n interpretation of Edgar Allan PoeÕs "The Purloined Letter".
"The Purloined Letter" comprises of "a drama, its narration, and the
conditions of that narration . Three discrete narrative voices are present;
those of DupinÕs unnamed associate, Monsieur GŠ, the Prefect of the
Parisian police and C. Auguste Dupin himself. The framing narrative
contains two stories related in dialogue in DupinÕs "little back library,
or book-closet, au troisi¸me, No.33 Rue Dunot, Faubourg St. Germain"
(p.5, italics in original) . Although "The Purloined Letter" moves
between locations as exotic as a royal boudoir and a corrupt ministerÕs
residence, any sense of displacement is deceptive. These diverse textual
spaces occur only within the two tales-within-the-tale. The library
functions almost as a theatrical stage upon which Dupin and his
colleague are fixed and into which Monsieur GŠ occasionally intrudes.
It is in this environment that the Prefect and Dupin provide their
complementary narratives.
One can only speculate as to the setting of the principle narrative. The
motif of censorship, with its omission of dates and names, imparts to the
narration the quality of a casebook. This censorship is also manifest at
the level of the narrative in the PrefectÕs substitution of "a personage of
most exalted station"(p.9) for one, whom the reader might assume, is the
queen.
The two acts of framed narration are separated by a period of "about a
month" (p.20), yet they have more in common than their mere setting.
Thematically, both deals with the letter of the storyÕs title, that "certain
document of the last importance"(p.9) of which the Prefect speaks and
the attempts made to possess it. Each narrative features an exchange in
which a worthless reminder is substituted for the exposed document.
Monsieur GŠ provides an account of the development of the political
dilemma Š the MinisterÕs theft of the letter. This report is but an
interpretation of a previous discourse, the queenÕs version of events.
DupinÕs narrative acts as a balance, detailing the dissolution of the
problem Š his ŌtheftÕ of the letter. Thus, the manner in which the
situation is engendered is analogous to that by which is it resolved.
There are two scenes, the first of which we shall straightway designate
the primal scene, and by no means inadvertently, since the second may be
considered its repetition in the very sense we are considering today .
The PrefectÕs description of the crime Š LacanÕs "primal scene" Š
