tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8031063966272508587.post2801685414387531648..comments2024-03-29T00:31:02.713+01:00Comments on ボクの事件簿: Try AgainHo-Linghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04673330638260132388noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8031063966272508587.post-52653698702449972402014-02-11T10:00:18.829+01:002014-02-11T10:00:18.829+01:00True, the work doesn't equal maker, but there&...True, the work doesn't equal maker, but there's probably something of him/her in the work. I too think that individual characters in a work don't represent the writer per se, but things like the misogynistic tone in Berkeley's works are something I doubt he added just 'to add some color' to his novels.<br /><br />But like I said, I love his detective novels and I do plan to read more of his work.Ho-Linghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04673330638260132388noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8031063966272508587.post-24717322403912214692014-02-10T19:03:31.971+01:002014-02-10T19:03:31.971+01:00I think Berkeley states that he deliberately set o...I think Berkeley states that he deliberately set out to write about an incompetent and unpleasant detective, and when the public took the character seriously, he had to tone down the unpleasantness. I don't think you can attribute the attitudes of the character to the author. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle wrote a piece of verse concerning the insults Holmes heaped on his predecessors Dupin and Inspector Lecoq in "A Study in Scarlet" in which he justifies himself by stating that "The doll and its maker are never identical." If it is good enough for Doyle, it is good enough for me.<br /><br />In any event, I do not require of my artists that they be good men, only that they be good artists.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8031063966272508587.post-65303393089079995282014-02-10T13:07:17.526+01:002014-02-10T13:07:17.526+01:00Well, I'll keep on reading him anyway, though ...Well, I'll keep on reading him anyway, though I don't think I could handle marathon-reading his novels...Ho-Linghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04673330638260132388noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8031063966272508587.post-76341722889596090192014-02-10T12:50:53.130+01:002014-02-10T12:50:53.130+01:00Trial and Error is perhaps my favorite inverted my...<i>Trial and Error</i> is perhaps my favorite inverted mystery, contending for that spot with <i>Jumping Jenny</i>, but, reputedly, Berkeley's personality was everything from admirable – ranging from misogyny to anti-Semitism (c.f. <i>The Silk Stocking Murders</i>). <br /><br />I remember reading Berkeley was also somewhat of a sadist and this could explain his cruel streak in his characterization, such as the disintegration of civility in <i>Panic Party</i> and Sheringam's triumphant failures as a master detective. <br /><br />And yet this is the same author who wrote the genteel, high-spirited <i>The Layton Court Mystery</i>, in which two friends investigate a murder for the sake of the game with a plot (apperantly) modeled on Milne's <i>The Red House Mystery</i>. Berkeley even dedicated the book to his father (like Milne did). <br />TomCathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03415176301265218101noreply@blogger.com