“(...) This morning, around three o'clock, the residents of the São Roque neighborhood were awakened from their sleep by successive screams terrifying, coming, it seemed, from the fourth floor of a house on Rua Morgue, of which such Mrs. L’ Espanaye and her daughter, Ms. Camila L'Espanaye. After a certain delay, caused by the fruitless attempt to enter the house through the usual, was the door broken open with a crowbar, eight or ten neighbors entered, in the company of two gendarmes. By this time, the screams had already ceased, but as the group climbed the first flight of stairs, two or more voices were heard, harsh, in wrathful dispute, which seemed to come from the higher part of the House. After reaching the second floor, these sounds also ceased and everything was completely silent (...)”.
The excerpt you read now is by Edgar Allan Poe and was taken from the short story Morgue Street Murders. Its publication started a new literary style, known worldwide and with strong popular appeal called
Police romance. The year was 1841, and from then on the plots shrouded in almost insoluble crime mysteries gained followers and admirers, who voraciously consume this literary genre.Hardly criticized and considered by many scholars a subliterary product, the Police Novel presents a narrative structure permeated by some peculiar elements, such as the presence of a crime, its investigation, usually conducted by a detective, and the cathartic revelation of the criminal. Masters of the genre, Edgar Allan Poe, Agatha Christie and Arthur Conan Doyle they created famous characters, the latter being the detective Sherlock Holmes, who strongly populates the collective imagination. Even today, thousands of copies of books by these authors are sold around the world, proving the popularity of the detective genre.
Edgar Allan Poe inaugurated the detective genre, whose legacy was perpetuated by writers such as Arthur Conan Doyle and Agatha Christie *
In Brazil, although we do not have a literary tradition when it comes to Police Novel, the first publication of its kind was made in the newspaper The leaf, from 1920, which brought to readers what is considered the first Brazilian crime novel: The mystery. Written by Coelho Neto, Afrânio Peixoto, Medeiros e Albuquerque and Viriato Corrêa, it inaugurated the style that would later be defended by authors such as Rubem Fonseca, Marçal Aquino, Luiz Alfredo Garcia-Roza, Joaquim Nogueira, Tony Bellotto, Luis Fernando Veríssimo, Flávio Carneiro, Patrícia Melo, Jô Soares, among other names that currently promote and make the Police Romance a style more and more respected. Although many believe that writing a good suspense narrative that at the same time preserves elements essential for the construction of a good plot is an arduous task, masterpieces of national literature, such as the book the great art, by Rubem Fonseca, are proof that it is possible to make mystery literature with literary quality.
Do not stop now... There's more after the advertising ;)
Sample detective fiction for yourself and make sure you can combine literature with entertainment. Check out a list of five books in the Police Romance genre and immerse yourself in the mysteries of good literature. Good reading!
Five tips for Police Novels from the most important authors of the genre in the world and in Brazil **
Extraordinary Stories – Edgar Allan Poe;
The great art – Rubem Fonseca;
The Dog of the Baskervilles – Arthur Conan Doyle;
Murders in Rua Morgue – Edgar Allan Poe,
The mysterious hand – Agatha Christie.
* Image was created from Wikimedia Commons site records.
* * The image was created from the covers of the aforementioned authors' books.
By Luana Castro
Graduated in Letters