Book Club: The League of Frightened Men

[jest]

Sorry to be sliding this in at the last minute. There was a volcano. It erupted.



League of Frightened Men continues the trend of Archie acting like a five year old. In this case, a five year old with attention deficit disorder. The story opens with Wolfe and Archie in the office. Archie is in the middle of an I'm BORED, Pay Attention to Meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee tantrum. I suspect that Archie Goodwin is every bit as high maintenance as Nero Wolfe himself.

While Archie throws pejoratives around like it is 1935, we are introduced to the antagonist, Paul Chapin, who became disabled during a hazing incident that took place at Harvard University. Paul Chapin is an Evil Cripple, with shades of Genius Cripple. I am really curious about how prevalent these tropes were when Rex Stout was writing this book. My familiarity with the Evil Cripple/Evil Wheelchair User comes mostly from Doctor Who; I'm not sure what sort of presence it had before that.

Anyway, enter Paul Chapin, psychopath. Enter the cowardly clients. Who exactly is intended to be the sympathetic character in this book? Evelyn Hibbard seemed like a good person, but she was only around for about five pages.

Which reminds me, although Wolfe is the character that is generally considered to be a misogynist I actually found Archie's attitude towards women the more offensive in this book. All his comments about women are along the lines of "…provided she's not just an item for the cleaners" or "nobody that knew merchandise would have put her on a bargain counter." It speaks volumes. Whereas Wolfe is "the only man I had ever met who used absolutely the same tone to a woman as to a man."

Archie's favorable opinion of other men seems to based on a combination of intelligence, competence, work ethic, nerve, and social class. He has a certain amount of contempt for college boys and the class privilege they represent. He obviously likes to think of himself as a working man. In Chapter 7 Archie refuses to let Fritz bring him his glass of milk in the evening, presumably because Archie doesn't like to think of himself as someone who needs to be waited on?

Wolfe's attitude towards Archie's intelligence is condescending, and who can blame him? Archie is more often in the role of man of action than man of intelligence. He claims that he has been working for Wolfe for seven years. This is easy to believe when they fight like an old married couple. At one point Archie is yelling at Wolfe when Orrie shows up with Paul Chapin's box, causing Archie to immediately break out the respectful tone and it's all, Honey, let's not fight in front of the company. *g*

But, seriously, what exactly has Archie been doing for seven years? Keeping orchid records? Body guarding? Nursing Wolfe through relapses?

Wolfe's agoraphobia and relapses are one of the most interesting features of the early books, and are something I like to keep track of.

In chapter 10:

"…but I was thinking of suggesting that you go out and look at him."
"Out?" Wolfe raised his head at me. "Out and down the stoop?"
"Yeah, just on the sidewalk, you wouldn't have to step off the curb. He's right there."
Wolfe shut his eyes. "I don't know, Archie. I don't know why you persist in trying to badger me into frantic sorties. Dismiss the notion entirely. It is not feasible."

Of course, we need to recognize the significance of Wolfe leaving the house to appreciate the scene where Archie has been drugged and is devastated at the thought that Wolfe might be murdered.

(Confession: every time I read it that scene makes me squeee so hard that I actually have to put the book down and pace around my flat enjoying it for a while before I can resume reading.)

In Chapter 11: "I have seen him, during a relapse, dispose completely of a ten-pound goose between eight o'clock and midnight."

That strikes me as a symptom of something other than eccentricity.


Thoughts? Opinions?

Comments

[dorinda]

And OMFG he is OBSESSED with Wolfe's physical body.

BOY HOWDY +1 :D

From the very first book, of course we have that fixation on Wolfe's lips (not to mention the 'being able to read volumes in the tiniest twitch of any muscle'). And in this book, I ran across one of the (many) bits that focuses on Wolfe's hands:

I passed [the letter-file] to Wolfe, and he opened it with the deliberate and friendly exactness which his hands displayed toward all inanimate things.

Those always catch my attention--as the books continue, through Archie's eyes Wolfe's hands are graceful, precise, strong, and a hundred other positive (and sensory/sensual) things, whether he's noodling with the orchids or handling a clue.

Man, even without all the rest, lips-and-hands lips-and-hands lips-and-hands--I keep thinking of the meeting-scene at the masquerade in Romeo and Juliet.

[soupytwist]

OMG the hands obsession, yes! :D

And one thing I really love is that it's also expressed in a continual sense of Wolfe's physical presence. Archie always describes how Wolfe moves, how he sits, the degree to which his eyes are closed, the shift of his shoulders. Even the hottest girls don't get that much physical description of them. It's practically indecent, omg. :D

And even though Archie's always going on about "seventh of a ton" this and "the chairs weren't big enough for him" that, there's no sense that Archie finds Wolfe physically repellent in any way. There's none of the ew, fat that might crop up in something written later; it's kind of written about like he's seven foot tall or something, a bit of sideshow entertainment value but not like it's gross. Which is eeeeenteresting. *g*

[liviapenn]

Yeah, the interesting thing about the portrayal of Wolfe to me is that, hmm... there's no *moralizing* in Archie's attitude, none of the super-typical omg, Puritan moral panic, shame the sinner thing, the viewpoint where fat people who aren't starving themselves deserve to be shamed and feel bad all the time because, ew, how dare they impose their fatness on everybody else. I mean, like you were saying-- if you see someone seven feet tall, that's just a normal-ish physical variation of a human being, with some attendant pros and cons. It's not some shameful character flaw. Looking at Archie's POV on Wolfe-- it *is* treated just like that, like it's perfectly normal(ish). And there's no going the other way into total utter denial, either, none of that thing where people are like, "You're just tall! Big boned! It's baby fat! There's just more of you to love! You have such a pretty face!" etc., the things people say because it would totally be the end of the world if anyone said "fat", because obvs. fat people are only fat because they're bad or lazy or weak, etc. Sometimes Archie dresses it up with "impressive" or "gargantuan" or whatever, but he's definitely not *ashamed* or *repulsed* and trying to cloak Wolfe in euphemism, he's just matter of factly describing him the way you would if you met someone whose hair was REALLY RED or who had SUCH A SEXY VOICE or something else that was really, really *different* about them, but not BAD.

It's really almost *sad* just how strange it is to be in that viewpoint and have it be just... *normal*, with no ISSUES of judging or shaming. Just: Wolfe is fat and that's normal for him. He's allowed to enjoy eating good food! He's allowed to enjoy wearing nice clothes! And he's not a stereotype, either, the fat person who ONLY cares about food-- he likes books! Maps! Orchids! Beauty! Drama! AND food, too, as part of the whole experience of life. And yeah, his fatness, affects certain aspects of his life, but it's not like a symbol or a sign of a fundamental character flaw. It's just so *refreshing*.

(And speaking of Archie being judgmental, which we were in... some other comment... when Archie gets on Wolfe's case about being lazy he hardly ever means *physically*, you know? Using his brain-- that's what both Wolfe and Archie consider "hard work," and when Wolfe decides to quit *thinking*, that's what really seriously pisses Archie off-- that's what he considers *actual* laziness on Wolfe's part, and that's when he gets REALLY judgmental.)

eta: And I should mention, specifically about "League of Frightened Men," that it's especially bizarre to me to have this really sort of enlightened, totally casual proto-fat-acceptance on Archie's part, and the really enlightened portrayal of a mentally ill character in Fer-de-Lance, and then in this book you get this MINDBOGGLING portrayal of Paul Chapin, "Aaaahhh, creepy psycho cripple with CRIPPLE POWERS, NOT A MAN, OH NOOO," just TOTALLY freaking out and symbolically equating a physical disability with a moral/mental disability. Like I said above, I do wonder whether we're supposed to look back after the "twist" and say "oh my god, these guys are all assholes, idiots and/or totally projecting; he wasn't ACTUALLY that creepy," but it's still not going to win any awards.

[soupytwist]

It's really almost *sad* just how strange it is to be in that viewpoint and have it be just... *normal*, with no ISSUES of judging or shaming. Just: Wolfe is fat and that's normal for him. He's allowed to enjoy eating good food! He's allowed to enjoy wearing nice clothes! And he's not a stereotype, either, the fat person who ONLY cares about food-- he likes books! Maps! Orchids! Beauty! Drama! AND food, too, as part of the whole experience of life. And yeah, his fatness, affects certain aspects of his life, but it's not like a symbol or a sign of a fundamental character flaw. It's just so *refreshing*.

Oh god, THIS. It's really awful how it almost feels like that would be impossible today: Wolfe is completely allowed to be fat and still be a person in a way that is almost astonishing to read now. You are completely right on the allowed to like food thing in particular, and another one that sticks out for me is that when Wolfe does do something physical, there's never even the tiniest hint of "haha fat person trying to move" about it: Archie might say that something is impressive or whatever, but it's never something to mock in a way I as a modern reader almost expect to see. I love that.

(I also love that Wolfe doing physical exercise is almost always to do with Archie - omg Wolfe tries to catch fainting!Archie, and then lets Archie use his lap as a pillow all the way home! :D - and that Archie's reaction to Wolfe's only non-Zeck-inspired exercise regime is to freak the fuck out because OMG THAT CANNOT BE WOLFE MIGHT GET SENT TO THE FRONT AND GET HURT OMG OMG NO EMERGENCY EMERGENCY, but dude, seriously.)

I do wonder whether we're supposed to look back after the "twist" and say "oh my god, these guys are all assholes, idiots and/or totally projecting; he wasn't ACTUALLY that creepy," but it's still not going to win any awards.

It is totally, totally weird. I would agree that it seems likely we're supposed to think Archie overreacts: Archie seriously sees Chapin as almost not human, a lot of the time, as do the League, and then the ending does have that thing where suddenly he's a bit more human and leaving under his own steam. It doesn't make up for the utter wtf of earlier, but it does make me feel like the 'wow we were dumbasses, huh' might have been what was aimed at. Especially given that one of the big motivations Chapin does get to give on his own account is that he really hated the condescending kind of pity/charity he'd received from the League, and how glad he was when he could earn his own money and know he was supporting himself on his own terms. Especially on re-read, that comes over as quite sympathetic in a way Archie's OMG THIS GUY CREEPS ME OUT doesn't seem to really take in. It certainly doesn't do enough to rectify the problematic stuff, but it does I think lend credence to the idea that at least slightly less iffy stuff might have been intended.