Short story · 1844
The Purloined Letter
Edgar Allan Poe
Aya Saleh · Ink & Ivy
Short story · 1844 · American · Romantic
The Purloined Letter
The stolen letter everyone searches for is lying in plain sight.
Reading edition
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How to read it
Poe's subtlest idea: concealment by obviousness. Lacan and Derrida quarrelled over it for decades — the tale is about how looking is trained not to see.
Whole-work summary
The stolen letter everyone searches for is lying in plain sight.
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