Dumbo: Back with a Vengeance

Not against anyone in particular, of course.

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This blog experienced a two-week hiatus, partly due to my busy schedule, and partly due to my picking up the reading habit again.
During the past two weeks, I read two Agatha Christie books ("One, Two, Buckle My Shoe" and "Five Little Pigs") and one Frederick Forsyth ("Icon").

In the past few months, I have been re-discovering Agatha Christie's works, through the collection (not complete though) of her works at the Seberang Jaya public library. "Re-discovery" because I have already read some - quite a number, actually - of her works when I was in secondary school. In retrospect, I now realize that at that time, I did not quite understand 100% what she wrote; after all, I had very little understanding of the British society and its culture then, therefore, many things did not make sense to me at that time.

Now, re-reading her works, I could not help but agree with the critics: she is - still is - indeed the "Queen of Crime".

I mean, to be sure, there have since been other writers who have come up with cleverer plots; but I still love Christie most for her profound portrayal of the human nature.

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I have always loved detective stories. I started reading Sherlock Holmes when I was in primary school, and for a time, I was enthralled by such Japanese masters of mysteries as "Matsumoto Seichō (松本清张)", "Morimura Seiichi (森村诚一)" "Natsuki Shizuko (夏树静子)", Akagawa Jirō (赤川次郎)", etc.

You must think me very psychotic, to be so obsessed with stories about people getting murdered.

However, you cannot deny that, if you are studying criminology, one thing you have to learn is to think like a criminal, as one popular saying goes, "to catch a criminal, you have to think like one".

Yet, that is not why I am fascinated by detective stories. On top of all those incredibly clever plots, what captivates me most, as mentioned earlier, is the portrayal of human nature, about both its triumph and its failings.

Now, of course, if you wish to read about how sinful the human nature is, you do not really have to read detective fictions. Just open up the Bible, or go read today's newspaper. But if you wish to have a quick dose of "good triumphing over evil", well, according to the Good Book, it's a life-long battle, with ultimate victory only at the End, on Judgment Day, and according to the newspaper, the police are still looking for clues - and will forever still be looking for clues; it is only in fictions (detective ones especially) that you will be assured of a good-triumphing-over-evil ending after only a few hundred pages (a few days of reading, maybe).

In that sense, I'm now particularly fond of Christie's detective stories because she has this particular philosophy about crime-solving that I totally agree with: that more important than proving who is the criminal, is proving who is not the criminal.

In a case of murder, there will bound to be more than one suspect. Among those suspected, there will only be one murderer (or, sometimes, a murderer with one or more accomplices), but all the same, every suspect will be eyed with suspicion by the society: "look at him/her; looking o-so-innocent; but he/she might really be a cold-blooded killer!" Life is not any easier for the family of the suspects either. The husband/wife of a suspect may constantly wonder, "am I sleeping with a murderer/murderess?"

"Innocent until proven guilty" is a myth. No one can truly claim to believe in that. We are always prejudiced by the fact that someone is suspected for a reason (presence of motive and opportunity). Therefore, finding the real culprit as fast as possible is imperative, and that is why I find Christie's detectives (Hercule Poirot, Ms. Marple, etc.) so endearing.

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Presently, I have finished reading all the novels I have with me. So, before I go to the library again (and there is no telling when that would be, being at the mercy of my unpredictable work schedule), I shall have to endure some days without the comforting embrace of the fictitious world.

At the meantime, I will catch up with several long-delayed posts for this blog. Watch out: Dumbo is back with a vengeance!