Classics Corner: The Vicious Circle: Mystery and Crime Stories Written By Members of the Algonquin Round Table Edited by Otto Penzler; A Witty Dark Collection From Some of America's Funniest And Most Notable Writers

Classics Corner: The Vicious Circle: Mystery and Crime Stories Written By Members of the Algonquin Round Table Edited by Otto Penzler; A Witty Dark Collection From Some of America's Funniest And Most Notable Writers

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews


Chances are if you are a frequent Reader of early 20th century American Literature, then you probably wondered what it must have been like to be a member of the Algonquin Round Table. This was a group of intellectuals, writers mostly but also actors, musicians, comedians, and producers who met from 1919-1927 at the Algonquin Hotel in New York City to drink, argue, discuss, drink some more, curry favors, hook up, write, and no doubt to drink again.


While people hovered in and out of the group, some of the known members included some of the brightest of 1920’s society including columnist, Alexander Woollcott, humorist, Robert Benchley, critic and author, Dorothy Parker, playwrights, Robert Sherwood, Edna Ferber, and George S. Kaufman, and comedian, Harpo Marx among others. The group would meet to prank or trade clever barbs and comebacks with one another. (One example involves Woollcott observing the normally tweed-suit-wearing Ferber in a gown. Woollcott: My dear, you almost look like a woman. Ferber: So do you.) Even in modern times, the Algonquin Round Table members are known for their caustic wit and one-liners, but they also served a more serious purpose by inspiring one another's writing talents, collaborating on works, and becoming involved in various mostly liberal causes.


The Algonquins were heavily criticized as sophisticated elitists who traded comments but did very little (sort of a precursor to the so-called “Liberal Elite” stereotype), but in reality were very involved in labor union disputes, civil rights, and anti-censorship movements. (They didn't just talk the talk either. After her death, Dorothy Parker bequeathed her estate to Martin Luther King Jr. who then bequeathed it to the NAACP. The NAACP dedicated a memorial garden to her outside their Baltimore office.)


While their works were often clever and funny, the Algonquins weren't unaware of the dark side of human nature. They were aware of hatred, prejudice, envy, and death. That dark side often appeared in their writings so the Algonquins were naturals to write crime and mystery stories.


Otto Penzler, proprietor of the Mysterious Bookshop in New York City gathered the Algonquin's mystery and crime stories to create The Vicious Circle (a nickname for the Algonquins), a collection that displays the Algonquin's clever wit and love of the dark side of life. Many of the stories aren’t whodunits in the traditional sense and the emphasis is not on the plot angles of solving murders. Instead the focus of the stories is mostly on sharp wit and dramatic irony usually involving characters in criminal illegal situations all while providing clever barbs and commentary.The characters in these stories might stab someone in the back but not before delivering a clever bon mot beforehand.


The five best stories that display the Algonquin wit in deadly situations are:


“Coroner’s Inquest” by Marc Connolly- Pulitzer winning playwright, Connolly wrote this short story which could be the inspiration for the “Twilight Zone-Tales-From-The-Crypt-M.-Knight-Shyamalan” twist ending. In a dialogue heavy story, a witness recounts the deaths of a friend, Jimmy, a Little Person and his brother-in-law, Robel. The situation is grotesque as Jimmy becomes obsessed with the thought that he is growing (therefore no longer marketable as a Little Person). The story builds to a climax that is dipped in irony and farce, making the story a dark comedy-mystery turned into a revenge tale.


“Farewell, My Lovely Appetizer” by S.J. Perelman-Readers who are familiar with the hard boiled detective works by Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler, and Jim M. Cain, would enjoy Perelman’s parody story. Perelman, a frequent writer for the New Yorker magazine and collaborator of the Marx Brothers sent up the clichés of the world-weary cynical detective, the bright but not too bright female assistant, and the gorgeous femme fatale who hires the shamus to solve her case or be her fall guy. The story particularly skewers Hammett’s classic, The Maltese Falcon by offering us a main character whose resemblance to Hammett's Sam Spade is no doubt entirely intentional. To add to the parody, the femme fatale who is not-supposed-to-be-but-really-is Falcon’s Brigid O'Shaughnessy, tells her hard luck story and makes a casual reference to a golden spintria in her story of murder and betrayal. In contrast to the Maltese “stuff that dreams are made of”, when asked about what the spintria has to do with her story, the Fatale responds: “It doesn't. I just thought it added glamour to the story.”



“Haircut” by Ring Lardner- Sports columnist, Lardner's short story is an excellent example of dialect storytelling. In the story, a barber tells a customer about a love triangle that resulted in a murder. What makes the story stand out is the tone and style that brings the narrator to life. Through the Narrator's account, Lardner expertly captured those verbal tics that we all recognize in storytellers like constant repetition, subject changes, and endless digressions. We all know someone like that: a Big Talker who will ramble on and on leaving his listeners glancing at their watches and watching the outside skyline get lighter while they sit there intensely fascinated. The Reader hovers between telling Gardner's protagonist, “Please continue” and “Get to the point!”


“The Great Warburton Mystery” by George S. Kaufman and Howard Dietz- If Perelman's story brilliantly mocks the hard-boiled mystery, then Kaufman and Dietz's one-act play is a clever send up of the drawing room mystery written by the likes of Agatha Christie, Dorothy L. Sayers, and Ngaio Marsh. A detective solves a murder at a fancy dress party using solutions that mock the deductive reasonings of Sherlock Holmes or Hercule Poirot. Instead of using logic to come to his conclusion, Inspector Cartwright appears to pull solutions out of his ass, once almost literally. (He insists that no two chair impressions are alike so starts measuring the sitters). He moves his way through a party of bizarre suspects, particularly an irritating heiress who insists on becoming the center of attention by inserting herself into the investigation and claiming to be linked to various characters.


“Big Blonde” by Dorothy Parker- If the kingdom of the Algonquin Round Table had a queen, she would be Dorothy Parker. Parker was certainly the most well-known of the Algonquins particularly for her wisecracks, witty poems and screenplays (including the original, A Star is Born), and caustic book and theater reviews. She also wrote plenty of short stories that were filled with ironic situations and dry humor that characters used to get through life’s troubles. These weren't gut busting hilarious stories but Parker's characters were often caught up in difficult situations which they faced with sarcasm, cynicism, and a brazen “what the hell" attitude. Dorothy Parker's characters laugh, so they don't cry.


Parker's story, “Big Blonde” captures not only the wit and irony of Parker's writing but it perfectly encapsulates the division between humor and darkness found in the Algonquin's stories making this the best story in the anthology and Parker the best writer of the Algonquin Round Table.


On the surface nothing seems remotely funny about Hazel Morse's life as she moves from one unhappy relationship to another and ultimately attempts suicide. Parker's narration provides some sharp contrast to this sad situation with witticisms about Hazel's life. Before her marriage, Hazel weighs out potential suitors by their locations: “She could not regard as serious proposals that she share a western residence.”


Some of the darkest passages offer humor that is wry, sarcastic, and sometimes uncomfortable such as when she weighs out the different methods towards suicide. Hazel dismisses various means such as guns (“Too noisy.” She always turned her head during shooting scenes in plays), knives (“Hurts like hell.”), and poison (“They wouldn't sell it to you because of the law.”). Similar to Parker’s terse poem, “Resume”( Razors pain you, Rivers are damp, Acids stain you, And drugs cause cramp. Guns aren't lawful, Nooses give, Gas smells awful. You might as well live”)., the narrative provides an ironic gallows humor that could be summarized by saying “I can't kill myself. I might get hurt!”


There is also something empathetic in Hazel (and in turn Parker who attempted suicide several times in her lifetime) in her cynicism in the midst of despair. She is someone who faces life's hardships with a smirk, a good stiff drink, and saying “Here's mud in your eye” (sort of the Jazz Age version of flipping the bird) before her attempt. She may feel down but Hazel will give the world an earful before that happens. Hazel is like the comedian giving a monologue about their mental health issues while inside a psychiatric ward recovering from them.


While Dorothy Parker is the best writer of the Algonquin Round Table, all of the writers provided their Readers with clever original ways of looking at the world of crime and death. They allowed their Readers to see that world with a chuckle or a smirk along with the firm grimace.