Allan Poe, Justice and Murders in the Rue Morgue

At 9:50 a.m., May 22, Dr. Qi ZhiYing, Associate Professor of English and American Literature from the Department of English at Hong Kong Baptist University, gave an academic lecture entitled “Allan Poe, Justice and Murders in the Rue Morgue” to the students and faculty of the School of Foreign Studies (the SFS). Following the lecture “the Justice Expression in Jane Austen’s Novels and Movies” on May 21, she continued her discussion on justice and violence in fiction and related issues.

At the beginning, Dr. Fan Yiting gave a brief introduction to Prof. Qi as well as an overview of the topic of this lecture.

Firstly, Prof. Qi analyzed the time in which Allan Poe lived, highlighted the social background behind justice and violence in his novels, and led students to think about justice through Poe’s portrayal of violence. Besides, she reviewed Poe’s personal experiences to illustrate his rational worldview and the aesthetics of justice and violence championing “art for art’s sake” that embodied in his novels. Prof. Qi explained that Poe’s rational worldview lies in the rational treatment of the trauma of justice and violence by actively accepting the reality of justice and violence, even enjoying the physical and emotional experience, and actively seeking collective, external, and rationalsupport, rather than being lost in the struggle of one’s own strength. This rational worldview and aesthetic view of justice and violence were embodied in several works of Allan Poe, such as The Black Cat, Berenice, The Fall of the House of Usher, Morella, Ligeia, The Oblong Box.

Then, taking The Murders in the Rue Morgue, a short story that pioneered the detective novel as an example, Prof. Qi elaborated on justice and violence in the novel as well as its embodiment of Poe’s rational worldview and aesthetic view of justice and violence. She played some film clips to help teachers and students understand the synopsis of the novel, and then made an analysis as follows. Symbolically speaking, the apes represented the American ancestors, captives, killers, and commodities. Socio-historically speaking, the apes’ story illustrated the social and historical reality of race and violence, economic (class) and violence, and gender violence in America. Prof. Qi further deepened students’ understanding of justice and violence by explaining the paradox between violence and law (justice/injustice) from the ethical standards of American society through Walter Benjamin’s theory of “critique of violence”. In other words, related to the laws and rights within the framework of the moral life of America, justice and violence were the means to create and defend the laws. And justice and violence were embodied in America’s policy of westward expansion, the oppressive policies against Native Americans and African Americans, and the persecution of nature, slaves, and women under the capitalist system. In the end, Prof. Qi concluded that the two white suspects were freed, which meant the victims were always animals, slaves, and women. Both direct physical violence and indirect cultural violence would probably continue in the capitalist order. This insightful analysis and summary of Prof. Qi led to deeper philosophical thinking about justice and violence and further led to a reflection on the current state of American society. Is American society, which is full of emotional violence, alienation, claustrophobia, suspicion, and aggression, an inclusive society? This is what the metaphor of justice and violence means in Allan Poe’s novel-- the deep concern for social disorder, the latent human desire to attack and accuse others. It also reflected the infinite appeal of Poe’s novels.

Prof. Qi’s profound insights enlightened the students and stimulated their creative thinking. To alleviate this pensive mood, she brought the teachers and students back to a more relaxed discussion of the detective novel. Prof. Qi further highlighted the literary charm of Allan Poe’s novels by analysis of detective genre.

Through this lecture, teachers and students showed great interests in Allan Poe, Allan Poe’s novels, issues related to justice and violence, and detective fiction, etc. They made numerous comments, heatedly discussed and asked many profound questions, which were well answered by Prof. Qi. Finally, the lecture came to an end with Dr. Fan Yiting’s insightful summary and the warm applause of the students.