lazy king monarchy.

You can find an online copy of the Purloined Letter by E. A. Poe right here if you are curious about it.

To sum up the story, so that I don’t have to later when I write up the summery for Lacan’s essay on it, we first introduce some characters:

Dupin — the Holmesian detective. Really, clever guy.

The Prefect — the head of the Parisian police force.

The Minister — who took the letter.

The King — The party that cannot, under any circumstances, see that letter!

The Queen — the person who received the letter.

The letter — that which cannot be seen by the king, and which is hidden by the minister.

Yeah, okay, so to sum up the story:

The Prefect comes to Dupin with a problem. It seems that the Queen received a letter that she does not want the King to see. When it is received , it is out in the open, and when the Queen is distracted, the Minister takes the letter, allowing the Queen to know that it was him who took it. The Queen cannot say anything, as the King would then know about the letter, which is bad. So, then the Prefect and Dupin come to the conclusion that the minister must still have it on him [as it's a source of power over the queen!] but where would it be?

Eventually, the Prefect (and I think that this is because the Prefect thinks that the Minister is a poet, or something) searches every single inch of the Minister’s house looking for the letter — using clever techniques to look in between every nook and cranny.

Spoilers. Dupin notes that the Minister is also a mathematician, and (somehow?) realizes that the letter would be hidden in plain sight. Which is exactly where it is.

I think that I summed this up correctly — I haven’t read it in a while, but I’m sure that I got most of the details right. Anyhow, I may correct myself more after I read the details of Lacan’s essay.