Alias S S Van Dine - Hardcover

Loughery

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0684193582 ISBN 13: 9780684193588

Publisher: Scribner, 1992

Synopsis

Recounts the rise and fall of Willard Huntington Wright, alias S. S. Van Dine--the virtual creator of the modern detective novel whose dramatic swing from success to failure epitomized the Jazz Age in which he lived.

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Reviews

Intriguing if ultimately somewhat disappointing: A full biography (the first, apparently) of nasty, elegant, tortured Willard Huntington Wright (1887-1939)--magazine editor, art critic, and, as ``S.S. Van Dine,'' the author of the phenomenally successful, now nearly forgotten Philo Vance mysteries. Loughery, art critic of The Hudson Review, begins, effectively, with Wright's final, unhappy days: the Philo Vance bubble already burst, his lavish lifestyle in disarray. Next, bewilderingly, the narrative flashes back not to Wright's beginnings but to his brief stint (1913-14) as editor of The Smart Set--where his daring taste soon got him into trouble. Only then does Loughery make a proper start: Virginia childhood with indulgent, hotel-owning parents and an equally precocious younger brother (artist Stanton); spotty studies at Harvard and impetuous, unfortunate marriage at 19; acerbic book-review work in California, with Mencken as model. After The Smart Set debacle came years of ill-rewarded labor as an eloquent champion of modern art, particularly the ``synchronism'' of brother Stanton Macdonald- Wright. A failure in N.Y.C, Wright became a 1920's scrounger in Hollywood, writing for movie-mags--while wrestling with drug addiction and domestic turmoil. (He was a misogynistic womanizer as well as a racist.) Finally, in 1924, this bitter aesthete decided to sell out with a vengeance and came up with Philo Vance, a ``fantasy projection'' of himself: art connoisseur, aristocrat, amateur detective--and the first American sleuth to rival the sophistication and popularity of the British mystery greats. However, by 1933, the Van Dine novels had become ``a dreary, desperate, mortifying labor for cash.'' Despite the clumsy start, an unlikable subject, and insufficient psychological depth: curious, literate life-history, with sporadic illumination of American culture (pop and otherwise) in the 1910-40 period. (Eight-page photo insert--not seen.) -- Copyright ©1992, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Loughery, who is art critic of The Hudson Review , presents a well-researched, candid, contemporary, and objective assessment of Willard Huntington Wright, who under the pseudonym S.S. Van Dine wrote the phenomenally successful Philo Vance detective novels of the 1920s. Following his struggles to establish himself as art critic, reviewer, editor, novelist, and self-styled man of letters, the impoverished, eccentric Wright was to find success only as the writer of popular detective fiction. In Wright's spectacular rise and downfall, Loughery sees "a very American story of ambition, struggle, and success." In its extravagance, arrogance, and intellectualism, Wright's own life personified the fictional detective he created. Loughery credits Wright with "legitimizing and invigorating detective fiction in America," and with his efforts, through art criticism, to promote acceptance of modern painting. An excellent, balanced study, recommended for public and academic collections in American literature and popular culture.
- Lesley Jorbin, Cleveland State Univ. Lib.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Scribner
• Publication date: 1992
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0684193582
• ISBN 13: 9780684193588
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 320