The Birth of Ratiocination: Edgar Allan Poe's "The Murders in the Rue Morgue" As the Foundation of Modern Detective Fiction

Abstract

This article examines Edgar Allan Poe's "The Murders in the Rue Morgue" (1841) as the seminal work that established the detective fiction genre. Through analysis of narrative techniques, character development, and plot construction, this study demonstrates how Poe created a blueprint for detective fiction that continues to influence the genre. Particular attention is given to Poe's introduction of the "detective-as-hero" archetype through C. Auguste Dupin, the use of logical reasoning as a narrative device, and the establishment of crucial genre conventions including the locked-room mystery, the Watson-type narrator, and the extraordinary solution. The findings indicate that Poe's innovative approach to crime literature fundamentally transformed storytelling by establishing analytical reasoning as an essential component of narrative entertainment, thus creating a new literary paradigm that would later be developed by authors like Arthur Conan Doyle and Agatha Christie.