tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-137677673775151256.post8133364610289540907..comments2024-03-19T02:33:46.696-07:00Comments on The Passing Tramp: James Yaffe (1927-2017)The Passing Tramphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09830680639601570152noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-137677673775151256.post-77404335652906682642017-06-28T23:30:33.438-07:002017-06-28T23:30:33.438-07:00And ratiocination requires some fidelity to realis...<em>And ratiocination requires some fidelity to realism, I think, or anything goes and the game of deduction flies out the window.</em><br /><br />It's adherence to rules rather than reality that distinguishes detective fiction. The single most important rule is that logical deduction must work more or less as it does in our world, and the laws of physics must apply as well.<br /><br />On the other hand an extraordinary and entirely unrealistic degree of coincidence is tolerated. If a fictional amateur detective decides to take a holiday at the seaside you can be practically certain that a body will be find lying on the beach within a day or two. In his next book the same fictional amateur detective will decide to visit his uncle who's a country vicar and you just know that a body will turn up in the vicarage a day or so later.dfordoomhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02306293859869179118noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-137677673775151256.post-58163516343600074742017-06-28T19:52:58.812-07:002017-06-28T19:52:58.812-07:00Some detective novels are realer than others, howe...Some detective novels are realer than others, however. Or at least they feel so. And ratiocination requires some fidelity to realism, I think, or anything goes and the game of deduction flies out the window. I guess the debate is how much realism should there be, or attempts at such. Too much reality can offer a dreary prospect.The Passing Tramphttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09830680639601570152noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-137677673775151256.post-17101569389848842662017-06-24T21:39:08.646-07:002017-06-24T21:39:08.646-07:00But the one thing those early stories never had wa...<em>But the one thing those early stories never had was any connection with reality</em><br /><br />That's what makes detective fiction so great.<br /><br />Of course if I wanted to be pedantic and annoying I'd say that fiction in general has no connection with reality. At best it's a distorted, manipulated pseudo-reality. All fiction takes place in an alternative reality where the writer gets to make the rules.<br /><br />Even journalism doesn't deal with reality. The very act of selecting which stories to cover distorts reality.<br /><br />Detective fiction and science fiction are more honest in that they don't pretend to deal with reality. That's one of the many reasons I gave up reading literary fiction about ten years ago.dfordoomhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02306293859869179118noreply@blogger.com