Forgotten'' novels by Edgar Poe

It is a recognized opinion that classic detective plots originate in Edgar Allan Poe's ratiocinations and his stories about criminals. But the traits of a detective plot may be found not only in his best-selling stories. In ''The Oblong Box'' (1844) and ''The Sphinx'' (1845) the reader is initially confused and has to solve a mystery. These narrations are also notable for a particular detective atmosphere defined by many as ''suspense''. In ''Thou Art the Man.'' (1844), with an amateur detective as a narrator of a revenge crime, we see both the ratiocination and self-accusation elements. In this story one can witness E. Poe's poetics development which results in the combination of the detective traits and a peculiar irony forming a contrast to the gravity of the offence. This story had hardly ever been popular with Russian critics and was translated into Russian only in 1874. Konstantin Balmont, a Russian poet who translated E. Poe's prose and lyrics, did not appreciate ''Thou Art the Man.''. But his contemporary, a famous literary man and translator, M. Engelhard tried to cover all E. Poe's prose by publishing his collected works in Russian. He even issued the least popular stories:''Loss of Breath'', ''The Business Man'', ''The Man that was Used Up'' and ''Thou Art the Man.''. Nowadays Edgar Allan Poe's prose is being reconsidered in Russia and this process is affecting the writer's new editions. In 2010 there appeared a book ''1 Rue Morgue'', which was a part of the book line ''Not only E. Poe''. The chapter ''Edgar Allan Poe'' includes four stories: ''The Murders in the Rue Morgue'', ''The Tell-Tale Heart'', ''The Pit and the Pendulum'', ''The Cask of Amontillado''. It is only now that we see E. Poe's detective cycle, which demonstrates all the detective components. But this book might have been more representative with such stories as ''Thou Art the Man.'', ''The Oblong Box'' and ''The Sphinx'' as it is senseless to apply classic literature categories to the poetics of the detective, which belongs to a ludic and intellectual sphere rather than it deals with the problems of morals.

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