"The Mystery of Marie Rogêt" is a short story written by Edgar Allan Poe. It was published in 1842. It is also the sequel to his story "The Murders in Rue Morgue." I have already reviewed the latter and didn't like it. So what do I think about this one? I don't like it either... but for entirely different reasons.
Dupin is back to deduce out a new murder mystery, which he does in the most over-written way possible. The good news here is that he keeps the majority of it in English. This was a huge improvement. I understood everything I was reading and found myself invested in the story that was being examined. Unfortunately, Dupin does constantly and unnecessarily over explain his analysis to the point of being heavily redundant. I grew tired of him making the same point several times within the same paragraph.
The whole story was very interesting, but I started to get a bad feeling part ways into it. Unlike my other Poe stories, this one was riddled with footnotes, and I didn't understand why. Since all the footnotes were found at the end of the story, I was kind of ignoring them. I just wanted the story to speak for itself, but the good times did not last. It caught up with me. Something bad was happening, and I didn't realize it until I got close to the ending.
Dupin brings you right to the point where they are soon about to uncover the perpetrator of the murder. I was excited about this because the first story has Dupin confronting the culprit personally, and it seemed clear that the same thing was about to happen. It doesn't. Instead, you get a note from the publisher of the book stating that that entire scene has been omitted. The ending of this overwritten story... wasn't even there.
As it turns out, this story was a near 1-to-1 telling of an actual murder that took place in New York. Poe set the whole thing in Paris to keep himself from looking like he might be involved. Not a bad idea, I have to admit. That kind of makes this more of a true crime story presented as a fictional one. Cool!
What was not cool was that the ending would not inevitably be included, likely so that the publishers could avoid any similar trouble. What that leaves us with is an unfinished story that was kind of an annoying read. I'm tired, folks. I can only handle so much.
As with the first story, I just refuse to recommend "The Mystery of Marie Rogêt" to anyone. Dupin is an interesting detective character, but I just prefer Sherlock Holmes far more because it lacks all this writing drama. I'm getting tired of Poe, guys!
This blog was written on February 19, 2023.
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Poe's hubris and presumption are killing your interest, not amazing you with his intellect. It seems he failed. Sad, since he was imaginative and talented. Pride does indeed go before a fall.
ReplyDeleteSadly, it is going that way. It's not all bad though, but the last few I have to read are a pain and a half.
DeleteKind of interesting and creepy that this was based on true crime but sad that it didn't have an ending. I didn't know about this sequel until now, then again I really didn't like the first one. There is just so much Poe one can take haha.
ReplyDeleteI'm almost done, so I'll be very happy to say goodbye to this author.
DeleteBy basing the story on an actual murder, the ending was kept from the audience. That is one reason to avoid such things. It is best to merely use the real to provide a starting point.
ReplyDeleteI'm surprised he even bothered doing that. It was a mistake.
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