Edgar Allan Poe is famous for his horror stories. However, only about fifteen of his sixty or so stories are of this kind.He is also widely recognized as the “father” of modern detective fiction thanks to his three tales featuring the Chevalier [Sir] Auguste Dupin. In a manner later emulated by the likes of Sherlock Holmes and Hercule Poirot, Dupin succeeds where eminent policemen fail… in this case, simply by recognizing that the best place to hide something important is in plain sight. Themes: blackmail, political manipulation, deception, linear (scientific) vs. lateral thinking.
Original Text / PDF / Audio (6,400 words)
General Comments
The translation of Dupin’s note on the fake letter is: If such a sinister design isn’t worthy of Atreus, it is worthy of Thyestes. This alludes to a story from Greek mythology in which King Atreus of Mycenae takes revenge on his brother, Thyestes, for seducing his wife. (He does this by killing Thyestes’s sons and serving them up in a meal!) Dupin’s inference is that both he and the Minister have similar (brotherly) minds and that in this case he (like Atreus) has taken revenge on the Minister for some great wrong. The wrong could refer to the Minister’s theft and misuse of the letter, or it could refer to an “evil turn” we are told that the Minster did to Dupin in Vienna. Perhaps the Minister tried to seduce Dupin’s wife!