The psychology of Rex Stout,
Nero Wolfe and Archie Goodwin
with quotes and reviews for all the Nero Wolfe novels

C O L O U R K E 'Y

Psychological profiles:
♦ Adolf/Adolph Hitler Schicklgruber - his psychology and development
♦ Did Hitler know about the holocaust? A psychological assessment
♦ Henry Ford, mechanical man
♦ The psychology of Rex Stout, Nero Wolfe and Archie Goodwin
♦ The psychology of Georges Simenon and Jules Maigret, with reviews

♦ psycho-logic

♦ sociology - the structure of analysing belief systems

♦ psycho-babble

advertising disclaimer

introduction

Learn basic psychological reasoning with Nero Wolfe and Archie Goodwin, with some assistance from Rex Stout. Much of my site, thus far, has been devoted to propagating the advanced technical logic required to discuss psychology and many related issues sanely. With this document, I am finding room to discuss more simple, day-by-day, relational pragmatics. And as a bonus, comes the fun of visiting the Wolfe household.

As usual, I intend to concentrate on the psychology rather than the external life of my target - in this case Rex Stout, Nero Wolfe and Archie Goodwin, for they are all one person. A writer of Stout's quality tends to write about his view of the real world, the characters just being ways of expressing those views; they do not have independent lives as 'characters'. Stories are not much more than conversations in one man's head.

Rex Stout has clearly learned to live wisely and well, and his Wolfe novels can be read as an exploration of that achievement. This exploration is a central purpose of the document; apart from the considerable joy of reading this great writer's amusing and entertaining output. I have selected quotes from the thirty-three Nero Wolfe novels and used those quotes as a vehicle to educate in basic interpersonal behaviour/psychology.

Nero Wolfe is a genius, Stout, his puppeteer, is a clever writer and a man of wide experience who can be assumed to have met several 'geniuses'; his descriptions are widely perceptive. Without being able, the puppeteer could not write convincingly of genius. The Wolfe genus has sold over 100 million copies and will go down as among the greatest literary creations of the 20^th century. Stout is not 'just another' writer. His obvious purpose goes far beyond the sugar coating that surrounds the world he examines.

Rex Stout in his youth was paraded around as a boy genius, doing tricks like memorising and calculating large numbers. I have the impression that Stout had somewhat misperceived this sort of skill as indicative of 'genius'.

I shall mostly concentrate on the thirty-three Wolfe full-length novels written by Stout. In my view, he could not handle the short story format (he produced approximately forty such Wolfe items) with anything like the same conviction, [1] nor did his writing elsewhere rise to the power of the Wolfe books. Stout had been writing for the 'pulps' from around 1912, whereas the first Wolfe book appeared in 1934. From his earlier experience, Stout became an extremely practiced formulaic writer. This can make parts of his writing facile, but that should not interfere greatly with the enjoyment of his work.

Stout made himself wealthy in the 1920s with a school-banking scheme and had aspirations to become a 'literary' writer. By 1933,[2] he is quoted thus, "I thought if you're merely good and not great, what is the use of putting all that agony into it?", a pretty accurate assessment of his position. McAleer also comments that, "Now he had to bring in an income...". His new wife was pregnant and by now, he had rescinded most of his claims on the business.

During the Second World War, Rex Stout became a major dedicated force in anti-nazi propaganda. During this time, he produced no full Wolfe novels although Archie did go into uniform and work with Wolfe in the interests of the war effort. By the end of the war and the resumption of the Wolfe series, the more dense semi-literary style has been pretty well replaced by slick, professional writing.

Stout would make interesting study for others wishing to learn craft writing, and even for other psychological studies. His almost fearful responses to women,[3] his shadowed unconfidence, perhaps indicated by his 'name dropping’, and the 'guilt' of his sometimes inhibited style may evoke other studies. However, my interest is limited to the behavioural logic that makes him a useful teacher.

Stout lived an interesting, various and very active life outside his writing, but none of that interests me in terms the psychological lessons that he embedded in the Wolfe novels. I shall use the Wolfe coda to express some basic rules and attitudes to relationships and add some orientation where it seems useful. I shall also include quotes illustrating Archie's repartee and other quotes illustrative of Stout's apparent view on the world; I do not intend those additions to much distract from the psychological direction of this document. If you wish to read further into those areas of his life, you are advised to use the references and many web sites with broader objectives.

However, my main source is the thirty-three Nero Wolfe novels.

Rex Stout lived from 1886-1975, reaching the age of 88. Nero Wolfe was born in 1934 and evaporated in 1975, thus Stout was writing Nero's adventures from the age of 48 until 88. During this period, Stout's style developed with his growing ability. The early stories do not have the zip and fluency of the later work but they do have more detail and density. Thus there is a movement from the ponderous to the shallow, with Stout's work being variable as these two elements struggle for dominance and integration. My comments on individual novels can be found later in this document.

orientation

From Rex Stout by J. McAleer. This is the standard biography.

Nero Wolfe is 58, Archie Goodwin 34.

Rex Stout cultivated hundreds of varieties of irises and day lilies (p.xxxv).

Stout was, in part, descended from Quakers on both sides of his family for at least 5 generations. This McAleer catalogues in excruciating and disorganised detail.

"A paean to the primacy of the mind...proof that thought is action" Wallach (p.xx)

"Emily (Stout's maternal grandmother) McNeal Todhunter, plump and lazy in her special chair, addicted to flowers, dictionaries and atlases, an omnivorous reader, depended upon by her large family to adjudicate all problems". p.xxviii)

Of course, this is utter nonsense: a very very common but foolish and dangerous notion that thinking is not work.

Clearly, McAleer may be an adequate biographer and recorder of details but he is no Rex Stout or Nero Wolfe, or even Emily McNeal Todhunter! Wallach has a considerably better grasp. Thus, I shall treat McAleer as a useful source of background (doubtless the best, even if somewhat chaotic) and Stout, mainly through Wolfe, as the source of psychological insights.

The references to 'laziness' are a running theme throughout Stout's work, where Archie does such things as refusing to tell Wolfe the time because the exercise of turning his head to look for himself will be good for him. Again the Quaker judgemental puritanism peeps through the pages.

the Wolfe ménage

Wolfe lives in a four-story walk-up brownstone house at 918 W 35^th Street, New York.

New York - W35^th Street between 10th and 11^th Avenues

His staff of three - Archie Goodwin, legman and detective assistant, Fritz Bremmer, Swiss super cook and Theodore Hortsmann, orchid master - all live in the house.

Archie Goodwin is also prominent in his role of narrator of the stories. Thus in my comments on the individual books, the speaker can be assumed to be Archie unless I indicate that it is the speech of others being 'reported'. Archie has many of the best lines; and oft draws comments akin to Wolfe's "you'll clown at your funeral" (p. 111, The Black Mountain).

The orchids are on the top floor, where Wolfe spends much of his time "playing with his orchids" in Archie's words. There are four rooms: tropical, intermediate, cool and a potting room. The office is on the ground floor, there is a billiard room in the basement and bedrooms are on intermediate floors.

Nero is often described as weighing one-seventh of a (short/‘American’) ton, that is, one-seventh of 2,000 lb avoirdupois or 907.18474 kg. That is around 20 stone or 130 kilos, disgusting but perhaps not quite obscene![4] The obesity is in part a literary device to keep Wolfe seated in his office chair where most of his serious work and reading and thinking occurs. However, Wolfe does, in fact, leave the house fairly often, despite the constant repetitions that such events are rare. His main exercise is to work in the plant rooms full of orchids on the top floor of the brownstone (the journey to the plant rooms managed by lift), or to walk to the dinner table.

Legwork is undertaken by the wise-cracking Archie Goodwin, who also has the duty of stinging Wolfe into the serious hard work of thinking about his cases rather than reading, attending to his orchids or 'studying' cookery. Wolfe is far too competent and efficient ever to waste energy flippantly - it is the detection work that pays the rent and staff etc, mentioned at figures like $10,000 a month in the days when that had far more value than now. Wolfe works primarily for money, but also often for a shyly deprecated sense of justice.

Other regular characters are visitors. These include the bumbling, emotional, frustrated, overworked Inspector Cramer of the murder squad, commonly the butt of Wolfe's genius, a somewhat disgruntled Purley Stebbins, his assistant, who is no fool, and Rowcliffe, another subordinate, who is a dedicated oaf.

Outside the household, but active in Wolfe's circle, are:

• Principally, three, day-rate detectives: the high flying Saul Panzer, the steady Fred Durkin, and the vain impulsive Orrie Cather, who constantly dreams of replacing Archie.
• Neighbour Dr. Vollmer is often on hand to pronounce yet another convenient (or inconvenient) corpse dead and sometimes to carry a message when the regulars may be noticed.
• Nathaniel Parker is called in when Nero wants some legal advice or to pull some semi-dubious finesse.
• While Lon Cohen, reporter on the Gazette, is often a source for the current scuttlebutt around New York in exchange for a scoop on the latest case, or a good meal by Fritz at the Wolfe table.
• A lesser role is that of Rusterman's restaurant and its part owner, Marko Vukcic, (a fellow Montenegrin), managed in partnership with Wolfe and shadowy others.
• Lastly, there is the very handsome Archie's incredibly wealthy socialite lady friend, Lily Rowan, who "knows what men are for - and what they are not for", and who we are coyly and regularly reminded dances excessively well.

the novels

The 5-star rating system can only be my guide to readers. Very probably, you may find and develop your own favourites that are not congruent with my own rankings.

2 The League of Frightened Men (1935) aka Frightened Men ** ½
A damn awful piece of writing, but interesting for all that. This is more like a rather foolish examination of Stout’s own rather trivial psychology than a Nero Wolfe book, though I do suppose he had to get it off his mind before writing the ‘real’ Wolfe collection.

This book is considerably longer than the rest of the set. Stout earlier wrote several such ponderous, pseudo-psychological works before settling down to Wolfe. Two and a half stars because of its Stout interest, not because of its place as a book about Nero! Oh yes; and the story is in the title.

4 The Red Box aka The Case of the Red Box (1937) *
Fashion house - Badly written. Stout seems to be struggling with the characters of the Wolfe household. This is so off-key that it is hardly a Nero Wolfe story, but it may be of interest to a reader wishing to trace the roots of the series. Pola, Stout’s new wife, was involved in the fashion business - I even wonder whether she ‘helped’ him with this book!

5 Too Many Cooks (1938) *****
A real romp, good fun. Wolfe goes to a cook's convention in West Virginia. What is it about detectives that wherever they go, sure as blazes someone gets murdered? Keep away from detectives! Here is where Nero and Archie really start to hit their stride.

6 Some Buried Caesar aka The Red Bull (1939) ****
Archie meets Lily Rowan under difficult circumstances involving a prize bull. Racy, well written and well paced. Tails off a bit!

7 Over My Dead Body (1940) ****
In this story, Nero's long lost adopted daughter turns up from Montenegro[5], some eighteen (?) years later, in New York; provoking much teasing by Archie - "maybe we'll get married and I'll have to start calling you dad!". During the narrative, Nero explains that he has allowed his large weight as an inhibition upon the impulsiveness that may otherwise have threatened his life.
Filmed for TV.

8 Where There's A Will (1940) **
A peach for April, a pear for May and an apple for June. This is the last novel prior to WW2. It is rather tedious and wordy, with an uncooked centre.

The book was originally issued with six photographs showing the clues used by Wolfe. In the original, a major error was made with the photographs by setting them in winter instead of summer, causing Rex Stout problems with his fan mail. I would expect some fans also commented upon the inappropriately sylph-like figure alleged to be Nero. Unfortunately, these photos have not been produced in any issue since, doubtless saving the publishers money, but removing some authenticity.

I have decided to put copies of these photographs on the abelard.org site to add to the historic record and for the amusement and enjoyment of readers of Where there’s a will. This is at least until a good quality version of this book is reissued with the original photographs (an alert publisher would also discover a more likely set of photographs among Wolfe’s records). They were included in the book so that readers might see the data used by Nero Wolfe to solve the case, in order that they could have a go at it themselves. Strangely, the photographs are not presented in time order.

In the original edition, all the photographs are printed on one page (opposite p.221) and look rather like a contact sheet from an old black-and-white 35 mm film. The original page measures 7½ by 5 inches (19 x 12.7 cm). The six photos are each 1½ by 1 inch (3.8 x 2.5 cm), and thus only take up less than one quarter of the page. Indeed, Wolfe would have needed his magnifying glass to examine the details, some of which details were doubtless lost in printing them for the book (at between 100 to 150 dots per inch). Therefore, I have enlarged the photos for this web-page to an appropriate level prior to where the image breaks down into dots. The area for each photo is now approximately four times the original.

six photographs from the 1940 first edition of Where there’s a will by Rex Stout

Hover for descriptions of the photos (text version, with time order added).
Click if you want to find out what Nero Wolfe noticed.

[Note that the above image is optimised for a computer screen set to accurate pixelation. At other settings, the printed screen may clash with the pixels of the digital image to create a moiré pattern. The dots seen on the image above are a consequence of the screen used to create the original printed image.]

9 The Silent Speaker (1946/7) ***
A hunt for a stenographer's cylinder, some dated politics. Wolfe decides to get himself certified insane.
Filmed for TV.

nero wolfe attempts to dominate pink and green - by abelard
© abelard and abelard.org, 2005

10 Too Many Women (1948) **
Set in a large typing pool.

11 More Deaths Than One aka And Be a Villain (1948-9) ****
(first of three Zeck novels, Zeck is Nero's Moriarity)
Radio Show. Tipster sheets and blackmail. Very fluent. Stout was a radio host during WW2.

12 The Second Confession (1949-50) ****
(second of three Zeck novels)
Wolfe has his orchids shot up and screws up the peace of mind of some commies. Complex, interesting and well written.

13 In the Best Families (1950) aka Even in the Best Families *****
(third of three Zeck novels)
Wolfe goes on the lam – and loses 7 stone! A ripping yarn.

14 Murder by the Book (1952) ***
Company of lawyers hunt for a dangerous manuscript written under a pseudonym. Archie takes a trip to California.

15 Prisoner's Base aka Out Goes She (1953) *** ½
Bounces along, Archie is the client, Venezuela has a walk-on part.
Filmed for TV.

16 The Golden Spiders (1953/4) ****
Exploiting displaced persons. Well paced, smooth as silk.
Filmed for TV.

17 Black Mountain (1954) ****
Marko Vukcic, Nero's boyhood friend is murdered; Wolfe sets off for Monte Negro to avenge him.

18 Before Midnight (1956) ***
Perfume poem quiz designed by an advertising agency. Fluent, well written.

"...but he had real brains and there's no substitute for brains..."

19 If  Death Ever Slept (1957) ***
Set in the house of a capitalist and his family. Fluent enough, rather abrupt close.

"Before we're through you'll be remembering lots of things you would have thought impossible...."

24 The Final Deduction (1961) ***
Fast, light and shallow. A blackmail plot with twists. The sort of detective novel you want as pure escapism.

25 Gambit (1962) ****
A chess club and poisoned chocolate. The background research is sloppy on a subject I know, so research is probably weak elsewhere in the series. Still good reading.

27 A Right to Die (1964) **
Black/White relationships, explorative of topic, well organized but often trite.

28 The Doorbell Rang (1965/6) **** ½
Wolfe tangles with the FBI, good reading. By now Archie no longer smokes (p.38). Over the years, Cramer also stopped smoking cigars and started chewing on them! On p. 41, a plausible reason is given for identifying some visitors as FBI, but is clumsily faked in the TV film .
Filmed for TV.

30 The Father Hunt (1968) ***
Competent and fluent. Daddy scarpered from rich family; and a neat little nest egg. The sins of the grandfather are visited unto the third generation.

other background information and quotes from McAleer

Lucetta was Rex Stout's mother and John, his father.

p.28 Lucetta: "never praise or blame anyone, including yourself"

John is described as being subject to ungovernable outbursts of temper; this was a typical puritanical Victorian household.

for an easy introduction to Nero Wolfe

TV series, 2003 & 2004

I have seen various attempts at putting Wolfe on screen and have mostly remained unimpressed; however, the latest attempt is much better managed. The series is even interesting artwork on its own merits: a combination of 30-50s scenery and modern art, with a large variety of track background music. Recommended for aesthetes and those of healthy curiosity. The titling is various and interesting, the accessories, especially the cars and the incredible wardrobes, add to the strength of the series.

The main parts are assigned to specific actors but the minor parts are played by what amounts to a repertory company, here is an example with Kari Matchett, one of the players. Even this works rather well, as the minor parts start to merge into the background with the old brownstone. The films may not rise to the level of Stout's originals, films rarely do or can, that would be too much to cry for, but they make a damned good shot at it.

The second series I regard as even stronger than the first, and you have even more episodes. I look forward, optimistically, to a third season though currently there are hitches obtaining funding.

Two-hour and one-hour formats:
The production company, A&E apparently insisted on the one-hour format, so all the novels were filmed as two-parters, while the short stories were single episodes. In the USA, the series were run as one-hour time slots. In Europe, they prefer two-hour slots, so the stories are sometimes shown two at a time. Furthermore, in Europe there are usually 2 minutes' fewer ads per hour. Therefore, Europeans see the novels in 2-hour movie formats, with an extra 2 minutes per hour of fill-in produced for the European market. Such are the pressures of modern TV production. The currently available DVDs are American-based.

There is no way that the films can match the complexity and detail of the books, but this is a very creditable option for those who no longer read! With several of the films, slight alterations are inserted, sometimes introducing anomalies, other times smoothing the abridgement required to squeeze the story into the time frames.

3 discs

Nero Wolfe: The Complete First Season (REGION 1) (NTSC), 2004, B00029NKS8
$47.49 [amazon.com]
amazon.co.uk

The Doorbell Rang
Champagne for One
Prisoner’s Base aka Out Goes She
Over my Dead Body
+ 4 short stories

5 discs

Nero Wolfe: The Complete Second Season (REGION 1) (NTSC), 2005, B0002MK61E
amazon.com
amazon.co.uk

The Silent Speaker
Death of a Doxy
The Golden Spiders
Mother Hunt
Too Many Clients
+ 8 short stories
+bonus items

bibliography

by Rex Stout

1992, 0553278193

amazon.co.uk

1995, 0553762982

$19.00 [amazon.com]

£10.91 [amazon.co.uk]

1995, 0553763091

£8.32 [amazon.co.uk]

amazon.com

1992, 0553249193

amazon.com

-

1993, 0553763067

£8.62 [amazon.co.uk]

amazon.com

1994, 0553254642

£3.73 [amazon.co.uk]

$6.50 [amazon.com]

1994, 0553231162

$5.99 [amazon.com]

amazon.co.uk

0553295918

amazon.com

amazon.co.uk

0553234978

$5.99 [amazon.com]

amazon.co.uk

0553250663

amazon.com

amazon.co.uk

1994, 0553239317
And Be a Villain
£3.73 [amazon.com]

$6.50 [amazon.co.uk]

1995, 0553245945

$5.99 [amazon.com]

amazon.co.uk

1995, 0553277766

$6.50 [amazon.com]

amazon.co.uk

1995, 0553763113

$19.00 [amazon.com]

£10.91 [amazon.co.uk]

1992, 0553242695

$6.50 [amazon.com]

£3.73 [amazon.co.uk]

1995, 0553277804

$6.50 [amazon.com]

£3.73 [amazon.co.uk]

1993, 0553272918

amazon.co.uk

amazon.com

1993, 0553763040

$15.00 [amazon.com]

£8.62 [amazon.co.uk]

1995, 0553762966

$15.00 [amazon.com]

£8.62 [amazon.co.uk]

1995, 0553763032

$15.00 [amazon.com]

£8.62 [amazon.co.uk]

1995, 0553244388
$6.50 [amazon.com]

1999, 0613133587
£8.62 hbk [amazon.co.uk]

1995, 0553253638

amazon.com

amazon.co.uk

1995, 0553254235,

amazon.com

amazon.co.uk

1995, 0553763105

$15.00 [amazon.com]

£8.62 [amazon.co.uk]

1985, 0553251724

amazon.com

amazon.co.uk

1993, 0553247379

£3.73 [amazon.com]

$6.50 [amazon.co.uk]

1994, 0553240323

£3.44 [amazon.com]

$5.99 [amazon.co.uk]

1992, 0553237217

$6.50 [amazon.com]

£3.73 [amazon.co.uk]

1995, 0553276069

$6.50 [amazon.com]

£3.73 [amazon.co.uk]

1995, 0553762974

$15.00 [amazon.com]

£8.62 [amazon.co.uk]

1999, 0553762958

$15.00 [amazon.com]

£8.62 [amazon.co.uk]

1995, 0553763083

$15.00 [amazon.com]

£8.62 [amazon.co.uk]

n.d., 0553026143
amazon.com

1977, 0006143393
amazon.co.uk

Other books

Rex Stout and the editors of the Viking Press, The Nero Wolfe Cookbook,
Penguin Books, 1973 US, 1981 UK,
0140057544 pbk

Contains large numbers of recipes named in the Nero Wolfe books.

Cumberland House Publishing , 1996, pbk
1888952245

$11.53 [amazon.com]

end notes

email email_abelard [at] abelard.org

© abelard, 2005, 21 november

all rights reserved

the address for this document is https://www.abelard.org/nero_wolfe.php

10,155 words
prints as 27 A4 pages (on my printer and set-up)