Woke up thinking about British novelist Wilkie Collins, and his fine 1860s-era detective novel The Moonstone, which I’ve read a few times. There’s a delightful side character in the book who finds solace and wisdom for daily life in rereading the novel Robinson Crusoe (published in 1719). I couldn’t remember where The Moonstone lived in the early period of detective-novel fiction, so went looking online and found a great resource in the form of a catalog of a 1973 library exhibition at Indiana University Bloomington celebrating the first 100 years of detective fiction.
Here’s a link to that: https://liblilly.sitehost.iu.edu/etexts/detective/index.shtml
Naturally the exhibition started with Edgar Allen Poe’s short story The Murders in the Rue Morgue, credited as the first of the genre. (It includes an explanation for why Poe’s short story was set in Paris, but that’s a whole other rabbit hole.) What I didn’t know is that French author Emile Gaboriau is credited with writing the first book-length detective novel. Published in 1866, L’Affaire Lerouge, is available online on the Gutenberg Project’s web site.
Because I’m a sucker for grand challenges, I’ve decided to read the book in French, a language I love but speak haltingly.
I had no idea I’d end up here when all I really meant to do was remind myself about the Robinson-Crusoe-loving character from Collins’ book, which I guess is the joy of any good rabbit hole.
Every time I get into a funk about where the world is headed and how it was easier/better when I was a newly minted adult, I must nip that thinking in the bud. I love love love how much information is available to me with a few clicks of a mouse. I don’t forget the old glories of going to an actual library to do research, a thing I still do because not everything is accessible online. But today’s online excursion is bringing me joy.
Bring on your detective, Monsieur Gaboriau. You cut a path I’m curious to follow.
Susan Palmer's Exquisite Now 