SNOBBERY WITH VIOLENCE by Colin Watson

I've never read any of Colin Watson's mystery novels, but I can tell by this book that he's a canny observer of early 20th century crime fiction, and its audience. And that's part of the book's interest, as it's subtitled "Crime Stories and Their Audience."

Watson takes us from Conan Doyle's idealized Victorian world to the introduction of A. J. Raffles, the seminal "gentleman burglar" whose exploits were regarded as sporting adventures rather than crimes, and his attacks on opponents as being more akin to tackles on the playing field than violence against his victims. Interestingly, Watson later draws a connection between Raffles and James Bond, reflecting that both operate outside the law, are very gentlemanly, and their adventures are seen as more sporting than brutal, no matter how violent they are. And given the new popularity of James Bond video games, I can say that Watson was reading it right.

He also dips into William Le Queux (who in THE GAMBLERS flattered his readers while offering escapism..."Need I describe the wonders of Paris to you? I think not."), "Sapper" and his Bulldog Drummond series (clicking with between-the-wars jingoism expressed by some at the time), Edgar Wallace and his crank-em-out thrillers (a reproduced cartoon of the period has a bookseller asking a customer, "Read the mid-day Wallace, sir?"), and Sydney Horler's hang-ups with manliness.

And then there's a look at the "Golden Age" of detective fiction, and then he examines attitudes toward Asians and foreigners in general, attitudes toward servants and lower classes, women, English villages a la Christie, amateur detectives, style and bohemianism, and automobiles and daredevil behavior. He ends with two chapters, the first looking at Leslie Charteris' "The Saint" and how the character's longevity (developing from a near-clone of Bulldog Drummond to a stylish adventurer-detective) is due to his adaptability to the changing times. And the very last is about James Bond, who represents a turning point from traditional British tropes to an American-influenced violent realism. (Yeah, despite the Raffles-ish "sporting" style.)

Watson's real strength is looking at how this early crime fiction was a product and reflection of its times and in many cases, of the author's attitudes and hang-ups, ranging from Sydney Horler's anxieties about masculinity to Sax Rohmer's seeming horror of anything Asian. It's eye-opening and informative.

SNOBBERY WITH VIOLENCE was published in 1971 and reprinted a few times, but now is out of print. I borrowed a copy through interlibrary loan, but I'm probably going to prowl Abebooks to find my own copy. There's too much fun stuff here, and anyone reading it will be scribbling down titles for books to look up. (Alas, Le Queux's THE GAMBLERS is out of print and not available as an ebook...annoyingly, as I'm looking for info about Monte Carlo.)

A Few Thoughts

Not very long ago I was lounging in the bath, reading Arthur Quiller-Couch's ON THE ART OF WRITING, and came across a great quote...

"What do I argue from this? I argue that until we can bring more intellectual freedom into our State, 'joy in the widest commonalty spread,' upon you, a few favoured ones, rest an obligation to see that the springs of English poetry do not fail. I put it to you that of this glory of our birth and state you are the temporary stewards. I put it to the University, considered as a dispenser of intellectual light, that to treat English poetry as though it had died with Tennyson and your lecturers had but to compose the features on a corpse, is to abnegate high hope for the sake of a barren convenience."

Now, I've got nothing against arranging the features on a corpse (especially if I can make him stick his tongue out at the next of kin), but this really stuck with me. Literature should be a living thing. I know I focus a lot on the works of authors of the past, but I know that I (and by extension, you) shouldn't be exclusive about it. The present has a lot to offer and even when we think about the past, we have to remember the old saying, "What is past is prologue." The past shouldn't be ignored, but it shouldn't be idolized as the pinnacle of achievement. Rather, it should function to inspire current generations to try their hand, to maybe do one better, to reach higher and farther.

Here's Q in his younger days:



Handsome devil, eh? Q (as he was known) was also quite the ghost-story writer; look up stories like "The Laird's Luck" and "Roll-Call of the Reef" to sample his work. He was also a prominent poet, editor of the famous OXFORD BOOK OF ENGLISH VERSE, and a prominent literary critic and educator. ON THE ART OF WRITING is a collection of lectures he delivered from 1913 to 1914, and while sometimes dense has its moments of light. He was a big influence on one my personal muses, Helene Hanff of 84 CHARING CROSS ROAD fame. So if you're of the creative kind, get out there and create something new!