The essay explores four connected short stories by Edgar Allan Poe, including the pioneering detective trilogy, through the lens of rhetorical narratology. This is a broad analytical framework for literary criticism based on the principle that the telling of a story is a freestanding event, and where the experience of its reception stands in the spotlight. The focus is on the methods behind the creation of a compelling mystery, though to Poe a mystery, like the construction of literature, is merely an illusion to unmask, a gap between a criminal act and the understanding of human behaviour. The relationships between author, narrator, characters and audience are as integral as each of the players and will therefore be discussed. Relevant terminology such as implied author, the mask the author chooses to wear, will be explained in more detail. How protagonists and narrators aid in underlining certain aspects and concealing others, adding filters, delay and distance that produce a varying sense of unsettledness and closure, will also be examined. Furthermore, Poe’s use of unreliable narration, which ranges from blatant lies to misinterpretations and where what is omitted often speaks the loudest, is discussed. The concept of hiding is central throughout; nothing, yet all, is hidden. Information is both constricted and given in overflow and clues are hidden in plain sight. The effects on the reader, who is invited to take active participation and apply critical thinking while simultaneously being manipulated, do not go unnoticed. Poe builds a system where he lets the detective speak on his behalf with the narrator as a mediator, which makes the occasional arrogance more palatable, as he with detached rationale criticizes institutional and societal authority and integrity and offers literary and psychological commentary. He thereby lets the reader get intimate with his ideas and challenge their own perspective, without getting close to him. Dualities and paradoxes show that without madness there is no sanity and by transcending the madness a higher understanding of the subconscious can be gained. All is of course crafted with language, rhetoric and semantic tools, on the thematic, mimetic and synthetic level to create multilayered works of art. The results are perhaps the definition of a successful narrative, where the reader will hand over their trust despite their intuition telling them otherwise, for the sole thrill of it.
Karin Severed Gerlach (Thu,) studied this question.