Crime Writer Margot Kinberg

Allegories can be effective means to send a message or explore a topic in subtle ways. Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels, for instance, includes biting social and political criticism. Had Swift been more direct in his commentary, the story might not have been as successful. Sometimes, allegories can even help the author avoid trouble with authorities in societies where direct criticism is dangerous.

Are there allegories in crime fiction? Arguably, there are. The line between allegory and crime fiction is sometimes quite blurred, depending on what the author’s aim is. For instance, in Franz Kafka’s The Trial¸ a young man named Josef K. is arrested on the morning of his thirtieth birthday. He’s done nothing wrong and doesn’t know why he’s been arrested. No-one tells him, either. He tries to defend himself, although he doesn’t know what he’s defending himself from, and soon notices that he has almost no agency. For instance, he’s invited to a hearing, but isn’t told where and when it is. A year goes by, during which he tries to extricate himself from his legal troubles, but the bureaucracy around him moves inexorably. It is a crime story, even if Josef isn’t aware of what the crime is. And there are other crimes committed in the story. But it’s also an allegory about the role of the state, about lack of agency, and more.

Perhaps George Orwell’s most famous novels are Animal Farm and 1984. Both of them, certainly Animal Farm, could be considered allegorical. And in both novels, crimes are committed, although they’re not usually thought of as crime novels. In Animal Farm, a group of animals takes over a farm, ousting the farmer. At first, all goes well. But little by little things start to fall apart. What’s worse, the leader, Napoleon the pig, establishes absolute authority. History is rewritten, and any animal who doesn’t agree with Napoleon’s version is in danger of being run off the farm or worse. In fact, Napoleon has a set of trained dogs who attack at his command, and they kill more than one animal in the story. Orwell was writing about socio-political movements of the day, as he did in 1984, but on the surface, it’s a story about animals. While 1984 isn’t about animals, it has allegorical features, as Orwell was commenting in part on the way those in power manipulate people, events, and even news. Those who’ve read 1984 know, too, that although it’s not labeled as a ‘crime novel,’ there are plenty of crimes in it, many in the name of Big Brother. Along with allegorical features, these novels show that the line between ‘literature’ and ‘crime novel’ is sometimes blurred.

In William Hjortsberg’s Falling Angel, we are introduced to New York City private investigator Harry Angel. It’s 1959, and Harry has a low-rent PI practice. One day, he gets a call from the prestigious law firm of McIntosh, Winesap and Spy. It seems that one of the firm’s clients, Louis Cyphre, wants Angel to find a man named Jonathan Liebling. Also known as Johny Favorite, he was a talented jazz musician. But, after service in World War II, he was left badly damaged, both physically and mentally, and needed to be placed in an institution. Now, he’s disappeared from that institution, and Cyphre wants Angel to find the man. Cyphre tells Angel that he helped Favorite/Liebling at the start of his career, in return for which he was promised ‘certain collateral.’ As the story goes on, we see how allegorical the story is, and how the case leads Angel into a web of black magic, voodoo, and other strange happenings. It’s a very unsettling story that makes use of allegory to touch on some dark things.

Ben Aaronovich’s Rivers of London series features Police Constable (PC) and apprentice wizard Peter Grant. These stories have been called urban fantasies, and of course, they are. There are wizards, magic, and other fantasy elements.  But they are also arguably allegorical. In the novels, Aaronovich uses the plots and characters to touch on themes such as sustainability. And for many people, it’s more effective to send a message through the means of an allegory than simply stating the author’s agenda.

There are also some authors (Antti Tuomainen comes to mind) whose books are not, strictly speaking, allegorical, but who do use speculative fiction to explore issues in an almost allegorical way. In The Healer, for instance, he addresses issues of climate change and sustainability. Little Siberia explores themes of doing the right thing (even when everything pushes one in the other direction), of coping with major changes, and of what happens when the unexpected changes everything.

Allegories can be very effective at sending a message without appearing to do so. They can be funny, dark or somewhere in between. And they can be a fit for a crime story in the right hands.

*NOTE: The title of this post is a line from Peter, Paul, and Mary’s Puff, the Magic Dragon, which is quite an allegory in itself…