The Technique of the Mystery Story | Page 6

better pleased.
To quote from a personal letter of Mr. Arlo Bates:
"As to whether a Detective Story is literature, it seems to me that the
question is not unlike asking whether a man with blue eyes is moral.
No story ever took a place as literature on the strength of its plot. I am
in the habit of telling my classes that one can no more judge the literary
value of a novel from its plot, than one can judge of the beauty of a girl
from an X-ray photograph of her skeleton. To exclude detective tales
would be greatly to diminish the world's literary baggage."
Professor Brander Matthews tells us in "Inquiries and Opinions" that
"Poe transported the detective story from the group of tales into the

group of portrayals of character. By bestowing upon it a human interest,
he raised it in the literary scale."
But Mr. Matthews continues:
"Even at its best, in the simple perfection of form that Poe bestowed
on it, there is no denying that the Detective Story demanded from its
creator no depth of sentiment, no warmth of emotion, and no large
understanding of human desire. There are those who would dismiss it
carelessly, as making an appeal not far removed from that of the riddle
and of the conundrum. There are those again who would liken it rather
to the adroit trick of a clever conjurer. No doubt, it gratifies in us
chiefly that delight in difficulty conquered, which is a part of the
primitive play-impulse potent in us all, but tending to die out as we
grow older, as we lessen in energy, and as we feel more deeply the
tragi-comedy of existence. But inexpensive as it may seem to those of
us who look to literature for enlightenment, for solace in the hour of
need, for stimulus to stiffen the will in the neverending struggle of life,
the detective tale, as Poe contrived it, has merits of its own as distinct
and as undeniable, as those of the historical novel, for example, or of
the sea-tale. It may please the young rather than the old, but the
pleasure it can give is ever innocent; and the young are always in the
majority."
Perhaps with his inerrant sense of terminology, Professor Matthews
struck the right word when he called the Mystery Story inexpensive. It
is that, but it is not necessarily cheap.
The indiscriminate critic who pronounces all detective stories trash,
would be quite as logical and veracious should he call all love stories
trash or all historical novels trash. The matter of a detective story is
definite and easily invoiced; the manner allows scope as high as poetry
or as deep as philosophy or as wide as romance. There is as true
literature in Poe's detective stories as in Bacon's Essays, though of a
different sort.
A recent well-known author published a book of clever detective
stories anonymously. Asked why, he said that he considered the

admission of its authorship beneath his literary dignity. "Because," he
explained, "they are false to life and false to art."
As a generalization, nothing could be more untrue. A detective story
may be these things, but so may stories in any other field of fiction. It
depends on the author.
But to imply that a detective story is necessarily false to life and is
false, per se, to art, is a mistake.
To quote Julian Hawthorne's very able essay on this subject:
"Of course 'The Gold Bug' is literature; of course any other story of
mystery and puzzle is also literature, provided it is as good as 'The
Gold Bug,' -- or I will say, since that standard has never since been
quite attained, provided it is a half or a tenth as good. It is goldsmith's
work; it is Chinese carving; it is Dædalian; it is fine. It is the product of
the ingenuity lobe of the human brain working and expatiating in
freedom. It is art; not spiritual nor transcendental art but solid art, to be
felt and experienced. You may examine it at your leisure, it will be
always ready for you; you need not fast or watch your arms overnight
in order to understand it. Look at the nice setting of the mortises; mark
how the cover fits; how smooth is the working of that spring drawer.
Observe that this bit of carving, which seemed mere ornament, is really
a vital part of the mechanism. Note, moreover, how balanced and
symmetrical the whole