Offering a character a complete identity is useful depending
on what the writer's agenda for writing is. A character's
religion, education or lack there of, place of origin, and
hobbies can give the reader a more complete picture of the
individual. On the other hand, if you're writing to entertain
the masses, you don't need to put anyone off and prejudice is
one of those ideas right at the edge of fantasy. Conan Doyle,
certainly the most enduring crime writer, gave Holmes
hobbies, interests, and habbits apart from his interest in
crime solving. He never went into his religion, however, and
in the Study In Scarlet anyway, is very critical of Mormons.
We can assume Holmes was raised Church of England, but that
mind could never relate to the un-provable. Neither
Chesterton nor Kemelman were anywhere near as successful as
Earl Stanley Gardner, Ellery Queen, or Agatha Christie, who
mention religion only in passing. I'd say both Chersterton
& Kemelman were better writers than any of the others
mentioned, but their characters lack universal appeal. Tony
Hillerman's Jim Chee is a medicine man who does various sings
and is very involved in his Native American religious roots.
While Father Brown always seemed a bit proselytizing to me,
Kemelman is not, but he does preach to the choir. Hillerman,
however, seems to be just informing reader and rounding out
his story and characters. He seems to have less invested in
his religious mentioning. While I think morality is the most
important factor in crime fiction, I can easily see morality
apart from religion. Life and death morality are true across
cultural bonds. Sexual morality, however, is dealt with very
differently in nearly every culture and that is the crux of
noir fiction.
--- JIM DOHERTY <
jimdohertyjr@yahoo.com> wrote:
> Patrick,
>
> I won't go into your whole post, but one point
you
> made:
>
> "Also, referencing specific belief systems was
death
> to publishers until very recently, especially
in
> genre
> literature. In fact it may still be. Chesterton
and
> Green are the only two I can think of who broke
that
> rule yet were more or less 'successful.'"
>
> struck me.
>
> I'm not sure what you mean by "VERY recently,"
but
> over 40 years ago, Harry Kemelman was
consistently
> hitting the best-seller lists, and winning
awards,
> with a series about a crime-solving
rabbi.
>
> Earlier examples include Leonard Holton's
series
> about
> a crime-solving priest, Jack Webb's (not the
DRAGNET
> Webb) series about the crime-solving
partnership
> between a Jewish cop and a Catholic priest,
Anthony
> Boucher's series about a crime-solving nun,
etc.
>
> But aside from crime-solving Catholic or
Jewish
> clerics, references to the specific
religious
> beliefs
> of characters in genre fiction was not as unusual
as
> you suggest. Thomas Walsh's Irish cops in score
of
> short stories and novels like NIGHTMARE IN
MANHATTAN
> or THE NIGHT WATCH, were all obviously, and
usually
> devoutly, Catholic. Ed McBain's Meyer Meyer
was
> non-practicing, but still believing, Jew,
while
> Cotton
> Mather (named for a Puritan preacher in
colonial
> times) was a protestant clergyman's son who
still
> attended church services faithfully. Even
Mike
> Shayne
> recalled going to Mass as a child in his
debut
> novel,
> DIVIDEND ON DEATH.
>
> And that's just published works. References
to
> specific belief systems abounded in movies,
TV,
> stage,
> and radio. One of the Lone Ranger's
regular
> contacts
> was a Mexican-American Franciscan priest. One
of
> Joe
> Friday's most popular cases was the
investigation
> into
> the theft of a statue of Baby Jesus from a
Catholic
> church (and Webb, though not Catholic himself,
used
> Catholic imagery frequently). Hitchcock's I
CONFESS
> is about a priest accused of the murder who
knows
> who
> the real murderer is but can't reveal it because
he
> heard the killer's confession, and, in THE
WRONG
> MAN,
> another falsely accused defendant is cleared
when
> the
> real culprit is arrested at the very moment the
hero
> kneels down to pray the Rosary. The dying cop
in
> Sidney Kingsley's stage play DETECTIVE STORY
asks
> for
> a priest and his last words are the Catholic Act
of
> Contrition.
>
> None of these are any earlier than the
mid-1960's.
> And that's just off the top of my head. I'm
sure
> there are all kinds of other examples if I
delved
> into
> it.
>
> Are you aware of some publishers'
"gentleman's
> agreement" to avoid references to specific sects
in
> genre fiction or is that just an impression you
had?
> And, if there was such an agreement, why was
it
> apparently ignored so often?
>
> JIM DOHERTY
>
>
>
>
>
>
____________________________________________________________________________________
> Want to start your own business?
> Learn how on Yahoo! Small Business.
> http://smallbusiness.yahoo.com/r-index
>
____________________________________________________________________________________
Need a quick answer? Get one in minutes from people who know.
Ask your question on www.Answers.yahoo.com
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : 08 Dec 2006 EST