Nitpicks and narks

If you are a seasoned Nero Wolfe reader, is there anything about the books that bothers you? I've just re-read Murder in Style, where Archie conducts yet another of his DIY death tests - on a body that is already visibly decomposing! This drives me mad - the carpet fluff under the nose/pressing down on the fingernail/condition of the skin, instead of feeling for a pulse like anybody else. I don't know why Stout kept returning to it.

And number two, Archie's introductions, particularly Saul; I usually skip those paragraphs when I see them coming, now!

What pet peeves do others have? After reading the whole corpus, and then starting again, readers are bound to get over-familiar with the author's style and quirks - I don't think it means that we love the books any less!

Yes, the re-introductions of characters--provided for readers new to Wolfe--are sometimes a bit mechanical. I'm ambivalent about Stout's having attempted to address social concerns. In one novella, McCarthyism provides the backdrop and one element of the plot. In another, Stout attempts to respond to racial conflict in the U.S., and in the last book, I think, he respsonds to Watergate, etc. On the one hand, I'm glad he tried, but on the other, he doesn't seem confident in doing so, and the results are a bit awkward.

Yes, that's a good point; sometimes Stout did use Wolfe as a sounding board for his own political views. Although - I've always thought that Stout began writing as 'Archie', and became 'Wolfe' when he was older - the son becoming the father. So does early Archie represent Stout, too?

That's a really good question. Knowing that Stout began this series at the age of 48, it is easy to see Stout as the basis of much of what Wolfe is. I have often looked for sign of Stout in Archie. We don't know a great deal about Stout but I imagine Archie is as Stout was in his youth.

The parts that the previous posters mentioned never bother me. I actually found great joy in Stout's handling of the racial isue given the early pre-civil rights era.

And the constant re-introduction of Saul and others, though likely useless to those familiar to the series, is neccessary given that each and every Wolfe novel can be read as a first entry into the corpus. And having done a bit of writing myself, I can appreciate how difficult that particular task can be... ie: making each novel fresh and "first".

There is a Rex Stout biography written in 1977 by John McAller. He is an ancestor of my significate other, they both have the same last name. In house we have 51 HB. There are book club editions and library sale finds but they still mean a lot. All his first editions are very expensive. I don't collect them so I'm not sure of all the titles.

What do we think of the times when Wolfe hires Saul and gives him directions without Archie's knowledge? I like how that tests both the Wolfe/Archie professional relationship and the quasi-friendship, but I always thought it was an unexpected twist (which often assists the plot, truth to tell). Archie seems so sanguine about it.

#6 - I think it bugs the bejibbers out of Archie, but he knows his limitations and accepts them. Or at least he knows that he must accept them from Wolfe, and he bows to Wolfe's knowledge of them. Does that make any sense? I think I need breakfast.

It does make sense, and I hope you rang for Fritz to make you breakfast. :-)

#6: Really, Saul's 'secret missions' are just a literary device - there is no real reason why Archie couldn't have performed, or at the very least been informed about, half of the errands that Saul is sent on, but as Archie is the narrator, he has to be kept out of the loop to maintain suspense. Character-wise, I like to believe that Wolfe is 'protecting' Archie, although that's not always the case, and that Archie realises this - he's miffed about missing out on the action, but accepts why Wolfe might have selected Saul over him. It's when Wolfe brings the whole team in for breakfast meetings, and tells Archie to keep away, that I find it hard to believe he doesn't have a problem with Wolfe's methods!

Plus, Wolfe talks of saving Archie from straining his 'powers of dissimulation', or hiding the truth - I interpreted that to mean that Archie has a very 'honest' face, but I think he's proved himself a very capable liar and bluffer in the past! If Archie really thought about being 'passed over', his complex would get even worse, I'm sure - there is no valid reason, in the fictional realm, why Saul is to be thought any better at his job than Archie.

Or is it just that Wolfe wants to keep Archie around, and Archie knows it? ;)

AdonisGuilfoyle - I think your last comment is one of the big reasons. Wolfe is comfortable with Archie near.

ETA - #8 I rang, but no one answered! Oh well. :)

#9: I think you're mostly right on the money. It is mostly a literary device. And that, in the fictional world, Wolfe wants to keep Archie at home as much as possible and keep him protected. When I was listening to Right to Die Archie had to take two plane trips and Wolfe's reaction sounded more like a phobic parent than an employer! And Archie's behavior in that book and Too Many Cooks (which is sort of the basis for the other one) was more solicitous of Wolfe than most men would be of an employer. At one point in Too Many Cooks, Wolfe is not where Archie expects him to be and he acts like an anxious parent. I enjoyed noticing those things.

I have always thought that part of Wolfe's behavior is a reminder to Archie as to who is in charge and who the genius is. Almost a form of control in a mild way.

Of course, it's also true that Wolfe loves to have the curtain go up revealing him balancing a live seal on his nose. Startling Archie is always fun for him.

#11: I agree, Wolfe is definitely a bit of a control freak. Not to the point where Archie apparently gets completely fed up with him, but pretty close several times.

Also, Wolfe is an actor, and Archie knows that part of his job is to be a permanent audience for him, available on demand for the appropriate reactions. So, while Archie gets to be in on the action for some scenes, for others, in order to get the necessary drama, Wolfe hires Saul and the others as sort of "backstage managers" to get all the props and characters in place.