Clever, contemplative, and darkly funny, "The Purloined Letter" helped spawn a genre that's still going strong. But even if you're not all that into detective fiction, this story is still worth a read. It meant a lot to both of poststructuralism's Jacques, and it's a great text to start cutting your poststructuralist teeth on.
As you read it, riddle yourself this: do the contents of the stolen letter matter to you, as a reader? And get counting: how many paralleled storylines, repeated events, and doubled characters can you find?