Book Club: The League of Frightened Men
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milk_and_orchidsSorry 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:
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?
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?
(no subject)
Date: 2010-04-19 08:06 am (UTC)Chapter 4: Is this the only time Wolfe gets a group of people as clients for a single job and splits up the fee between them? There's "And Be A Villain" where his fee is split up between a radio network & some corporate sponsors, etc., but that's a little different. IMO, if this were one of the later books, rather than going through the trouble of tracking down the entire League and getting them all to sign on, Wolfe would just target the richest one and soak that guy enough to make the job worth his time. This whole "from each according to his ability (to pay)" setup is suspiciously communist anyway!
Del Bascom is in this chapter. Does he ever actually make an on-stage appearance in any other book? I don't think so, which doesn't really surprise me. There's not really a lot of places you can go with this character, and since he necessarily has to be Not A Genius, he's not very interesting, which is to say, not as much fun as some other characters who also only exist to provide info to Wolfe & Archie, like Lon Cohen (who hasn't shown up yet.)
From Chapter 5: Fritz was always happy and put on a little extra effort when he knew things were moving in the office. That night I passed him a wink when I saw how full the soup was of mushrooms, and when I tasted the tarragon in the salad dressing I threw him a kiss. He blushed. Wolfe frequently had compliments for his dishes and expressed them appropriately, and Fritz always blushed; and whenever I found occasion to toss him a tribute he blushed likewise, I'd swear to heaven, just to please me, not to let me down. I often wondered if Wolfe noticed it. His attention to food was so alert and comprehensive that I would have said off hand he didn't, but in making any kind of a guess about Wolfe offhand wasn’t good enough.
........... This is what makes the Nero Wolfe mysteries different than other mysteries, imo. There's a whole paragraph here about these complex familiar interactions-- Fritz knows Archie doesn't know the difference between great and excellent food, and Archie knows that Fritz knows (and also that Fritz pretends not to) but Archie doesn't know if *Wolfe* notices that Fritz pretends that Archie's compliments are just as good as Wolfe's. It has *zip* to do with the plot, it's not even part of any Wolfe-Archie relationship B-plot, it's just-- I think Rex Stout enjoyed writing about the brownstone residents as a family. (And I think that even if you didn't know that Rex Stout had a lot of siblings you could probably deduce it from paragraphs like these.)
Later when the League starts arriving: Archie gets defensive! "Tell me," he said, "is it true that Nero Wolfe was a eunuch in a Cairo harem and got his start in life by collecting testimonials from the girls for Pyramid Dental Cream?"
Like an ass, for half a second I was sore. "Listen," I said, "Nero Wolfe is exactly--" Then I stopped and laughed. "Sure," I said. "Except that he wasn't a eunuch, he was a camel."
Oh, *Archie*. Don't wear your heart on your sleeve like that! <3 It has struck me that in later books when Archie has to punch someone and it isn't for bodyguarding or self-defense purposes, most of the time it's because of an insult to Wolfe (whats-his-name the Nazi dude in "Over My Dead Body" who throws one of Wolfe's books on the floor, and the right-wing radio pundit in "The Second Confession" who says mean things about Wolfe on the air, are the examples I can think of... It's very romantic.)
When Archie grabs the gun away from Paul Chapin in the office: Wolfe said, "Confound you, Archie. You have deprived Mr. Chapin of the opportunity for a dramatic and effective gesture. ...." And then he even apologizes! Wolfe respects a talented dramatist. Maybe he just respects drama.
Blah blah things happen.
Chapter 8, near the end-- Archie does something for Evelyn Hibbard, similar to what he does for Anna Fiore at the end of FDL, where he gives her $1000 instead of the $100 back, presumably as a sort of silent apology for scaring her and roughing her up. In this bit, Wolfe is going to charge her $3000 and Archie tries to talk him down to $1000 and they settle on $2000. Of course in these earlier books you get more of a sense that Archie is just a big kid and works this job for the excitement and the drama, but later on he's like "it's expensive to run this house!!" and does less of this gentlemanly largesse type of thing.
Chapter 9-- Archie is REALLY rude to Saul! On the phone with him: I asked him what he wanted and he said he wanted to report. I asked him report what, and he said, nothing, just report. I was sore at everything anyway, so I got sarcastic. I said if he couldn't find Hibbard alive or dead, maybe he could rig up a dummy that would do. I said I had just got a smack in the eye on another angle of the case, and if he was no better than I was he'd better come on down to the office with a pinochle deck, and I hung up on him, which alone is enough to aggravate a nun. (Later on in Chapter 13 there's a Saul-description that is a little more like the usual thing: He, with his wrinkled little mug not causing any stranger to suspect how cute he was, and he could be pretty damn cute - he sat on the edge of a tapestry chair, smoking a big slick light-brown cigar that smelled like something they scatter on lawns in the early spring, and told me about it to date. Although that's still not quite our Saul, "cute" is definitely a compliment coming from Archie, as he says the same thing about Wolfe in Chapter 5 when Wolfe is presenting his plan to the League: Again heads nodded. He was easing them into it; he was sewing them up. I grinned to myself, "Boss, you're cute, that's all, you're just cute.")
(no subject)
Date: 2010-04-21 02:10 am (UTC)And over a crack about Wolfe's sexuality, too. Oh, Archie. *pat pat*
Re: Del Bascom, I had actually forgotten he appears on-stage in this book. Funnily, from reading books out of order and whatnot, I think he surprised me when I finally met him face-to-face... he seemed less competent, perhaps, than I had assumed, and Wolfe seemed to respect him less than I had imagined.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-04-21 09:43 am (UTC)You can even see this in the titles of the books In the Best of Families, A Family Affair... Rex Stout was all about family dynamics.