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 A Family Affair (1975) — Nero Wolfe's Final Case 

A Family Affair.
A worthy ending 75%  75%  [ 3 ]
An anticlimax 25%  25%  [ 1 ]
Total votes : 4

 A Family Affair (1975) — Nero Wolfe's Final Case 
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starfish wrote:
Let's agree to disagree.

That's a good strategy, Starfish. For now, until proven otherwise, I absolutely disagree that Wolfe was ever married. That really sounds blasphemic to my ears. :twisted: I'll be happy to analyze the quotation where he supposedly mentions his marriage to Archie in a serious moment – I can't remember any such occasion, although I've already read the entire Corpus, and parts of it more than once or twice. :)


Sat, 6 Oct 2007, 12:14
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I completely agree with you on the question of Wolfe's marriage, or lack thereof.
My impression has always been that the 'woman he scedaddled (?) from' was a serious dalliance of his youth. Unfortunately, she pushed, apparently with some vigor, for marriage before he was ready. So he ran in a panic. And that was as close as Wolfe came to being married, imo. 8)

Also, he may have said 'a woman', not wife, tried to poison him. I am not sure on that, but considering Wolfe's penchant for horribilizing things when stirred, he probably would accuse Fritz of the same crime for using too many juniperberries. :lol:


Sat, 6 Oct 2007, 14:04
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starfish wrote:
a serious dalliance of his youth. Unfortunately, she pushed, apparently with some vigor, for marriage before he was ready.

Or, being of romantic nature, avid Jane Austen reader and whatnot, perhaps it was Wolfe who was pushing her, and she didn't like to be pushed. :twisted: In other words, she wasn't impressed by Nero Wolfe, genius or not, fat or “still lean and moving around” (which I believe was the phrase Wolfe used in Over My Dead Body).

And Wolfe, extremely vain as he is, would not be unlikely to twist things around and recount the happenings, years later, in the opposite way they actually happened. It was him, the genius, who rejected any notion of dalliance, not the object of his interest who rejected him.

Yeah, right. :lol:

[Anyway, all of the above is just another hypothesis.] :)


Sat, 6 Oct 2007, 14:12
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starfish wrote:
Also, he may have said 'a woman', not wife, tried to poison him. I am not sure on that, but considering Wolfe's penchant for horribilizing things when stirred, he probably would accuse Fritz of the same crime for using too many juniperberries. :lol:


Nope, Wolfe tells Archie of a woman who tried to poison her husband, and then says that he was the man and the woman - but Archie cuts him off, with some quip about a witch living in the curl of a pig's tail.

By God, to quote Cramer, I wish I could remember which book that is! :x I thought it an intriguing, if random, reference, and it didn't truly bother me. It's just proving an elusive quote to trace!

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Sat, 6 Oct 2007, 14:27
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AdonisGuilfoyle wrote:
It's just proving an elusive quote to trace!

Not really, if you happen to have an electronic database of all Nero Wolfe texts at your disposal. I think Phil Fischer from the Nero Wolfe discussion mailing lists must possess one such database, judging by his posts; so, it would take him a few seconds to locate all instances of witch, curl, pig or tail in the Corpus. 8)


Sat, 6 Oct 2007, 14:33
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I tried that with 'Search' on my own computer, but I'm still missing it - unless I didn't list that quote, which I doubt ... :? But if anyone can locate it, and save me latching onto yet another trivial pursuit, I would be grateful!

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Sat, 6 Oct 2007, 14:37
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Phil Fischer might feel flattered if you asked him, ideally on a mailing list. Might be a good question to post on one of the 2 Wolfe lists; they're usually silent most of the time anyway, so at least there'd be something to discuss and analyze. 8)


Sat, 6 Oct 2007, 14:42
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Quote:
That story about a wife trying to poison him was part of Wolfe's bamboozling scheme in one of the novels – I forget which one.


Hello all. Just popping in quickly with the name of that book about a wife trying to poison Wolfe.

It's from The League of Frightened Men Chap. 10, after Dora Chapin's visit Wolfe tells Archie:

[Wolfe] "The things a woman will think of are beyond belief. I knew a woman once in Hungary whose husband had frequent headaches. It was her custom to relieve them by the devoted application of cold compresses. It occurred to her one day to stir into the water with which she wetted the compresses a large quantity of a penetrating poison which she had herself distilled from an herb. The result was gratifying to her. The man on whom she tried the experiment was myself. The woman -" [Archie] "He was just trying to keep me from annoying him about business. I cut in. 'Yeah. I know. The woman was a witch you had caught riding around in the curl of a pig's tail. ' "

(Note: Wolfe doesn't say explicitly that it was his wife, just that he was the man she tried to poison.)

Okay, that was driving me bughouse, too :D And don't think for a minute I have Archie's memory, because I don't, but I have taken copious notes.

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Mon, 8 Oct 2007, 1:26
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scooter wrote:
It's from The League of Frightened Men Chap. 10, after Dora Chapin's visit Wolfe tells Archie:

[Wolfe] "The things a woman will think of are beyond belief. I knew a woman once in Hungary whose husband had frequent headaches. It was her custom to relieve them by the devoted application of cold compresses. It occurred to her one day to stir into the water with which she wetted the compresses a large quantity of a penetrating poison which she had herself distilled from an herb. The result was gratifying to her. The man on whom she tried the experiment was myself. The woman -" [Archie] "He was just trying to keep me from annoying him about business. I cut in. 'Yeah. I know. The woman was a witch you had caught riding around in the curl of a pig's tail. ' "

(Note: Wolfe doesn't say explicitly that it was his wife, just that he was the man she tried to poison.)

Okay, that was driving me bughouse, too :D And don't think for a minute I have Archie's memory, because I don't, but I have taken copious notes.


Gah! And I claim to love that book! :roll: Thank you! :D

And I suppose, yes, it's a question of semantics - treating the husband's headaches with cold compresses spawned the method of poisoning, but she tried it out on Wolfe. Of course, why would Wolfe need compresses if he didn't have headaches, and why would she want to poison him unless he was her high-maintenance husband, but it doesn't actually prove anything - after all that!

Thanks again. And I love that icon! :wink:

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Mon, 8 Oct 2007, 10:38
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Thank you for that informative premier post of yours, Scooter. 8) I now remember the occasion, too, and I agree with Adonis's interpretation: I've always understood this to mean the husband and Wolfe being 2 different persons. That is, the woman wanted to poison her husband, but first tested the poisonous effect on Wolfe. (Due to Wolfe's stout physique? :wink:)

I've read The League of Frightened Men twice now, and both times I understood the passage as explained above, without giving it a second thought. Why would Wolfe talk about himself in the third person? Yes, he likes dramatic effects, but it would seem uncalled-for here, during a private conversation with Archie.

For easy future reference, I've now added the quotation sourced by Scooter to The League of Frightened Men collection. I also inserted a footnote mentioning the various interpretations of the passage, with a link back to this discussion thread. Anyone, feel free to edit or expand the footnote; of course, the controversy may be further discussed here, or perhaps in The League of Frightened Men thread, where it rightfully belongs.

Actually, Wolfe's potential marriage is such a momentous issue it might even merit a separate, dedicated discussion thread: Did Nero Wolfe Ever Marry? Feel free to start the new thread if this seems important to you; I for one am sufficiently convinced Wolfe never married, but other readers may have other impressions. :)


Mon, 8 Oct 2007, 12:39
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Wolfe's account is extraordinary.
He starts off with a story, most likely annectotal and in the realm of 'Urban Legend'. Then, half way through, he personalizes it and declares himself the victim.

Archie does something very uncharacteristic, he impolitely cuts Wolfe off. Archie might as well have said: 'Bah, Stuff and Nonsense'!
Obviously, Wolfe's tale of woe struck Archie as a red herring, designed to give him something to think about, other than 'riding' Wolfe.
Archie did not buy it.
Do we :?:

Another thought. (Egad)
This alleged poisoning happened during his younger years. Wolfe was then, by his own account, a political fire brand on a mission. Highly mobile and mixed up in dangerous situations.
When would he have had time to sit about the house with a migraine, a wife and cold compresses :?:
OR ~~~ was the 'wife' an agent/assassin of the opposition, who failed :?: :?:

Oh well, back to Square One. 8)


Tue, 9 Oct 2007, 14:53
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starfish wrote:
Obviously, Wolfe's tale of woe struck Archie as a red herring, designed to give him something to think about, other than 'riding' Wolfe.
Archie did not buy it.
Do we :?:

It certainly seems that way, unless Archie merely didn't give pause for thought about Wolfe's past; it's like he doesn't want to know. In Over My Dead Body, when Archie finds out that Wolfe once adopted a daughter, he makes a joke about it - two jokes, that his mother wouldn't approve, and that he might marry 'Neya' - instead of wondering what else Wolfe hasn't told him, which I was expecting. I've always found it slightly incongruous that these two share such a profound and interdepedent relationship, and yet Archie projects this casual, flippant attitude about his employer.

Quote:
Another thought. (Egad)
This alleged poisoning happened during his younger years.

When I read that 'throwaway' reference, I interpreted it as an episode from Wolfe's romantic youth, but accepted the marriage. Wolfe is an enigma, and I enjoy not knowing too much about his past; I like, too, when he starts to say things like, 'Married? No, that's why I -', in Over My Dead Body, again, because it's presents more questions than it answers! ('That's why he' what? Was he lying to the FBI agent, or to Archie in League?) But the important detail for me is that Wolfe's episodes are all in his past; now, he is content to live in his brownstone home, with people he trusts, tending his orchids and enjoying food prepared by Fritz, and only leaving when it suits him, never exerting more energy than is necessary. It's not a threat to the familiar world that we enjoy if he was married but is no longer, or that he once adopted a daughter, but does not suddenly gain a family apart from Archie, Fritz, Saul, Fred and Orrie.

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Tue, 9 Oct 2007, 16:14
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I think we want our sleuths unattached or at least uncommitted, like Archie.
Romantic sleuth couples don't stir my interest. 8)


Tue, 9 Oct 2007, 21:30
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AdonisGuilfoyle wrote:
It's not a threat to the familiar world that we enjoy if he was married but is no longer, or that he once adopted a daughter, but does not suddenly gain a family apart from Archie, Fritz, Saul, Fred and Orrie.


Hi there, Alex & friends. What fun discussions y'all have been having -- sorry I don't have more time to participate.

Re: The line quoted [I hope] from Adonis' post -- I agree with the first part, i.e., that whether Wolfe was married years ago doesn't affect his or our Brownstone world, but not with the second: Regardless of how long ago he adopted her, she's current and she's right there in front of all of us, so I'd say she very definitely represented a threat to the Brownstone world as we know it. I think Rex Stout also realized that she was a threat and too much for him to handle, which is probably why he lets her in only one more time, and then only to get her outta there.


Wed, 10 Oct 2007, 1:01
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Thanks for stopping by, Peephole. I have the same problem as you: not enough time to devote to this site, thus far. :( I've been planning for months now to upgrade the software of this forum so that, for example, sub-categories may be created within the Rex Stout forum.

This would make it possible to set up, for instance, a subcategory for the A&E TV Nero Wolfe series, and within that subcategory, there could be specific threads for each episode (as alluded to by Adonis earlier tonight), or for discussing any particular issue relevant for the TV series. But, there's simply not enough time, and I'll be spending the next 5 days in Berlin, probably off-line, and catching up with backlogs after I return, so all the work on this site gets postponed indefinitely again... :roll:

O Wolfean Schedule, come to our rescue! :idea:


Wed, 10 Oct 2007, 2:22
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