Universität zu Köln, Englisches Seminar
Hauptseminar: Word, Image, Sound: “New York, just like I pictured it.
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6. Semester

Traces of Film - Jonathan Lethem’s Motherless Brooklyn
as a Detective Story

by: Christoph Bietz

CONTENT

I. Introduction: Jonathan Lethem’s Detective Story Motherless Brooklyn as a Pretext for a Hollywood Movie p. 3

II. The Novel: Motherless Brooklyn as a… p. 4

1. … Classical Detective Story p. 4

i. Features: The detective, the murder, a riddle and discovery p. 4
ii. Form p. 6

2. … Comedy p. 8
3. … Character Sketch p. 10

i. On the Protagonist p. 10
ii. Point of View p. 12

4. … Film Script p. 13

III. The Hollywood (Detective) Movie p. 14

1. Montage p. 14
2. Narration and Content p. 16
3. Character and Point of View p. 17

IV. The Challenge of Adaptation p. 19

1. Film and Novel as Texts: Medial Differences p. 19
2. Adaptation versus Transfer p. 21
3. Codes and Character p. 21

V. The Film: Motherless Brooklyn as a… p. 22

1. ...Character Sketch p. 22
2. …Funny Detective Film p. 24
3. …Film Script p. 26

i. The Essence of the Scene p. 26
ii. A Script Scene p. 27

VI. Conclusion: Filmreif p. 31

VII. Sources p. 32
 

I. Introduction: Jonathan Lethem’s Detective Story Motherless Brooklyn as a Pretext for a Hollywood Movie

Sometimes when we read a book and our imagination is roused by the words we read, we cannot wait for this story being told by a film. We want to see if our imagination fits the ‘real’ pictures on-screen. Having read a novel, there is a quite well- fitting German term that people use when they have liked the story and its characters. The novel has probably had a strong impact on their perception of the plot, and the language seems to have generated longlasting images in their minds. One would – informally – say: ‘This is such a good story. This book is really (now comes the term) filmreif.’ When I read Jonathan Lethem’s Motherless Brooklyn, that was exactly what occurred to me. In this paper, I want to examine theoretically what was a sudden idea, an intuitive feeling in the beginning, and connect film science with literary analysis. The novel can be classified as a detective story as it seems to follow the pattern of a classical detective story, and it shows lots of features that could be read as a prose source for a movie. The narrative, i.e. the story, its subjects or motifs and the way it is told remind one of the typical sujets of the classical Hollywood cinema. It is not uncommon that good (in the sense of critically acclaimed) and successful (in the sense of best-selling) books are ‚translated’ into films – in all kinds of genres and in all kinds of countries. When a film adapts a novel, it has to stand numerous comparisons to its literary predecessor. But whatever the ‘better’ medium for telling a good story is – the history of filmadaptation speaks for the phenomenon of adaptation itself: Many novels turned out to become good and successful films as well. Especially the detective story seems to be made of a pattern that works perfectly for films as well. The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler and The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins are only two examples for successful film adaptations of classical detective stories.¹ What special pattern is this?

The Hollywood Cinema is well-known for its commercial success and its conventional principles of telling its stories. Despite critical accusations of having only little artistic worth, the Hollywood Movie must be recognized as a constant value not only for cineasts but also in film science.² Like the detective novel, the Hollywood Film owes its success to principles going back to one of the eldest of all narrative theories, namely Aristotle’s. Due to its medial character, the Film uses particular typical devices to convey its story, which must be respected when adapting a book. After having given an overview, I will finally suggest how to apply these filmic instruments to Lethem’s novel. Motherless Brooklyn may be a filmreif book: Therefore I will first of all analyse the novel and then check it for its ‘Traces of Film’.

II. The Novel: Motherless Brooklyn as a…

1. … Classical Detective Story

The Classical Detective Story is said to be founded by E.A. Poe: “Poe’s first Dupin story, ‘The Murders in the Rue Morgue,’ constitutes the celebrated prototype of detective fiction” (Porter 1933:24). Until today, many books and essays have been written discussing the typical characteristics of detective fiction. ³ As the genre is about 165 years old (Poe wrote The Murders in the Rue Morgue in 1840), it may be clear that some principles and characteristics have changed, but still all detective stories have certain aspects in common. The typical detective story follows conventions that are still to be found in today’s fiction, as in Lethem’s Motherless Brooklyn.

i. Features: The detective, the murder, a riddle and discovery

The basic premise of a detective story contrasts decisively with ‘non-detective’ novels: Whereas most stories deal with the question ‘what will happen next’, the detective story always asks for ‘what has happened’ (cf. Stewart 1980:68): “The vulgar definition, ‘a Whodunit,’ is correct” (Auden. In: Winks 1980:15). In Motherless Brooklyn, it is not difficult to find the elements that typically compose a detective story: “the milieu, the victim, the murderer, the suspects, the detectives” (Auden. In: Winks 1980:17). Lethem’s protagonist Lionel wants to find out who killed his boss Frank Minna, who ran a detective agency. The milieu in which the story takes place is the detective milieu of the fictional reality. The firstperson narrator Lionel is aware of the genre of the narrative that he tells. As he learns about a guy named Ullman’s being killed, he self-referentially states: “Have you ever felt, in the course of reading a detective novel, a guilty thrill of relief at having a character murdered before he can step onto the page and burden you with his actual existence?” (MB, 119). Lionel sometimes compares his job with famous fictional detectives, who more or less serve as idols: So many detectives have been knocked out and fallen into such strange swirling darknesses, such manifold surrealist voids (‘something red wriggled like a germ under a microscope’ – Philip Marlowe, The Big Sleep), and yet I have nothing to contribute to this painful tradition. (MB, 205)

This intertextuality classifies the novel as a detective story. But which other detective fiction features can be revealed in Motherless Brooklyn? In the detective fiction discourse, opinions on what makes a story a detective story diverge extremely. When checking a novel for detective fiction features, it is important to take the age of its genesis into account. Especially in matters of content, typical features have changed over the years: “The histories of detective fiction show how the variety of detective types seems infinite” (Stewart 1980:301). Exposed to the changes of time, the genre has been modernized: “Splendid variations and updatings this century has contributed” (Stewart 1980:71), which means: A modern detective story does not share too much with what a Sherlock-Holmes- fan would expect when reading it. But still, Sherlock Holmes and Motherless Brooklyn even have some things in common.⁴ All Sherlock Holmes-stories are narrated from an outside perspective: Holmes’ assistant Watson narrates the story from the first-person-point-of-view. The first-person-narrator in Motherless Brooklyn, Lionel, is also only a hand for his ‘Holmes’ Frank Minna: “’We work for Frank Minna,’ I said, and heard my own unconcealed nostalgia, my pining. ‘We assist a detective. We’re, uh, operatives’” (MB, 189). But the main character of a detective story does not necessarily have to be a professional detective, as Stewart reduces the characteristics of detective fiction to a common denominator as follows: A detective story must mainly deal with detection and must have a professional or amateur detective as its protagonist (cf. Stewart 1980:14, 70, 300ff). From the moment when Frank Minna gets killed, Lionel works alone and at his own risk. In a way, he likes his new role that needs him to become tougher: “I felt a thrill at being taken so seriously. […] For once I was playing lead detective instead of comic – or Tourettic – relief” (MB, 143). Lionel is now a private eye (a private detective) in a typically American hard-boiled detective novel (cf. Grella 1970b. In: Winks 1980:106). “I’d woken into the realization that I was Minna’s successor and avenger, that the city shone with clues. It seemed possible I was a detective on case” (MB, 132). Tracking clue after clue, Lionel tries to solve the central riddle, which is transformed into a joke by Minna himself:

“Frank, who did this?” “You know that Jewish joke you told me? The one about the Jewish lady goes to Tibet, wants to see the High Lama?” “Sure.” “That’s a good one. What’s the name of that lama? You know, at the end, the punch line.” “You mean Irving?” “Yeah, right. Irving.” I could barely hear him now. “That’s who.” His eyes closed. (MB, 29) Minna knows his killer… But why had Minna buried the information in a joke to begin with? I thought of a couple of reasons. One: He didn’t want us to know about Gerard unless he died. If he survived the attack he wanted his secret to survive as well. Two: He didn’t know who among his Men to trust, even down to Gilbert Coney. He could be certain I’d puzzle over the Irving clue while Gilbert would write it off as our mutual inanity. (MB, 201)

[...]

1 Films by Reginald Barker (1934), Robert Bierman (1996) (Moonstone); Howard Hawks (1946) (The Big Sleep)

2 The critical discourse indicated here cannot be followed explicitly within the scope of this paper.

3 A famous attempt of formulating basic rules for the genre is Ronald A. Knox’s “A Detective Story Decalouge”, in which he sums up the essential criteria of detective fiction within ten points.

4 Concerning Sherlock Holmes, there is even intertextual reference to be found in the novel. It characterizes the relationship between Lionel and his Minna Man ‘brother’ Tony: “’You knew I had Frank’s beeper,’ I said sheepishly, putting it together. ‘No, the old guys have X-ray vision, like Superman. They don’t know shit if I don’t tell them, Lionel. You need to find a new line of work, McGruff. Shitlock Holmes.’” (MB, 179)