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閱讀厄爾·斯坦利·加德納 Erle Stanley Gardner在小说之家的作品!!! |
加德納的作品融合法律與推理，在偵探小說中獨樹一幟。
厄爾·斯坦利·加德納的主要作品有：漂亮的女招待,受騙的模特兒,
厄爾·斯坦利·加德納，美國最具代表性的偵探小說作傢，早年曾為執業律師，立志為少數民族服務，執業期間即發表過以法律為背景的短篇偵探小說，由於頗受歡迎，因而改寫長篇偵探小說，在《梅森探案係列》轟動了世界文壇之後，正式成為專業作傢。加德納的作品融合法律與推理，在偵探小說中獨樹一幟。
西方偵探小說創始人是19世紀的美國作傢愛倫·坡，他的《莫格街兇殺案》、《金甲蟲》和《被竊的文件》，由於故事情節富於戲劇性，註重細節描寫，推理合乎邏輯，至今膾炙人口。隨後經英國的柯南·道爾、陶樂賽·賽耶斯和阿加莎·剋裏斯蒂等作傢的仿效推進，使偵探小說逐漸成為一種流行的通俗文學樣式。自本世紀30年代起，它在美國的特定環境中又有了新的發展，除了出現以達謝爾·哈默特和雷蒙·錢德勒開創的硬漢派偵探小說之外，還衍生了許多旁支，諸如法庭偵探小說、犯罪小說、警察小說、間諜小說、驚險小說、神秘小說、國際政治小說等等。這些名目繁多的小說占據了西方通俗文學的很大一部分市場。
厄爾·斯坦利·加德納是一位擅長寫法庭偵探（——譯公堂戲劇性派）小說的高手。他一生寫了146部著作，其中最引人入勝的是以律師佩裏·梅森為主人公的85部探案小說，每部均在美國銷售百萬餘册，而這套小說全球總銷量已超過三億册。美國影視界自1957年把他的這些小說陸續改編成電視連續劇《佩裏·梅森》，由著名影星雷蒙德·布爾主演，一連放映達8年之久，更使梅森律師成為美國傢喻戶曉的人物。
加德納，1889年出生於馬薩諸塞州莫爾登市，父親為礦業工程師。他早年隨父母到處旅行，曾在印第安納州瓦爾帕萊索大學學習，中途輟學，不久去加裏佛尼亞州定居，在一傢律師事務所當打字員，1911年獲該州律師資格，開始為窮苦的亞裔（包括中國人）和墨（西哥）裔人等出庭辯護。他一生同情沒有親朋好友而遭受誣告的人們，專門幫助無辜入獄的人，為他們仗義執言。他一方面從事律師工作，一方面開始為他報撰稿，正確地揭示了美國法庭的內幕。直到1932年，他除了每周從事兩天律師工作之外，每月均能寫出20萬字的作品。自《移花接木案件》（一譯《絲絨爪案件》，1933年）和《拗姑娘案件》（1933年）大獲成功後，他就完全脫離了法律界，成為一名專業作傢，後來一共發表了85部梅森探案小說。他的第二套係列作品是以地方檢察官道格拉斯·賽爾比為主人公的偵探小說。第三套係列作品寫的是私人偵探庫爾和法學家拉姆的神秘離奇的故事。他還寫過有關加裏福尼亞半島和終審法庭等方面的非小說類作品。1970年，加德納以81歲高齡病逝。
Erle Stanley Gardner, who also wrote under the pseudonyms of A. A. Fair, Carleton Kendrake and Charles J. Kenny, was born in Malden, Massachusetts in 1889. From there the family emigrated to the West? first in Oregon, then the Klondike area, finally settling in a little town called Oroville. Mr. Gardner?s father was a mining engineer, and some of the mining knowledge Erle assimilated is reflected in some of the later novels.
Erle Stanley Gardner graduated from the Palo Alto High School in 1909? then located in the San Francisco Bay area. Mr. Gardner went on to Valparaiso University in Indiana, but was expelled for being in a fistfight. Working as a typist for a California law firm, Erle Stanley Gardner picked up information about the legal profession, and although he hadn?t formally read law, he passed the requirements and was admitted to the bar in 1911. Mr. Gardner then opened his own law office at the ripe age of twenty-one. It was not a success.
When he left his own office, he worked for a corporate attorney, I. W. Stewart located in Oxnard, California, where he defended Chinese clients from 1911 to 1918. Erle Stanley Gardner married Natalie Frances Talbert in 1921, and had one child by her. Mr. Gardner moved to Ventura, and after a stint as a salesman for the Consolidated Sales Company, he had a law firm along with a lawyer named Frank Orr. In the courtroom he exuded the same feelings of confidence and expectancy of success that he later attributed to his famous character, Perry Mason.
1920 saw Erle Stanley Gardner contributing to the pulps, and Mr. Gardner was a very successful writer even before he began writing entire books. E. S. Gardner wrote at least 144 short stories as well as 301 novelettes before turning to whole novels of mystery fiction. His very first Perry Mason mystery was published in 1933. Erle Stanley Gardner ended his marriage to Natalie in 1935, but although they lived apart after that and he continued to send her money, they never divorced. After her death Mr. Gardner married his private secretary, Agnes Jean Bethell in 1968.
Erle Stanley Gardner has had much of his work adapted to TV and the big screen as well. Mr. Gardner was the recipient of the Fact Crime Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America. Erle Stanley Gardner died on March 11, 1970.