Two cases of detection for Monsieur Auguste C. Dupin, Poe's great detective. Who could have committed the atrocious Murders in the Rue Morgue? The victims are found in a room locked from the inside – so how did the murderer get in, or out? Witnesses report having heard foreign voices but can't agree on the nationality. And what about the superhuman strength of the killer? Will Dupin find the Purloined Letter and save the royal personage? Where does the Minister hide it?
Edgar Allan Poe was born in Boston in 1809. Both his parents, David Poe and Elizabeth Arnold, were itinerant actors and died of consumption when he was very young. Although never officially adopted, Poe was taken into the home of John Allan, a merchant from Virginia, and his wife, Frances Keeling Valentine to whom the writer became particularly attached.
In 1815 the Allans moved to Britain where the family lived for five years and where Edgar also went to school. On their return to Virginia, Poe was sent to a private school where he was considered an exceptional all-round student.
In 1826 Poe enrolled at the University of Virginia but his foster-father refused to finance his studies. This made their relationship even more difficult and Edgar was forced to leave the University after only one year, despite his excellent results. In the same period Poe started to gamble and drink very heavily. A year later, he moved to Boston where he began his literary career in earnest and suffered his first disappointment when Tamerlane and Other Poems by a Bostonian, which he published himself, was totally ignored by critics.
In 1827 Edgar enlisted in the Army under the name Edgar A. Perry. His quarrels with John Allan continued. In 1829 after returning to Richmond too late to attend his foster-mother's funeral, he decided to apply for a cadetship at West Point. Before entering West Point, Edgar submitted a manuscript entitled Al Aaraaf, Tamerlane, and Minor Poems for publication. This time the book was published not anonymously, but under the name Edgar A. Poe, the middle initial acknowledging the part the Allans had played in his life.
Expelled from the Academy in 1832, Poe moved to Baltimore to live with his aunt, Maria Clemm, and his first cousin Virginia. The following year he won a literary prize for his story MS. Found in a Bottle in the Baltimore Saturday Visiter. In 1835 Poe brought his aunt and cousin to Richmond where he worked with Thomas Willis White at the Southern Literary Messenger. The next year he married his cousin Virginia, only thirteen years old. His work at the Messenger was mainly criticism such as reviews of other magazines, novels and poetry and helped to boost the magazine's sales.
His editorial work, however, was not sufficient to support his family, and the Poes had trouble making ends meet. In 1840 Poe published Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque which contains several of his greatest stories, followed a year later by The
Murders in the Rue Morgue which is considered by some critics to be the first ever detective story. However it was The Gold Bug, published in 1843, which brought Poe widespread acclaim.
Financial success soon followed with the poem The Raven which first appeared in The Evening Mirror. The poem is a perfect example of Poe's mastery of rhythm and lyrical invention.
Tragedy befell Poe in 1847 when his young wife Virginia died of tuberculoses. The heartbroken author began to drink more heavily. Writing of the effect of Virginia's death, Poe remarked: "I became insane, with long intervals of horrible sanity. During these fits of absolute unconsciousness, I drank... my enemies referred the insanity to the drink, rather than the drink to the insanity."
On October 3, 1849 he was found unconscious in front of a polling booth in Baltimore and was taken to hospital where he died on October 7, 1849, at the age of forty. Edgar Allan Poe was buried in Baltimore beside his wife.
Poe's life has attracted almost as much attention from critics as his works, and it has often been said that his sometimes psychotic and manic personality closely mirrored the morbid obsessions of his characters, or vice versa; a brilliant example of how life and fiction inexorably merge in the constantly weaving and unweaving fabric of art.
Some Information about Edgar Allan Poe's Life
The Murders in the Rue Morgue
Chapter One - Extraordinary Murders
Chapter Two - The Testimonies
Chapter Three - At the Scene of the Crime
Chapter Four - The Mystery Unfolds
Chapter Five - "Caught"
Chapter Six - A Sailor's Story
The Purloined Letter
Chapter One - The Search for the Letter
Chapter Two - Dupin's Techniques
Chapter Three - The Solution of the Case
關鍵字詞： Edgar Allan Poe|Murders|detective|中英雙語
