I have a large pile of slim Reclam editions, usually each of one novella a two short stories, seldom more than 90 pages. They are very cheap, but good editions of mostly German classics. Last year I read a few by Theodor Storm and to go for a change, I picked up this novella by E.T.A Hoffmann.

I was quite surprised that this is a detective story, not my favourite genre, but every now and then, I can enjoy reading some, and this is particularly well-written. I can remember how often I have read that this or that was the first or earliest detective story, but published in 1819, this apparently is a strong contender. ( )

One of those books that you pick up not knowing what is in store. This is the book that is supposed to have inspired Poe and Agatha Christie. I can understand why, but I lost interest in it fairly soon. ( )

I once read on wikipedia that Das Fräulein von Scudery by E. T. A. Hoffmann is sometimes considered one of the first novels of the evolving detective fiction genre. And as I read this booklet some long time ago in my literature classes at gymnasium I couldn’t see how it fits in the context. So I bought a new copy and re-read the story.

The plot concentrates around Magdaleine von Scudery, a poet reagarded by König Ludwig XIV. as highly talented and entertaining, a shizophrencic goldsmith named René Cardillac (who is the best goldsmith known to man at day, but a murderous, jewelery obsessed killer at night), his angellike daughter Madelon and her boyfriend and René’s fellow guild member Olivier Brußon.

As René Cardillac is found dead, Olivier Brußon is accused to have murdered his master in cold blood. But hearing him swear he hadn’t done it and seeing little Madelon wipe without end, Magdaleine von Scudery is shortly before getting to know René Cardillacs dark secret and then tries everything to rid Olivier Brußon from his occupied guilt.

In my opinion E. T. A. Hoffman is one of the shiny figures of German literature and so Das Fräulein von Scudery is, by itself, a very nice novel that shows the talent of the author. But in terms of the question of being one of the first detective fiction novels, I cannot see it's importance. Sure, Magdaleine von Scudery is carried away into the “Reich der Möglichkeiten” with her thoughts sometimes, but first of all she doesn’t deduct much worth mentioning from it and second of all she is not a real character who investigates the case. In contrast to the men in charge of the chambre ardente, a special unit set to life by König Ludwig XIV. to relentlessly hunting down the culprit scum of Paris back in the days, Magdaleine von Scudery is more sensitive for the truth and doesn’t fall for early suspicions and suppositions though. But then she is so terribly emotional that you could hardly speak of her as making elborate decisions or even educated guesses.

In the end Das Fräulein von Scudery is a short, entertaining classic by one of Germans best writers, but personally I wouldn’t consider the novel as one of the first novels of the new evolving detective fiction genre. But I can surely see that it can be considered one of the works that led to its evolution (stylistically and structurally at least for I’m not sure if Poe had read Hoffmann before writing his Dupin tales). ( )

German Novel