“Reasoning through Madness” Looks at Crime Fiction of Poe, Doyle
October 23, 2017
Reasoning through Madness: the Detective in Gothic Crime Fiction is the latest article by Dr. Michelle Miranda, associate professor, Department of Security Systems and Law Enforcement Technology.
According to Dr. Miranda, elements of Gothic horror, scientific reasoning and crime are presented throughout works of Edgar Allan Poe and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Such works include Poe’s stories of horror and mystery, and those featuring the detective C. Auguste Dupin; and Doyle’s tales of mystery and the supernatural, as well as stories featuring Sherlock Holmes.
Says Dr. Miranda: “While Gothic fiction and detective fiction are distinctly different in style and form, Poe and Doyle were instrumental in linking the two, often through the combination of horror and reasoning. Both Poe and Doyle took cues from their own periods in history to isolate existing social anxieties…fear of the unknown clarified by the use of reasoning and logic, sometimes at the hands of the narrator-turned-investigator and other times at the hands of the detective.”
Dr. Miranda is the author of Forensic Analysis of Tattoos and Tattoo Inks, a book about the value of tattoos and tattoo inks as evidence in solving crimes and identifying victims.
