[Some spoilers included but not the ending.]
This seems to be the shortest one of the series and has a rather interesting premise of an important letter stolen from a woman in order to gain certain power and privilege. It's a tad vague on how this works, or maybe it wasn't. The story is exceedingly overwritten to the point that it overcomplicates what is actually happening. I get the gist though.
The fun of this story has to do with the prefect and how he did everything he possibly could to find this letter. He seems to have been more than thorough enough, but couldn't seem to locate where it was. He then leaves it to Dupin who finds it easily. The mystery revolves around how the heck Dupin succeeded in this, which I won't spoil.
It's readable. There was one detail that Dupin quotes in some other language, and that was annoying. And the very last line was in another language too. I translated it and still had no idea what the joke was, so that kinda makes it worse than how the first story ended. Much of it was overwritten and overthought and just lasts longer than it really needed to be. Even though it's a little more palatable on the whole, I still don't really recommend "The Purloined Letter." Just because it's an improvement doesn't mean it's good. Moving on.
This blog was written on March 3, 2023.
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Poe, like Nabakov, had a tendency to hid "Easter Eggs" by writing lines in other languages. Nabakov would also claim false facts, as a joke for those who know more about whatever he was mentioning. BOTH men did what they did as matters of pride... and they alone were impressed. They were not so smart after all.
ReplyDeleteI'm actually surprised his stories were as popular as they were. Not even joking.
DeleteI did read this one but I only have a vague memory of it, which probably means I didn't care for it. Again with the bilingual stuff bleh. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle did detective stories so much better, I can remember those haha.
ReplyDeleteI never found any of these problems in Doyle's stuff.
DeleteHow the letter was found is quite instructive. The story's charm is in its simplicity. Those who complicate things tend to miss what is right in front of them.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I guess.
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