Saki (Critical Survey of Mystery and Detective Fiction)
Contribution
Hardly any of Saki’s short stories, which fill five volumes, can be regarded as works of detective fiction in the more limited sense of the term. Many of his brilliantly crafted, deeply sarcastic pieces, however, deal with the criminal impulse of man. In direct contrast to the classic hero of detective fiction, who tries to restore order by abolishing the chaos let loose by antisocial impulses, Saki’s mischievous protagonists arrive upon the scene to wreak havoc on victims who have invited their tormentors out of folly or a streak of viciousness of their own....
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