Harper's Weekly - "Riddles."

“Riddles.” is the title of an article facing The Moonstone in Harper’s Weekly. As an intellectual pursuit, it “is characteristic of the detective novel is to present a puzzle and end with a solution” (Reyes), much like a riddle. Since a “riddle” is defined as “an enigma; a conundrum”, and also “a puzzling or perplexing thing; a problem; a mystery” (“riddle, n." emphasis added) the two terms, riddle and mystery, can be used nearly synonymously. “Mystery” could actually replace “riddles” at several points in the text to reveal how the work “Riddles.” does to associate its topic with high culture may be related to the mystery fiction genre of The Moonstone.

“Riddles.” argues the literary value of the riddle, building it up as “poetical…a thing of beauty, and invested with charms that only poetry can give…” (“Riddles.”). This column about riddles aspires to raise them to the elite art of poetry. Due to their close connections, this may also be associating The Moonstone’s mystery with a level of literariness akin to poetry. The column notes that riddles [or mystery novels] “possess an interest and meaning that lay beyond [a] mere solution” (“Riddles.”). It is not only about solving, there is value in the middle as well as the end. This is evocative of the improvement value often ascribed to high arts; part of their appeal is the pleasurable mental exercise, as much as the accomplishment. Obviously this targets that particularly educated reader; the kind of high class individual implied as the reader of poetry.