THE WISDOM WITHIN EARL DERR BIGGERS' CHARLIE CHAN
In less than a decade, from 1925 through the early 1930s, Earl Derr Biggers wrote six novels whose main character, Chinese-Hawaiian detective Charlie Chan of the Honolulu Police Department, became a cultural mainstay for more than half a century. Those half-dozen books have spawned more than 40 Chan movies, a BBC television series, multiple radio plays, a nationally syndicated newspaper comic strip, and even a Milton Bradley board game. Chan was, postulates the author (a 40-year Air Force veteran who lived for a time in Honolulu), “arguably as popular a fictional icon as Mickey Mouse and Superman!” He is also among the most controversial figures of 20th century pop culture, an Asian character created by a white author and portrayed on film by white actors using insulting pseudo-Chinese accents and garbled English grammar. Seeking to “differentiate the ‘literature’ from the antics of Hollywood film,” Armagno argues that the original novels eschewed stereotypes and portrayed “the Chinese as a wise, intelligent, people and nation.” To this end, the author has meticulously compiled examples of Chan’s defining characteristic—his use of relevant, pithy aphorisms—into this anthology of wit and sagacity. Divided into three parts, the book begins with almost 200 aphorisms divided by the Biggers’ book in which they are found. More aphorisms are organized by topic in Part II, covering subjects including death, fate, beauty, and patience (“In time,” Chan reminds us, “the grass becomes milk”). The book’s final chapters are an eclectic collection of short essays, drawings and illustrations of Chan, and random aphorisms that didn’t make the cut for the first two parts. Armagno also includes an introduction by Biggers biographer Barbara Gregorich, a bibliography on all things Chan, and an encyclopedic index of Chan’s appearances in books, films, and other media. Some readers may not be convinced by the alleged racial benevolence of Biggers’ original novels, though Armagno makes a convincing case on the differences between the Chan in print versus film.
