I don't understand what P. D. James is saying when she states that she does not understand Knox's "no Chinaman" rule. He is plainly stating that a detective story is about a detective who detects, it is not a thriller. Sax Rohmer wrote some detective stories, but he was most famous for the Fu Manchu stories, which were mainly thrillers and only incidentally detective stories. There is the master criminal, the secret hideouts, the evil plan endangering thousands, the damsel in distress, etc. The James Bond novels are thrillers. Thrillers are mainly stories about a hero running from place to place, sometimes shooting, sometimes being shot at, while he attempt to defeat a nefarious villain. The emphasis is on action, not detection.
It is plain that Knox was distinguishing the thriller from the novel of pure detection when he instituted the "no Chinaman" rule.
But it seems to me that the central question is still unanswered by her. Why was the Golden Age replaced by Mike Hammer?
I don't understand what P. D. James is saying when she states that she does not understand Knox's "no Chinaman" rule. He is plainly stating that a detective story is about a detective who detects, it is not a thriller. Sax Rohmer wrote some detective stories, but he was most famous for the Fu Manchu stories, which were mainly thrillers and only incidentally detective stories. There is the master criminal, the secret hideouts, the evil plan endangering thousands, the damsel in distress, etc. The James Bond novels are thrillers. Thrillers are mainly stories about a hero running from place to place, sometimes shooting, sometimes being shot at, while he attempt to defeat a nefarious villain. The emphasis is on action, not detection.
ReplyDeleteIt is plain that Knox was distinguishing the thriller from the novel of pure detection when he instituted the "no Chinaman" rule.
But it seems to me that the central question is still unanswered by her. Why was the Golden Age replaced by Mike Hammer?