1 00:00:00,080 --> 00:00:01,960 Speaker 1: This Day in History Class is a production of I 2 00:00:02,040 --> 00:00:16,840 Speaker 1: Heart Radio. Hello and welcome to This Day in History Class, 3 00:00:16,840 --> 00:00:19,800 Speaker 1: a show that uncovers a little bit more about history 4 00:00:20,040 --> 00:00:25,560 Speaker 1: every day. I'm Gabelusier, and today we're investigating The Murders 5 00:00:25,600 --> 00:00:28,880 Speaker 1: in the Rue Morgue by American writer and poet Edgar 6 00:00:28,920 --> 00:00:32,200 Speaker 1: Allan Poe. But don't worry if you've never read it before, 7 00:00:32,600 --> 00:00:35,320 Speaker 1: we won't be spoiling who done it in the episode. 8 00:00:35,800 --> 00:00:43,160 Speaker 1: You'll have to solve that mystery for yourself. The day 9 00:00:43,560 --> 00:00:49,720 Speaker 1: was April one. Edgar Allan Poe published The Murders in 10 00:00:49,760 --> 00:00:52,960 Speaker 1: the Room Morgue, a tale that is widely considered to 11 00:00:52,960 --> 00:00:57,120 Speaker 1: be the first modern detective story. It first appeared in 12 00:00:57,200 --> 00:01:01,560 Speaker 1: Graham's Magazine, a monthly literary journal that published short stories, 13 00:01:01,640 --> 00:01:06,160 Speaker 1: critical reviews, and news about music and fashion. Edgar Allan 14 00:01:06,240 --> 00:01:09,280 Speaker 1: Poe had been hired as the journal's editor just two 15 00:01:09,360 --> 00:01:12,920 Speaker 1: months earlier. The position allowed him the chance to publish 16 00:01:12,959 --> 00:01:15,640 Speaker 1: some of his own original stories, and the first one 17 00:01:15,680 --> 00:01:19,160 Speaker 1: he chose to include was The Murders in the Room Morgue. 18 00:01:19,600 --> 00:01:23,480 Speaker 1: Pose editorial control turned out to have a profound effect 19 00:01:23,520 --> 00:01:27,520 Speaker 1: on the literary world, launching the popularity of detective stories 20 00:01:27,600 --> 00:01:31,080 Speaker 1: or mysteries, and paving the way for many more to come. 21 00:01:32,080 --> 00:01:36,720 Speaker 1: You might be wondering what exactly makes a story a mystery. Well, 22 00:01:36,760 --> 00:01:39,679 Speaker 1: for one thing, the driving action of a mystery story 23 00:01:39,720 --> 00:01:42,600 Speaker 1: is the solution to a crime, usually a murder, but 24 00:01:42,800 --> 00:01:47,080 Speaker 1: sometimes a theft or kidnapping. A mystery also follows some 25 00:01:47,200 --> 00:01:50,760 Speaker 1: kind of detective professional or otherwise as they try to 26 00:01:50,800 --> 00:01:54,160 Speaker 1: determine who did the crime and why. You can have 27 00:01:54,240 --> 00:01:57,320 Speaker 1: what's called a cozy mystery, like a Miss Marple story 28 00:01:57,520 --> 00:02:00,520 Speaker 1: or a Father Brown mystery, and in these the action 29 00:02:00,640 --> 00:02:03,560 Speaker 1: is usually set in a small town, making the violence 30 00:02:03,600 --> 00:02:06,680 Speaker 1: of the crime all the more shocking. On the other hand, 31 00:02:06,840 --> 00:02:09,919 Speaker 1: there are hard boiled mysteries. These are the ones where 32 00:02:09,960 --> 00:02:13,320 Speaker 1: the hero is a world weary cop or a private investigator, 33 00:02:13,639 --> 00:02:17,080 Speaker 1: like the Sam Spade character and Dashiel Hammett's books or 34 00:02:17,240 --> 00:02:21,480 Speaker 1: Raymond Chandler's Philip Marlowe. Both of these kinds of mysteries 35 00:02:21,600 --> 00:02:25,239 Speaker 1: fall under the larger genre of suspense, along with crime 36 00:02:25,280 --> 00:02:29,720 Speaker 1: novels and thrillers. Mystery stories tend to be more cerebral 37 00:02:29,840 --> 00:02:33,359 Speaker 1: and less violent, while crime stories are more dramatic and 38 00:02:33,440 --> 00:02:36,680 Speaker 1: thrillers are more emotional, playing up the fear and dread 39 00:02:36,760 --> 00:02:40,480 Speaker 1: of the characters. Each of these kinds of suspense stories 40 00:02:40,720 --> 00:02:44,440 Speaker 1: have common elements, such as crimes and detectives, but they 41 00:02:44,480 --> 00:02:47,839 Speaker 1: also have sharply defined distinctions that make them their own 42 00:02:47,880 --> 00:02:51,959 Speaker 1: unique things. It's impossible to say for certain who wrote 43 00:02:51,960 --> 00:02:55,880 Speaker 1: the first ever suspense story, but in terms of modern fiction, 44 00:02:56,200 --> 00:02:59,840 Speaker 1: the person who generally gets the credit is Edgar Allan Poe. 45 00:03:00,120 --> 00:03:02,800 Speaker 1: His story The Murders in the Room Morgue is the 46 00:03:02,840 --> 00:03:06,240 Speaker 1: earliest example in which a character solves a mystery by 47 00:03:06,280 --> 00:03:10,960 Speaker 1: analyzing facts and following clues. Poe even had a special 48 00:03:11,040 --> 00:03:14,720 Speaker 1: name for this logic based form of deduction. He called 49 00:03:14,720 --> 00:03:20,239 Speaker 1: it radios nation, or reasoned train of thought. In the story, 50 00:03:20,520 --> 00:03:25,519 Speaker 1: Poe's amateur detective Monsieur c August Dupin, decides to put 51 00:03:25,560 --> 00:03:28,200 Speaker 1: his reason to use by trying to solve the murder 52 00:03:28,200 --> 00:03:31,920 Speaker 1: of two women in Paris. The details of the investigation 53 00:03:32,000 --> 00:03:35,680 Speaker 1: are recounted by Dupin's roommate, an unnamed man, who is 54 00:03:35,760 --> 00:03:40,840 Speaker 1: fascinated by the detectives analytical prowess. Following the success of 55 00:03:40,960 --> 00:03:45,080 Speaker 1: Rue Morgue, Poe wrote further mystery stories using this technique, 56 00:03:45,280 --> 00:03:49,120 Speaker 1: including the Mystery of Marie roget in eighteen forty two 57 00:03:49,320 --> 00:03:53,520 Speaker 1: and the Purloined Letter in eighteen forty four. To be clear, 58 00:03:53,800 --> 00:03:56,760 Speaker 1: Poe didn't consider his mystery stories to be a whole 59 00:03:56,760 --> 00:04:00,400 Speaker 1: new kind of fiction. Instead, he recognized is that the 60 00:04:00,440 --> 00:04:04,040 Speaker 1: groundwork for mysteries had been laid by earlier authors, and 61 00:04:04,040 --> 00:04:06,960 Speaker 1: that he was simply reinventing it for the modern age. 62 00:04:07,360 --> 00:04:10,040 Speaker 1: In eighteen forty six, he wrote a letter to a 63 00:04:10,080 --> 00:04:13,640 Speaker 1: friend explaining the appeal of his new approach. He said, 64 00:04:13,920 --> 00:04:18,279 Speaker 1: quote these tales of radio Senation, oh, most of their 65 00:04:18,279 --> 00:04:22,159 Speaker 1: popularity to being something old in a new key. I 66 00:04:22,200 --> 00:04:24,800 Speaker 1: do not mean to say that they are not ingenious, 67 00:04:24,960 --> 00:04:27,880 Speaker 1: but people think them more ingenious than they are on 68 00:04:27,920 --> 00:04:31,880 Speaker 1: account of their method and air of method. Two Poe, 69 00:04:32,360 --> 00:04:36,240 Speaker 1: it was Radio Senation that was innovative, the idea of 70 00:04:36,320 --> 00:04:39,840 Speaker 1: joining keen powers of observation with a reason to train 71 00:04:39,880 --> 00:04:43,279 Speaker 1: of thought. But what Poe probably didn't know is that 72 00:04:43,360 --> 00:04:46,960 Speaker 1: he was also establishing elements that would later become trademarks 73 00:04:46,960 --> 00:04:50,480 Speaker 1: of an entire genre. For instance, Poe was careful to 74 00:04:50,560 --> 00:04:53,560 Speaker 1: lay out clues throughout his story so that his readers 75 00:04:53,600 --> 00:04:56,520 Speaker 1: could have a crack at solving the mystery themselves, a 76 00:04:56,680 --> 00:04:59,880 Speaker 1: tactic that future writers like Agatha Christie would put to 77 00:05:00,040 --> 00:05:04,080 Speaker 1: good use in their own stories. Another defining feature that 78 00:05:04,120 --> 00:05:08,000 Speaker 1: Poe introduced was the idea of establishing a recurring detective 79 00:05:08,080 --> 00:05:12,600 Speaker 1: character who appeared in multiple stories. Poe Zone detective see 80 00:05:12,600 --> 00:05:16,440 Speaker 1: August Dupin, appeared in all three of the mysteries I mentioned, 81 00:05:16,680 --> 00:05:20,720 Speaker 1: paving the way for other serialized detectives like Sherlock Holmes 82 00:05:20,760 --> 00:05:25,120 Speaker 1: and Hercule Poirot. Following the publication of The Murders in 83 00:05:25,160 --> 00:05:28,599 Speaker 1: the Room, Morgue, detective stories began to grow into full 84 00:05:28,680 --> 00:05:33,000 Speaker 1: length novels these days. The first modern mystery novel is 85 00:05:33,040 --> 00:05:36,360 Speaker 1: credited to Charles Warren Adams, who wrote under the pen 86 00:05:36,480 --> 00:05:41,640 Speaker 1: name Charles Felix. His story, The Notting Hill Mystery, debuted 87 00:05:41,680 --> 00:05:44,880 Speaker 1: in eighteen sixty two, and, like post stories from a 88 00:05:44,920 --> 00:05:48,279 Speaker 1: few decades prior, it included many elements that have since 89 00:05:48,320 --> 00:05:52,279 Speaker 1: come to define the mystery genre. That story initially ran 90 00:05:52,400 --> 00:05:55,520 Speaker 1: as eight installments in a once a week magazine, and 91 00:05:55,600 --> 00:05:58,440 Speaker 1: was then published in book form three years later, where 92 00:05:58,480 --> 00:06:01,960 Speaker 1: it was met with rave review. One reviewer took pains 93 00:06:02,000 --> 00:06:05,960 Speaker 1: to explain how readers should approach the new genre, saying, quote, 94 00:06:06,440 --> 00:06:09,640 Speaker 1: this is best understood like a game of solitaire, or 95 00:06:09,680 --> 00:06:12,119 Speaker 1: like a puzzle that you've been handed to figure out. 96 00:06:13,120 --> 00:06:16,640 Speaker 1: Edgar Allan Poe may not have written his own detective novel, 97 00:06:16,920 --> 00:06:19,760 Speaker 1: but he did directly inspire the creation of one of 98 00:06:19,800 --> 00:06:24,919 Speaker 1: the genre's most enduring characters, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes. 99 00:06:25,600 --> 00:06:29,880 Speaker 1: Conan Doyle wasn't shy about crediting his inspiration either. He 100 00:06:30,000 --> 00:06:33,960 Speaker 1: once wrote, quote, each of Poe's detective stories is a 101 00:06:34,080 --> 00:06:37,840 Speaker 1: route from which a whole literature has developed. Where was 102 00:06:37,880 --> 00:06:41,719 Speaker 1: the detective story until Poe breathe the breath of life 103 00:06:41,920 --> 00:06:46,719 Speaker 1: into it. If you compare pose Dupin character with Conan 104 00:06:46,800 --> 00:06:51,800 Speaker 1: Doyle's Sherlock, the similarities are pretty striking. They're both armchair 105 00:06:51,880 --> 00:06:55,600 Speaker 1: detectives rather than professionals. They're both brought in to consult 106 00:06:55,640 --> 00:06:59,040 Speaker 1: on cases that have the local police stumped. They even 107 00:06:59,080 --> 00:07:03,040 Speaker 1: both rely on unassuming sidekicks for help with their cases. 108 00:07:03,480 --> 00:07:07,960 Speaker 1: Dupan has his unnamed narrator and Sherlock Holmes has Dr Watson. 109 00:07:08,760 --> 00:07:12,360 Speaker 1: But okay, so Post certainly left a lasting impression, but 110 00:07:12,480 --> 00:07:15,320 Speaker 1: he wasn't the only one. In fact, there's at least 111 00:07:15,360 --> 00:07:19,160 Speaker 1: one famous detective trope for which Conan Doyle deserves sole 112 00:07:19,240 --> 00:07:23,920 Speaker 1: credit the magnifying glass. Sherlock Holmes is believed to be 113 00:07:23,960 --> 00:07:27,720 Speaker 1: the first fictional character to ever use a magnifying glass 114 00:07:27,760 --> 00:07:30,960 Speaker 1: to help solve a mystery. That may not sound as 115 00:07:30,960 --> 00:07:34,680 Speaker 1: impressive as breathing life into a genre, but it was 116 00:07:34,760 --> 00:07:38,720 Speaker 1: still an important development for detective stories. I mean good 117 00:07:38,800 --> 00:07:44,680 Speaker 1: luck illustrating radio sennation on a book cover. I'm Gay 118 00:07:44,720 --> 00:07:48,080 Speaker 1: Blusier and hopefully you now know a little more about 119 00:07:48,160 --> 00:07:52,640 Speaker 1: history today than you did yesterday. If you enjoyed today's show, 120 00:07:52,920 --> 00:07:56,520 Speaker 1: consider following us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at t 121 00:07:56,680 --> 00:08:00,280 Speaker 1: d i HC Show, and if you have any comments 122 00:08:00,360 --> 00:08:03,160 Speaker 1: er suggestions, feel free to drop us a line at 123 00:08:03,200 --> 00:08:06,720 Speaker 1: this day at I heart media dot com. Thanks to 124 00:08:06,800 --> 00:08:09,480 Speaker 1: Chandler Mays for producing the show, and thanks to you 125 00:08:09,560 --> 00:08:12,680 Speaker 1: for listening. I'll see you back here again tomorrow for 126 00:08:12,760 --> 00:08:14,680 Speaker 1: another day in History class.