C. Auguste Dupin, Poe's detective-hero, solves a tough case using wit alone in this piece. Spoiler alert: the letter named in Poe's title turns out to be "hiding in plain sight."
Our boy Lacan had a field day with "The Purloined Letter," which he read as a parable of psychoanalytic interpretation. The analyst does something like what Poe's detective does, except that the patient's symptoms are the clues to solve the great mystery—and heal the great wounds—of neurosis.
Poe's story is a delight to read. We swear, you'll get into it. And it's also a good way to get excited about psychoanalysis.
If Freudian theory can sharpen our wits to Dupin's proportions, then it can't be all bad. So let's give it a go.
- How might an analyst be like a detective? How are symptoms like clues, and how is the psyche like the scene of a crime?
- What does it mean for the solution to some mystery to be "hiding in plain sight"? In what other areas of life would one expect to encounter this kind of open secret?