Why do I do this to myself?
I'm now hopelessly behind on my reading. Just a few days after buying the complete Sherlock Holmes, I get the complete Edgar Allan Poe. I've always bought books faster than I could read them, but never in such sheer volume. Sometimes I can impress even me.
This 800-page collection of tiny print and disastrous words only ran me 8 bucks, which I have to admit is the real reason it was bought. A Poe fan I am, but a broke man I am as well. But I'm also happy with the literary timing of my purchase. I posed the question, where should I start with my Sherlock Holmes collection? After buying this one, it occurred to me that I wasn't asking deep enough.
It's not uncommon knowledge that Poe invented the fictional detective, making him the grandfather to Holmes, of sorts. I know this. I do not, however, have any damn idea what it means. So, before cracking open any Holmes case, I have some investigating to do. Cheerio.
posted by Luke McIntyre at 10/23/2006 07:13:00 AM
2 Comments:
I'm glad someone else has this problem...I always buy way more books that I'll ever have time to read.
...including the Poe collection.
People credit Poe with creating the detective story because of his Auguste Dupin stories - "The Murder In The Rue Morgue," "Mystery of Marie Roget" and "The Purloined Letter."
I don't know that he really invented the genre, but he gets points for popularizing the recurring detective.
Throughout the Holmes stories and novels - starting with "A Study In Scarlet" when Watson first compares him to Dupin, Holmes hates the comparison. While I like the Dupin stories as far as they go I have to agree that Holmes is more impressive.
I vote, as I think Chris did, for starting with the beginning of the Holmes cannon.
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