C. Auguste Dupin
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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“But could not the cavity be detected by sounding?”--"The Purloined Letter" (1844) by Edgar Allan Poe |
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C. Auguste Dupin is a fictional detective created by Edgar Allan Poe.
Generally acknowledged as the first detective in fiction, C. Auguste Dupin was the prototype for many that came later (most notably Sherlock Holmes). He lives in Paris with his close friend, the anonymous narrator of the stories. He bears the title Chevalier, meaning that he is a knight in the Légion d'honneur.
Many tropes that would later become commonplace in mystery fiction first appeared in Poe's stories: the eccentric but brilliant detective, the bumbling constabulary, the first-person narration by a close personal friend. Like Sherlock Holmes, Dupin uses his considerable deductive prowess and observation to solve crimes.
He appears in three stories by Poe:
- "The Murders in the Rue Morgue" (1841)
- "The Mystery of Marie Roget" (1842)
- "The Purloined Letter" (1844)
In the first Holmes story, A Study in Scarlet, Doctor Watson compares Holmes to Dupin, to which Conan Doyle would have Holmes reply: "No doubt you think you are complimenting me ... In my opinion, Dupin was a very inferior fellow", despite the fact that his detective was evidently inspired by the other. This was Doyle's way of paying homage to Poe's creation while simply suggesting that his Sherlock Holmes is a much better improvement.
