PATRIOTIC GORE

by Rob Lopresti

This being the week of the Fourth of July I would like to say a few words about one of our country’s most successful exports. We didn’t invent it, but we have certainly helped spread it around.

In fact, this product has become so popular that even countries which objectively seem to be lacking in it will claim to be rolling in the stuff. See Iran, for instance.

I am referring to is democracy.

Reasons for flag-waving

You may be thinking: well, sis boom bah, but what does this have to do with mystery fiction?

A lot, as it happens. I’m not the first to say this but it bears repeating: mystery fiction only becomes popular in democracies.

I think I know why this is the case. If you live in a country where the laws themselves are secret (as used to be true in the Soviet Union) or the King/Ayatollah/Dear Leader can arbitrarily decide who is guilty, then what’s the point of reading about detectives? If trials are just public theatre to reveal what has already been decided behind the scenes, then who cares about crime novels?

The author of a cozy mystery believes (or pretends to believe) that she is describing a society in which justice can be done, and therefore investigation matters.

The hardboiled hero lives in a more cynical world, but even he believes that there is some possibility of justice that is worth fighting for. And the author believes that she lives in a society in which she can get away with writing so cynically.

Brainstorm

Ooh, here is a doctorate dissertation topic for somebody, and I am providing it free of charge in honor of the holiday.

Maybe the popularity of mysteries correlates to people’s faith in the government of their country. (Sales have been dropping for the last few years. Hmm…)

Expand this to 300 pages and send me a photo when you get your Ph.D.

An old example

One of the earliest proto-detective stories is Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex. (It has a detective, a Watson character, interrogation of suspects, and a most unlikely killer.) And it is a product of Athenian democracy.

(Yes, I know Athens wasn’t such a great democracy, allowing only male citizens to vote. On the other hand, ancient Athenians might argue that a country that only votes every few years and lets representatives decide all the specific issues is a funny kind of democracy, too.)

Another play from that era is Aeschylus’ The Eumenides, which shows the punishment of crime moving from vengeance by family members or representatives of the gods, to the verdict of impartial juries.

Boom!

That’s enough about that. Have a glorious Fourth. Light a firecracker (or don’t), have a hot dog, and go ahead and wave a flag. It’s the mysterious thing to do.