Edgar Allan Poe Influences

Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Murders in the Rue Morgue” is perhaps his most influential work

in that it was his first work featuring Chevalier Auguste Dupin, a singular and intellectual man,

whose characterization has been recreated and enjoyed numerous times throughout American

literature and entertainment. His most admirable features are his intellect and creativity which

allow him to deduce facts from observations. These key characteristics have reappeared in the

works of many authors and have influenced popular characters in film, television, and stage

plays. His influence has not only impacted American popular culture but popular culture around

the world as well and has also provided the foundations for multiple genres.

Poe is

Poe can be credited with the

introduction of this genre because he was the first writer to use science as the foundation for

extrapolations (such as Dupin’s determining that the orange hair left behind by the orangutan

could not be human and neither could the strength required to accomplish such feats as climbing

the pole, thrusting one’s self upon the shutters, swinging one’s self inward, pulling entire pieces

of scalp and hair off of a human’s head, and shoving an entire corpse up a chimney), while

avoiding the supernatural. These are the same rules which are generally followed in the science

fiction genre. While this may seem to be a literary contribution it extends into American popular

culture because both detective fiction and science fiction provide the foundations for many

entertainment productions such as television shows, films, videogames, and even music. (Olney,

416-421)

Poe is able to introduce the foundation for multiple genres by introducing the idea that

ratiocination can be used to resolve problems faced by protagonists. This concept of ratiocination

involves problem solving by use of only reason and knowledge. In “The Murders in the

Amongst the reiterations of these ideas are conceptual foundations for the movies Fight

Club and The Machinist. These ideas of dualism may have even be foreshadowed the model

which Sigmund Freud asserted in the early twentieth century that the human psyche consisted of

three parts which included the id, ego, and superego. (Freud) These three parts collaborate to

create the mental consciousness which we experience as humans, much like William Wilson and

his doppelganger are two halves of a whole. (Jung)

Poe’s legacy has and will continue to live in American culture, popular culture around the

world, and literature as the human intrigue for mystery, detective stories, horror stories, and

science fiction are insatiable and the genres continue to branch off into countless subgenres. His

work is the clear influence for certain works, like Doyle’s “A Scarlet Letter”, and hint at the

influence they may have in others, such as Fight Club. While Poe may be long gone, his work

and their influence can be found in many modern arts; he has even been featured in movies and

stories himself. Poe has changed American culture and literature in immeasurable ways which

continue to influence to creative