The Post-Modern Detective
| 'I tried to create Alex as a good psychologist,' says Kellerman, 'Actually he's much more sensitive than I am. But then, I get to rewrite his dialogue .... When you do therapy as a psychologist you focus on the patient,' says. 'You keep yourself out of it as much as possible. Basically you sit there and try to get that person to communicate to you. So Alex asks people to talk to him. He doesn't inject a lot of himself in there.' |
| —Jonathan Kellerman |
Alex Delaware is empathetic and caring with particular emphasis on his concern for children. In Alex Delaware, Kellerman draws a hero who appears to be "a levelheaded, appealingly thoughtful guy". Kellerman also provides Alex Delaware with a side-kick, LAPD detective Milo Sturgis, as is customary in the mystery genre. It is also revealed that his mother was a manic-depressive and his father a raging, physically abusive alcoholic. Kellerman also adds a girlfriend, Robin Castagna, and a French bulldog, which serve to emphasize Delaware's empathetic nature. In several novels, Alex and Robin break up. Alex begins dating Dr. Alison Gwynn, also a Ph.D., clinical psychologist, while Robin dates Tim Plachette, a voice coach.
Kellerman's characterization of Delaware is typical of the "Post-Modern Detective" whom Professor Dick Gibson defines as "often an untrained amateur ... often sensitive, caring, thoughtful and socially aware, and he is often from a traditionally noninvolved group." Kellerman characterizes Delaware as "sensitive, socially involved, loving and passionate about his patients and his family relationships and cynical only about 'bad guys.'" Additionally, Kellerman brings a professional "sophistication" to the series.
Delaware's friend Milo Sturgis, adds to the portrayal of the post-modern detective. As Gibson explains: " other important male role is Milo, a career policeman, a big shambling bear of a man, but, in a stunning role reversal, he is gay." Milo, Gibson points out, "the gay cop all too often functions as the cavalry. Delaware as amateur Knight Errant often gets into horrendous nightmare difficulties."
In the American Psychology Association Patrick McGuire writes about Kellerman's characterization of Delaware: "Alex Delaware's style is unlike that of the typical hard-nosed private eye. He goes about his work by interacting sympathetically with the people he meets and by quiet, professional observation. Kellerman says an empathetic psychologist is an ideal model for a detective."
Some reviewers, however, have criticized the Delaware novels based on overly intricate plotting, too much description of unnecessary elements, and "formula characters."
Read more about this topic: Alex Delaware
Famous quotes containing the word detective:
“The private detective of fiction is a fantastic creation who acts and speaks like a real man. He can be completely realistic in every sense but one, that one sense being that in life as we know it such a man would not be a private detective.”
—Raymond Chandler (1888–1959)