Transcript The History of Mystery - Closter Public Schools / Overview

The History of Mystery
From Edgar Allen Poe
To
Goosebumps
What’s in a Mystery?
►A
Crime
► Variety of Characters
► Clues (and Red
Herrings)
► Suspense & Tension
► Solution
Edgar Allen Poe:
The Father of Mystery
Born 1809, Died 1849
► Introduced first fictional
detective, Auguste C.
Dupin, in Murders in the
Rue Morgue (story)
► “Locked Room” mystery
► Poe shifted emphasis
from eerie setting to
criminal mind
►
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle:
Sherlock Holmes Mysteries
► Born
1859, Died 1930
► Sherlock Holmes’
debut in 1887 novel,
A Study in Scarlet
► Holmes
deduced clues
to solve crimes
► Solving of crimes
became a science
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle penning
another mystery . . .
Agatha Christie:
The “Golden Age of Mystery Fiction”
► Born
1890, Died 1976
► Wrote more than 80
novels
► Hercule Poirot and
Miss Marple were
Christie’s most famous
detectives
“The Shadow” brings Mystery to the
Radio Airwaves
►
►
►
►
►
Originally named “The
Detective Show”
On the air from 1930 to
1954 (24 years)
The Shadow was an
invincible crime-fighter
who could defy gravity,
unravel any code, and
“cloud men’s minds”
Never seen, only heard
http://www.oldradioworld.com/media/The%20Shadow%20195403-28%20Death%20in%20the%20Deep.mp3
"Who knows what evil lurks in
the hearts of men? The Shadow
knows!"
Alfred Hitchcock:
Mystery Hits the Silver Screen
►
►
►
►
Born 1899, Died 1980
Writer/Actor/Director of over 50 films, beginning with
“Number 13” (1922)
Explored the notion of terror inflicted on the unknowing
(and sometimes innocent) victim
Other themes: Guilt, Fear, Redemption
Rod Serling’s “Twilight Zone”
► Born
1924, Died 1975
► Interest in mysteries
from a young age
► Wrote TV dramas in
the early 1950’s
► Left to create “The
Twilight Zone,” a
science fiction TV
series, in 1957
►
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b5aW08ivHU
Today’s Mystery Writers
► Joan
Lowery Nixon
(Nightmare)
► Lois Duncan (I Know
What you Did Last
Summer)
► John Grisham (Theodore
Boone, Kid Lawyer)
► Dan Brown (DaVinci
Code)
Defining Elements of Mystery
► Mysterious/Scary
Setting
► Eerie Atmosphere
► Suspense
► A determined Sleuth
► Obstacles to solving the crime
► Red Herrings that mislead the reader
► A Sidekick (sometimes) to help solve the
mystery
The Detective’s Vocabulary
► Alibi: An excuse that a suspect uses to show that he or she was
somewhere other than at the scene of the crime
► Breakthrough: A development that advances/solves a case
► Deduce: To derive at a conclusion from something known or
assumed; infer
► Evidence: Something that helps prove who committed the crime
(may be concrete or circumstantial)
► Motive: The reason(s) why a person commits a crime
► Victim: Someone who is harmed or suffers some loss due to the
crime
► Witness: Someone who saw the crime being committed and can
provide some information
Do Now
1.
2.
3.
4.
Identify the three great mystery writers and their
detectives.
Identify five important elements of a mystery.
Identify the “detective’s vocabulary” terms that
relate to a SUSPECT.
Identify the terms that relate to an
INVESTIGATOR.