for applying pure inductive and deductive reasoning to human behavior, a baffling crime, a locked room, the friend to whom the detective tells the facts, the names of innocent suspects, the detective's observations of the crime scene, the battle of wits with the official police,the end where the detective reveals in a satisfying manner how he solved the case, the police asking the detective for help and the detective solving the case from his armchair by reading newspaper accounts and official data....
Folks interested in exploring the origins and evolution of the genre will want to add to their shelves not only the Nevins' title noted above, but also one or more of the following titles:
A handy guide or two to major genre characters and their sidekicks might also prove to be helpful:
If one wants to trace the geographic- and/or gender-specific evolution of the genre. titles are available to help one out in this respect as well:
A number of other titles that trace the development of the genre and its many sub-genres also are available, and a handy guide to such titles will be found here...
Tomorrow, a look at some mystery sub-genres that we've neglected in previous posts....
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