An interview that takes us to know a fascinating and mysterious panorama, the literature of detective stories, comparing this genre with the Japanese conception, through the book “Elementare Matsuda!. We thus met the author Gianluca Lamendola who led us on a journey full of curiosities, thanks to his knowledge on the subject. But now we are ready, no one will be able to leave this service until Gianluca has finished answering the questions….
How did your journey into the world of literature begin?
I have had a love for books since I was a child: from the first adaptations of Greek mythology stories for children, through Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson and for Italo Calvino’s Ancestors trilogy up to the gothic tales of Edgar Allan Poe. As I grew up I became more and more interested in the behind the scenes of novels and who writes them. One of my favorite essays on writing is Dance Macabre by Stephen King where the author analyzes his and the works that inspired him. Imagine, then, that it is one of my favorite manga of all time Bakuman of the fantastic pairing Ohba and Obata.
How the essay “Elementare, Matsuda” was born
Elementary, Matsuda! was born from the desire to pursue two of my passions: manga and crime literature. When I started collecting the material I was thrilled by reading Death Notebut then the research ended up incorporating more and more titles proposing recurring situations and characters.
What idea did you have of the structure of the Western Yellows, compared to the Japanese ones?
I suiri manga they have a structure similar to the classic English detective story: there is a crime, a murderer and a detective. Whether it is a murder in a locked room or a death by poisoning that occurred in the presence of many suspects, the story will end up narrowing the field to a few crucial clues. What changes is the weight of the detective in the classic detective story compared to the oriental one. Sherlock Holmes and Hercule Poirot remain exquisitely functional characters to help the reader in solving the mystery, but we know nothing about their private lives. Indeed, Poirot solves the cases in always different places and communities to avoid being able to attribute sympathies and tastes to him as if they were a common character. Differently, Conan Edogawa is placed in a well-defined context with recurring supporting characters who grow up with him in Gōshō Aoyama’s manga.
What relationship do you have with Japan?
A happily successful courtship! [ride] I finally got to visit and it was amazing despite the heat. What fascinates me is not only its imagery but also its legends, its culture and its modernity.
After you made this book, do you believe that the perfect crime could exist?
In reality this may be the case, but in fiction it would be inconvenient for the writer, because at that point he would no longer have a challenge with which to entertain the reader. In the novel The mystery of Cape Spain, Ellery Queen explains that a perfect crime would simply consist of killing a stranger without witnesses in a dark or isolated avenue. If we love the detective story and long for a solution then the murders had better be imperfect.
There is a dedicated section where you compare Arsenio Lupine with Lupine 3… who is the best?
Difficult to choose, because the two characters are very similar in character and cunning. Furthermore, they are two gentlemen who almost never kill the victims of their thefts. Like those of Lupine III, also the hits scored by Arsène Lupine. they are spectacular and full of chases. Let’s just think about the story Lupin’s billions by Maurice Leblanc in which Lupine rides a tiger under fire from policemen and mafiosi. Probably the main difference between the two antiheroes lies in the band of loyal associates and friends on whom Lupine III relies that Arséne lacks.
Mystery is a timeless genre that continues to fascinate not only with novels but also comics, films and board games. What do you think are the reasons for this success?
The novels of Arthur Conan Doyle e Agatha Christie have fun because they involve the reader with a seemingly unsolvable murder. It always begins with a discovery of the body and continues with the list of inconsistencies found at the crime scene or emerging from the witnesses’ versions. The detective is there to help us create a mosaic of conjectures, but even if we don’t manage to reach the solution before him, the fun remains. As you remembered, detective stories can also be board games, because this genre has a rigid structure that thrives on variations. However, there remain two that are truly important for the purposes of the result: everything must happen in a specific place and time as if it were a board game; the author cannot cheat by inserting murderers who have never appeared in the story or crucial clues in the ending.
It’s your time… what do you feel like saying to the readers of Mondo Japan.
First of all, thank you for the questions and the time you gave me because I was very pleased to be your guest. Finally, I invite your readers to always cultivate and delve into their passions… Which they already do by reading your splendid site. Best regards.