3. If possible, secure a copy of Voltaire’s “Zadig,” and write a short paper on Zadig’s reasoning.
4. Does the introduction of an element of the supernatural increase or lessen the interest of a story, for you?
5. Write about two-hundred words comparing (a) the work of Poe’s Dupin with Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes; (b) with that of any other fictional detective—Chesterton’s Father Brown, for example.
6. Explain what is meant by inductive reasoning.
7. Select from some magazine (a) a good detective story, and (b) a good story of the unexplained, or supernatural. (c) Discuss the relative merits of each.
8. Do you prefer Jacobs as a writer of humorous stories of sea-faring folk or as a writer of the weird?
9. Which of Poe’s stories do you like best, and why?
TEN REPRESENTATIVE STORIES OF MYSTERY AND FANTASY
“The Horla,” Guy de Maupassant, translated in Modern Ghosts.
“The Lost Duchess,” Anonymous, in The Lock and Key Library.