Chapter 8 the gods

The battle of the gods decides the fate of mankind. Regarding the relationship between the "Golden Age" of detective novels and talented writers in this era, it is like discussing whether "heroes make the times" or "the times make heroes", and there will be no definite conclusion.The only thing we can be sure of is: the legendary experience of those talented writers and the immortal masterpieces they left behind are the best appearance of this prosperous age.Therefore, it is very necessary for us to understand the best of geniuses, just like reading ancient Greek mythology, we must remember Zeus, Apollo, Athena, and Hermes.

The first to appear is of course the British writer Agatha Christie known as the "Queen".She was the usher of the "Golden Age" and one of its highest achievers. Her Majesty the Queen was born Agatha Mary Clarissa Miller on September 15, 1890 in Torquay, Devon, England.His father, an army officer, unfortunately fell to his death while riding a horse, and his mother raised Agatha and three other children. At that time, it was prevalent in Britain that "a woman's lack of talent is virtue", and girls were neither necessary nor allowed to enter formal schools for education.All knowledge of Agatha was taught by her mother.Agatha's mother was an open-minded woman who loved literature and believed in the Anglican religion.She kept Agatha, who was unable to go to school, by her side, explained to her the stories in the world's famous novels, and helped her absorb literary nutrition.Agatha liked to read the works of Dickens and Jane Austen most when she was young, which was completely influenced by her mother.Agatha can be said to be one of the reasoning writers with the highest literary literacy, which is also largely due to her mother.

At the age of 16, Agatha entered a girls' school in Paris to study music. In 1914, she married a woman at the age of 24, and then served as a volunteer to rescue the wounded in the First World War.The status of an angel in white gave the queen the opportunity to get in touch with a lot of medical knowledge, which laid a professional foundation for her later creation of detective novels.It can be said that the queen is the best at using poison among all detective novel writers.It was also at the end of the war that Agatha wrote her first mystery novel. This novel is mentioned in the previous section.The publishing process of the novel was not smooth, and was rejected by many publishing houses.Even when the work was published in 1920, it did not attract much attention from readers.Agatha was hit hard because of this, and she stayed away from the creation of detective novels for a long time, and the few works she wrote were far from classics.

The turning point came in 1926.This year, Agatha changed a new publisher and decided to conquer all readers with an unprecedented work.Thus, we saw a detective novel called "The Fable".This is a work that cannot be described, and there is no other way to understand its subtleties except to experience it firsthand.At the end of the story, when the detective pointed out the real murderer, the eyes of all readers must have been shattered. "How can you write a detective novel like this!" - I believe this is the cry from the heart of all readers.Agatha used such a controversial model to establish her status as the "Queen of Detectives" in one fell swoop.

In modern society, the ups and downs of marriage are often directly proportional to the success of career.And in Agatha Christie, this somewhat gossiping law seems to be very effective. In 1914, Agatha, who was naive and somewhat naive, married military officer Archibald Christie.Since then, the great name "Agatha Christie" was officially born. The marriage brought good luck to both people - Archie (Archibald Christie's nickname) was soon promoted to the head of the Royal Air Force; Agatha also began a brilliant creative career. But the good times didn't last long. In 1926, Agatha's beloved mother died.Then, Archie had a lover named Tisha Neal, intending to divorce Agatha.Agatha's mood can be imagined when the two people she loves most leave her one after another.In December 1926, the Queen mysteriously disappeared.

The "national treasure" was lost, and the whole country of Britain was shocked.500 police officers were dispatched to find Agatha's whereabouts, and even Conan Doyle personally participated in the investigation.After 12 days, the police finally found the queen in a hotel.Agatha actually used the name of her rival "Tissa Neal" to check into the hotel!She later explained that she suffered from amnesia during those few days.Perhaps complete forgetting is the only thing Agatha can do to Archie.In many of Queen's works, we can see such a group of character relationships: naive girl, romantic and passionate husband, and insidious and cunning third party.It is not difficult to see the influence of this marriage on Agatha.

Fortunately, everything will pass. In 1928, Agatha and Archie officially divorced. In 1930, she married archaeologist Max Marlowan, beginning a second marriage. This marriage brought happiness and stability to Agatha.She followed Marowan to archeology in the Middle East, which broadened her horizons and delighted her soul.Based on these experiences, Agatha wrote novels such as , , , "They Came from Baghdad" and her travel note "Love in Syria".But it is worth mentioning that the pseudonym "Agatha Christie" has always been used by the Queen and has never changed.

Perhaps that handsome air force colonel will always occupy the most unique place in the deepest part of Agatha's heart. Afterwards, Agatha was out of control. 1930, 1934, 1936, 1937, 1939, 1941, etc., have all become landmark works in the history of detective fiction, imitated countless times, but never surpassed. In these classic works, Agatha pays special attention to the arrangement of the plot, the characterization of the characters, the description of the psychology and the innovation of the crime model.The above points ensure that Queen's works have sufficient literary value and reading value, and the innovation of the crime model makes her works always lead the direction of the "Golden Age" and promote detective novels to more readers.Among them, the "Blizzard Mountain Villa" model was created for the first time, which became a pivotal work in the history of detective novels.

Agatha Christie created 80 mystery novels, 19 plays, 1 autobiography and 6 novels under the pseudonym of "Mary West McCourt" in her life.Her works have been translated into more than 100 languages, with a cumulative sales volume of more than 2 billion copies. She is the second most prolific writer in the world after Shakespeare. In the 80 detective novels, Agatha Christie created the images of several famous detectives.Among them, the little Belgian Hercule Poirot and the English spinster Miss Jane Marple are undoubtedly the most famous.These two detectives are the epitome of "golden age" detectives - comfortable, kind, far from force, and like to use the "gray cells" in their brains to decipher the truth.In addition, characters such as Detective Bartle, Tommy and Dubens, and Miss Oliver in Queen's works also left a deep impression on readers.Together they make up Agatha Christie's gorgeous family.

In 1952, the play she created was officially staged. It was unprecedentedly popular and has been performed for a long time. It is still appearing all over the world today, setting an unprecedented record in the history of world drama. In 1971, Agatha was officially knighted by the Queen of England.On the occasion of Queen Mary's 80th birthday, she publicly asked BBC Radio for a gift: "Please play a detective novel by Agatha Christie!" Ingrid Bergman won an Oscar in 1975 for her film adaptation of Agatha's novel.And, etc. are also immortal classics in the history of film. For the former, Chinese readers are very familiar with it. Many people only know the term "detective novel" because of this film.

In 1976, the Queen bid farewell to her beloved readers forever at the age of 86. The "Golden Age" originated in England and developed in the United States.By the end of the 1920s, the core area of ​​detective fiction gradually shifted from Europe to the North American continent.After nearly a century, the detective story is finally coming home with dignity. Among the many American creators, the most worthy of special mention is undoubtedly Ellery Quinn. First of all, it must be stated that Ellery Quinn is not fighting alone, but a pair of brothers. Manfred Lipowski was born in New York on January 11, 1905, and on October 20 of the same year, his cousin Daniel Nathan came to the world.The two brothers have loved literature since childhood, especially obsessed with Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories. After college, the brothers both worked in Manhattan, with the older working in film promotion and the younger writing commercials for a living.Because they often create something, both brothers have their own pen names.The pen name of the older brother was "Manfred Bennington Lee" and that of the younger brother was "Frederick Dennay". In 1928, the brothers decided to participate in a detective fiction grand prix sponsored by a magazine with a prize of up to $7,500.It took them only three months to create a full-length detective novel.The brothers created a pseudonym for this joint creation-"Ellery Quinn", and all the legends began to be staged from this moment.At the same time, the protagonist of the novel, the detective, is also named "Ellery Quinn", which is the first detective novel in which the author and the detective use the same name. Ellery Quinn's talent is beyond doubt.Before the award was presented, they had been informally informed of the award.The brothers were so happy that they celebrated with great fanfare before they got their prize money. However, the magazine went bankrupt before the award was awarded, and the next owner wanted the magazine to attract more female readers, so the award was awarded to another female novel, and the Quinn brothers did not get a penny.However, this novel was published in 1929. This is Ellery Quinn's debut novel, the famous "The Mystery of the Roman Hat". The victory in the battle doubled the confidence of the brothers, and the joint creation model has been used for half a century.The cooperation between Li and Dannai is very peculiar: Dannai is responsible for conceiving the core tricks; Li is responsible for shaping the characters and stories, and deriving the tricks that Dannai came up with into beautiful and full-bodied novels. Although they produced some of the best detective novels of the 20th century, it was never easy.Because both brothers are geniuses, it is very difficult for two geniuses to agree. When they were interviewed in 1967, Lee said: "Basically, we have different views on detective novels." Dennay added: "In fact, not only detective novels, we have different views on anyone and everything at all. same." From 1929 to 1935, the brothers successively created "The Mystery of the Roman Hat", "The Mystery of the French Powder", "The Mystery of the Dutch Shoes", "The Mystery of the Greek Coffin", "The Mystery of the Egyptian Cross", "The Chinese Orange The Mystery of the Siamese Twins, the Mystery of the American Gun and the Mystery of the Spanish Shawl are 9 works with "Ellery Quinn" as the protagonist.Because the names of the works all contain a country, this series is called the "Country Name Series". This series transformed Ellery Quinn from a newcomer to the best detective novel writer in the world, and "The Mystery of the Greek Coffin" was evaluated as the best detective novel in history.The protagonist Quinn, the son of the detective of the New York Police Department, has repeatedly performed wonderful logical deduction in these works, combining the charm of reasoning with the passionate and wild personality of young people, and established himself in one fell swoop. status. In 1932, when Ellery Quinn reached the pinnacle of logic puzzles with "The Mystery of the Greek Coffin", a man named Barnaby Ross jumped out and pointed out that Quinn The works are superficial and naive, and their logical reasoning is full of loopholes.At the same time, Roth published his debut novel "The Tragedy of X", claiming that this is the best detective novel.Readers can't wait to finish "The Tragedy of X" in amazement—it really is a good book that surpasses "The Mystery of the Greek Coffin". Subsequently, Barnaby Rose successively published three works, "The Tragedy of Y", "The Tragedy of Z" and "The Last Case of Jerry Lane", and "The Tragedy of X" constituted the "Tragedy Series". Totally overwhelmed by Rose's story.The protagonist of this series is Jerry Lane, a retired stage actor who has been engaged in Shakespeare performances all his life. He is a rich old handsome guy-the only flaw is that Lane is deaf. . How can the proud Ellery Queen be inferior to others!He began to fight back, pointing out that the "tragedy series" is also full of loopholes and cannot be compared with his own works at all.Thus began one of the most famous debates in history.The two geniuses published articles everywhere, gave speeches everywhere wearing masks, and confronted each other, intending to "put each other to death and then quickly".Readers are like watching a suspense movie, giving the highest attention to both parties. The debate continued for several years until, in 1936, the truth came out: Quinn was Ross, and Ross was Quinn.Cousin Lee is Quinn's voice, while Cousin Dannay is the manipulator behind Rose's mask.The wisdom of genius is interpreted to the extreme, leaving the most brilliant chapter in the history of detective novels. "Country Name Series" and "Tragedy Series" are typical "Golden Age" works.If Agatha Christie is trying to turn the detective into a novel, then Ellery Quinn in this period is trying to turn the novel into a detective.Quinn's works are deeply rooted in the essence of logic, and logical deduction is the most rigorous of all detective novels.His novels usually do not use "sensory blind spots" as a selling point, nor do they design overly exaggerated tricks, but "truly" put all the clues and props in front of readers, and completely rely on reasoning to conquer readers. By the late 1930s, there was a noticeable shift in Quinn's style.On the one hand, Quinn increasingly catered to the mass market, creating many works with a strong sense of drama, especially Hollywood style.A large number of works have been made into movies and published in fashion magazines is the best proof.On the other hand, with the changes of the times, Quinn's works have become more profound, full of thought and sense of responsibility, sublimated from pure intellectual games to philosophical thinking. "City of Disaster", published in 1942, was the beginning of this transformation. Ellery Quinn didn't keep detective fiction just in books.In addition to the aforementioned film and television, the brothers recorded radio plays, produced comics, and in 1941 founded the Ellery Quinn Mystery Magazine (EQMM).The radio play and comics were an unprecedented success, and the magazine became the most influential professional detective journal in the world and is still published today.Lawrence Bullock, Michael Connelly, Edward Hawke, Bill Prochini and other writers we are familiar with all appeared on the stage through "Ellery Quinn's Mystery Magazine". Ellery Quinn is not a simple king, but a synonym for a dynasty.Without Agatha Christie or other well-known writers, the history of detectives would lack some classics; and without Ellery Queen, the history of detectives itself would be completely different, and it is impossible to imagine what it would be like.From this perspective, Ellery Quinn is the greatest detective writer of the "Golden Age", there is no "one". On April 3, 1971, Manfred Bennington Lee died; on September 3, 1982, Frederick Dennay died in New York.However, "Quinn" is not dead, and the classic will last forever! For a long time, the "Golden Age" has been called the "Big Three".Agatha Christie and Ellery Quinn undoubtedly occupy the two seats, and their equal is the American John Dickson Carr.Compared with Christie and Quinn, Carl is a eccentric genius. As mentioned earlier, the first detective novel in history, "The Murders in the Rue Morgue", is a murder in a closed room. This is an impossible crime mode, and the creation of detective novels in this mode is extremely difficult.But Karl just didn't care, and wrote one impossible crime novel after another throughout his life.The point is, he's also doing really well.Just as you cannot talk about English literature without mentioning Shakespeare, you cannot talk about Chinese literature without mentioning Cao Xueqin.When it comes to impossible crimes, one cannot ignore John Dickson Carr. Carl was born in Pennsylvania, USA on November 30, 1906. His father was a member of the House of Representatives.Carl was an out-and-out teenage prodigy, who began writing crime articles for newspapers at the age of 11.Carl later said: "By the time I was 11, I had 120 ideas for tricks in my head." In 1925, Carl entered Harvard College (note, it is not the famous Harvard University, nor is it a Buddhist college), and served as the editor of the school's literary magazine during his school days. After graduating from the academy in 1928, Karl went to study in Paris, France.It was also at that time that Karl developed feelings for the city of Paris. Later, when he was in love, he once said that he was a Frenchman. During his studies, Carl wrote his first detective novel, entitled, A Short Impossible Crime, featuring French police detective Henri Beclin.Carl gained confidence from this work, which strengthened his creation of impossible crime novels. In 1930, Carl's first novel was published, and the protagonist was still Becklin, and the remuneration was only 300 US dollars.However, the book was well received after its publication and was reprinted seven times within two months.John Dickson Carr began to emerge. In 1932, Carl married a British girl, Clarice Cleves, and officially settled in the UK.A happy life makes Carl capable of creating with ease.In the two years after publication, Carl has created five novels, four of which are Henry Becklin series. In 1933, Carl's new book was published.His well-crafted university professor, Dr. Gideon Fell, made his debut.The prototype of Dr. Phil is Carl's most admired writer G. K．Chesterton (it's him again).Like Chesterton, Dr. Fell was a stocky, pipe-smoking man with a grotesque beard and a disconcerting elephantine walk. In 1934, Carl used the pseudonym "Carter Dixon" to create "The Plague Village Murder", and the detective Henry Merrie Weir appeared from the baron.Merrill Vale is a declining British aristocrat. He is eccentric, irritable, arrogant, and outspoken - "Get out" is the baron's most common catchphrase.Merrie Weir was very much like Churchill, the British Prime Minister, but he was not as academic as Dr. Phil, and he was a strong man with a slightly rough manner.He worked in the British intelligence agency in his early years, and later became a lawyer and doctor.Merivale often did some ironic things, such as cursing the government for incompetence, such as accidentally tearing his crotch due to emotion... But no one can deny his reasoning ability. In 1935, the Gideon Phil series of works was published, which is the greatest work in the history of secret room mystery novels.In Chapter 17 of the book, Carl, with the help of Dr. Phil, published the classic "Lecture Notes on Secret Chambers", analyzing and categorizing all secret chambers since the birth of detective novels.This handout is the symbol of the apogee of impossible crime fiction, and no one has surpassed it so far. After that, Karl has published excellent works such as,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, In more than 80 works created by Karl in his life, more than 50 kinds of secret rooms were designed, which is unimaginable by later generations.The famous critic Julian Simmons said: "No one can compare with Christie and Karl in the design of tricks in today's novels." Karl's secret room is not limited to mechanical secret room or psychological secret room, but an organic combination of the two Get up, behind the complex mechanical layout, use people's psychological blind spots to create the most incredible secret room. In addition to the Chamber of Secrets and other impossible crimes, Carr's works also embody the style of works of the "Golden Age".Although Carl's works are weird and weird, they are never unfair, they don't hide clues from readers, and they are convincing in the equal battle of wits. Carl's works are full of gothic style, romantic, funny, weird, and even a little scary.But all of these are presented in a very good fit with the theme of the novel, never giving people a feeling of abruptness, bluntness, or mystification.Film elements can be seen everywhere in Karl's works, such as the transformation of time and space, the switching of characters, the use of long shots, the application of montage... These are all based on logical reasoning, which add a lot of mystery to the novel and make readers more excited. Can't stop. The publisher once sealed Carl's novel after page 210, claiming that if anyone can read the first part and insist on not reading the ending, he can return the book with the seal intact to the publisher in exchange for the book purchase fee.As a result, people with such willpower are rare, and books with such a well-preserved seal have become collectibles worth thousands of dollars today-Carl's charm is evident. Carl is also a Sherlock Holmes researcher. He and Conan Doyle's youngest son, Adrian Conan Doyle, co-authored "The Achievements of Sherlock Holmes" and "The Life of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle". precious information. In 1936, Carl, who was famous all over the world, joined the British Detective Club and became the first non-British person to join the club. In 1948, Carl was dissatisfied with the US Labor Party in power and returned to live in the United States. After the Labor Party went down in 1953, he returned to the UK. In 1951, Carl suffered from health problems.By 1953, the condition was very serious, and it was not until 1954 that he basically recovered. In 1963, Carl suffered a sudden stroke and almost lost the ability to live in his left hand. In 1965, Carl returned to the United States and spent the remaining 12 years in South Carolina. On February 27, 1977, John Dickson Carr, known as the "King of the Chamber of Secrets", died of illness. In addition to the "Big Three", there are countless outstanding creators in the "Golden Age"—— Dorothy Sayers - queen after Agatha; S. S．Van Dyne - the founder of the "Golden Age" commandments; Ronald Knox - created the "Ten Commandments" of detective fiction; Anthony Berkeley - the patron of the British Detective Club, the classic "" The author of "Poisoned Chocolate Murder"; Rex Stott - the most famous detective writer in the United States, who shaped the fattest detective Nero Wolf in history; Josephine Tey - the richest literature in the history of detectives Breathtaking writers... These writers are like gods living in holy places, overlooking the world, throwing out a classic from time to time for the world to worship. It is no exaggeration to say that the history of the "Golden Age" is the history of the private lives of the gods. Then, since it is a god, it is inevitable to formulate some "rules and precepts" to restrict the world view of mortals.Regarding this point, in the next section we will discuss in detail the "Fairplay" spirit in the creation of detective novels.