Sheep as detectives
Dan Goodman
A shaggy sheep story
The ruminant as detective ... Ian Sansom is sold on Leonie Swann's
Three Bags Full
Ian Sansom
Saturday July 22, 2006
Guardian
Three Bags Full
by Leonie Swann
translated by Anthea Bell 352pp, Doubleday, £12.99
What's new, Scooby Doo? Readers of comic books and fans of children's
television and literature have long been familiar with the type and the
trope of the animal detective, or the animal as detective's helpmeet:
the late, lamented Zoo Crew, for example; Bobo the Chimp and Rex the
Wonder Dog of DC Comics' Bureau of Amplified Animals; the irritatingly
smug and problem-solving Babe from the books by Dick King-Smith; and of
course cartoon-perennial Scooby himself.
There has, though, been a gap in the market, or the hedge, for an adult
animal detective novel, a gap which the German author Leonie Swann has
successfully gnawed and wriggled her way through with her debut novel
Three Bags Full, an actual and proverbial left-field international
bestseller in which a flock of rare-breed sheep living in a place
called Glennkill in Ireland set about solving the mystery of the death
of their shepherd, George, who has been found with a spade through him.
Animal tales in English literature tend towards either the whimsical or
the fabular, with the work of Richard Adams, Kenneth Grahame and EB
White all herded together in one stall, and Orwell's Animal Farm on its
own in another. In continental European literature in general, however,
and in German literature in particular, there is a long tradition of
rather more macabre and surreal beastly goings-on. It is perhaps no
coincidence that Swann's translator, Anthea Bell, is the translator
also of ETA Hoffmann's mind-boggling classic The Life and Opinions of
the Tomcat Murr (1819), a book so strange that it makes The Life and
Opinions of Tristram Shandy seem like standard chickenfeed.
The crime-fighting sheep in Three Bags Full derive their particular
genius from George the shepherd having read to them every evening -
mostly romantic fiction featuring red-haired women called Pamela, a
genre which the sheep naturally refer to as "Pamelas", a phrase clearly
worth stealing for one's own. Swann weights and freights her novel with
a whole load of literary allusions, cross-references and in-jokes,
which, like pets, are as delightful as they are annoying. The sheep,
for example, sport names like Melmoth, Cordelia, Mopple the Whale,
Zora, Rameses, and Miss Maple, "quite possibly the cleverest sheep in
the whole world". The black ram is Othello and there is also a donkey
called Satan.
With sheep as detectives Swann solves one of the major problems in
crime fiction, which is how to avoid the stereotypical jaded, cynical,
alcoholic deadbeat gumshoe with relationship problems. Swann's sheep
are as sober as judges and work out the crime from first principles.
Their suspects include George's estranged wife; his lover; the
tormented Bible-bashing Beth; Ham the butcher; and a rival shepherd
called Gabriel who only speaks to his sheep in Irish. They do not
proceed via incredible deductive leaps or with the invaluable
assistance of a maverick pathologist. As befits ruminants, they
ruminate: "'We must find out what sort of story this is,' said
Cordelia. The others looked at her curiously. 'I mean, every story is
about different things,' Cordelia explained patiently. 'The Pamela
novels are about passion and Pamelas. The fairy tale is about magic.
The book about the diseases of the sheep is about the diseases of the
sheep. The detective story was about clues. Once we know what sort of a
story this is we'll know what to look out for.'"
The denouement occurs at Glennkill's Smartest Sheep competition, in a
scene reminiscent of something from Father Ted. The English, according
to Brecht, "have long dreaded German art (literature, painting and
music) as sure to be dreadfully ponderous, slow, involved and
pedestrian". Three Bags Full is ponderous, slow, involved and
pedestrian, but it is also genuinely odd and affecting, and without a
doubt the best sheep detective novel you're going to read this year.
· Ian Sansom's Mr Dixon Disappears (Harper Perennial) is published next
month
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2006
--
Dan Goodman
All political parties die at last of swallowing their own lies.
John Arbuthnot (1667-1735), Scottish writer, physician.
Journal http://dsgood.livejournal.com
Links http://del.icio.us/dsgood
Kat R
>
> A shaggy sheep story
>
> The ruminant as detective ... Ian Sansom is sold on Leonie Swann's
> Three Bags Full
> Ian Sansom
> Saturday July 22, 2006
>
> Guardian
> Three Bags Full
> by Leonie Swann
> translated by Anthea Bell 352pp, Doubleday, £12.99
>
<snippage>
> without a
> doubt the best sheep detective novel you're going to read this year.
Or any year, I hazard.
--
Kat Richardson
Greywalker, coming from Roc, October 3, 2006
http://www.katrichardson.com/
Dan Goodman
> > without a
> > doubt the best sheep detective novel you're going to read this year.
>
> Or any year, I hazard.
You never know. This may turn out to be a hot new subgenre.
--
Kat R
> Kat R wrote:
>
>>> without a
>>> doubt the best sheep detective novel you're going to read this year.
>> Or any year, I hazard.
>
> You never know. This may turn out to be a hot new subgenre.
>
The Sheep Detective... wasn't that a movie with Peter Faaaalk and Aaan-
Maaaagret? I seem to recall it had Fernando Llamas too.
Pogonip
> Dan Goodman wrote:
>
>> Kat R wrote:
>>
>>>> without a
>>>> doubt the best sheep detective novel you're going to read this year.
>>>
>>> Or any year, I hazard.
>>
>>
>> You never know. This may turn out to be a hot new subgenre.
>>
>
> The Sheep Detective... wasn't that a movie with Peter Faaaalk and Aaan-
> Maaaagret? I seem to recall it had Fernando Llamas too.
>
That is so baaaaad, I can't believe it. *wiping Diet Coke off monitor*
--
Joanne
stitches @ singerlady.reno.nv.us.earth.alternate-universe
http://members.tripod.com/~bernardschopen/
Jim Barker
> Dan Goodman wrote:
>
>> Kat R wrote:
>>
>>>> without a
>>>> doubt the best sheep detective novel you're going to read this year.
>>>
>>> Or any year, I hazard.
>>
>>
>> You never know. This may turn out to be a hot new subgenre.
>>
>
> The Sheep Detective... wasn't that a movie with Peter Faaaalk and Aaan-
> Maaaagret? I seem to recall it had Fernando Llamas too.
>
Streisand
--
* *Jim Barker - *Barker Design and Illustration
* http://www.cartoonise.com/about_jim.html
* http://www.magneticscotland.com
* http://www.myvideosystem.com/54545
* http://jimbairn.blogspot.com/
Jim Barker
> In article <2lkxg.106998$wl.7...@text.news.blueyonder.co.uk>,
> Jim Barker <j...@cartoonise.com> wrote:
>
>
>>Kat R wrote:
>>
>>>Dan Goodman wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>>>Kat R wrote:
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>>>without a
>>>>>>doubt the best sheep detective novel you're going to read this year.
>>>>>
>>>>>Or any year, I hazard.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>You never know. This may turn out to be a hot new subgenre.
>>>>
>>>
>>>The Sheep Detective... wasn't that a movie with Peter Faaaalk and Aaan-
>>>Maaaagret? I seem to recall it had Fernando Llamas too.
>>>
>>
>> And Peter Ewestinov, Ewe Jackman, Scarlett Ewehanssen and Baaaarbraaaa
>>Streisand
>
>
> next book?
>
Ewe kidding.....?
Jim Barker
> On Tue, 25 Jul 2006 08:09:34 GMT, Jim Barker <j...@cartoonise.com>
> wrote:
>
>
>>Kat R wrote:
>>
>>>Dan Goodman wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>>>Kat R wrote:
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>>>without a
>>>>>>doubt the best sheep detective novel you're going to read this year.
>>>>>
>>>>>Or any year, I hazard.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>You never know. This may turn out to be a hot new subgenre.
>>>>
>>>
>>>The Sheep Detective... wasn't that a movie with Peter Faaaalk and Aaan-
>>>Maaaagret? I seem to recall it had Fernando Llamas too.
>>>
>>
>> And Peter Ewestinov, Ewe Jackman, Scarlett Ewehanssen and Baaaarbraaaa
>>Streisand
>
>
>
> Mique
And Fleecity Kendall, Charlotte Ram-pling, Wool Smith and )*BANG!!!( ...
and Ewen McGregor (missed!!)
Catherine Fiorello
> In article <2lkxg.106998$wl.7...@text.news.blueyonder.co.uk>,
> Jim Barker <j...@cartoonise.com> wrote:
>
>> Kat R wrote:
>> > Dan Goodman wrote:
>> >
>> >> Kat R wrote:
>> >>
>> >>>> without a
>> >>>> doubt the best sheep detective novel you're going to read this year.
>> >>>
>> >>> Or any year, I hazard.
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> You never know. This may turn out to be a hot new subgenre.
>> >>
>> >
>> > The Sheep Detective... wasn't that a movie with Peter Faaaalk and Aaan-
>> > Maaaagret? I seem to recall it had Fernando Llamas too.
>> >
>> And Peter Ewestinov, Ewe Jackman, Scarlett Ewehanssen and Baaaarbraaaa
>> Streisand
>
> Do you think this ruins my plans to use a goat as the detective in my
> next book?
>
> ____
> Richard Burke
> <www.richardburke.co.uk>
I think you're fine, as long as it's noir enough to portray such a flawed
detective....
--
Cathy F
“Everyone is in favor of free speech. Hardly a day passes without its
being extolled, but some people's idea of it is that they are free to say
what they like, but if anyone else says anything back, that is an
outrage.” --Winston Churchill
Jim Barker
> In article <pan.2006.07.25....@starbeast.nospam.net>,
> Catherine Fiorello <cathy...@starbeast.nospam.net> wrote:
>
>
>>>Do you think this ruins my plans to use a goat as the detective in my
>>>next book?
>>>
>
>
>>detective....
>
>
>
> Billy Gruff is deeply flawed, barely human, but nevertheless he's a goat
> amongst sheep; a ram who does things his own way. Unlike his human
> counterparts, Billy's main flaw is not indiscriminate drinking, but
> indiscriminate eating. That, and his weakness for a bit of fluff on the
> side, which has led to Flossy his life-long love evicting him from the
> paddock.
>
> But when young lambs start disappearing, it is Billy they turn to for
> help. What he discovers is a terrible secret right at the woolly heart
> of life on the farm. But no one will listen to him. And when Flossy
> herself tells him she has decided to leave, and make a new life for
> herself in mystical land of Abba-Toir, he realises that the only way he
> can prevent more innocent blood being spilt is to take that same journey
> himself, travelling with his two trusty side-kicks across a highly
> questionable-looking bridge, to confront a darker nightmare than any
> goat has ever encountered before.
>
> What do you think? A winner - or what?
> It's have to be a trilogy.
Francis A. Miniter
Also see Ray Peterson, Cowkind (St. Martin's 1996), a much underrated book.
Francis A. Miniter
Rik Shepherd
> I think you're fine, as long as it's noir enough to portray such a flawed
> detective....
The detective has to be the black sheep of the family?
Kat R
> Kat R wrote:
>> Dan Goodman wrote:
>>
>>> Kat R wrote:
>>>
>>>>> without a
>>>>> doubt the best sheep detective novel you're going to read this year.
>>>>
>>>> Or any year, I hazard.
>>>
>>>
>>> You never know. This may turn out to be a hot new subgenre.
>>>
>>
>> The Sheep Detective... wasn't that a movie with Peter Faaaalk and
>> Aaan- Maaaagret? I seem to recall it had Fernando Llamas too.
>>
>
> That is so baaaaad, I can't believe it. *wiping Diet Coke off monitor*
I can't believe I made you snort coke....
Kat R
> In article <2lkxg.106998$wl.7...@text.news.blueyonder.co.uk>,
> Jim Barker <j...@cartoonise.com> wrote:
>
>>> Dan Goodman wrote:
>>>
>>>> Kat R wrote:
>>>>
>>>>>> without a
>>>>>> doubt the best sheep detective novel you're going to read this year.
>>>>> Or any year, I hazard.
>>>>
>>>> You never know. This may turn out to be a hot new subgenre.
>>>>
>>> The Sheep Detective... wasn't that a movie with Peter Faaaalk and Aaan-
>>> Maaaagret? I seem to recall it had Fernando Llamas too.
>>>
>> And Peter Ewestinov, Ewe Jackman, Scarlett Ewehanssen and Baaaarbraaaa
>> Streisand
>
> next book?
>
> Richard Burke
> <www.richardburke.co.uk>
Not so long as you break the scapegoat mold.
Kat R
>
> GOAT TO THE SLAUGHTER
>
> Billy Gruff is deeply flawed, barely human, but nevertheless he's a goat
> amongst sheep; a ram who does things his own way. Unlike his human
> counterparts, Billy's main flaw is not indiscriminate drinking, but
> indiscriminate eating. That, and his weakness for a bit of fluff on the
> side, which has led to Flossy his life-long love evicting him from the
> paddock.
>
> But when young lambs start disappearing, it is Billy they turn to for
> help. What he discovers is a terrible secret right at the woolly heart
> of life on the farm. But no one will listen to him. And when Flossy
> herself tells him she has decided to leave, and make a new life for
> herself in mystical land of Abba-Toir, he realises that the only way he
> can prevent more innocent blood being spilt is to take that same journey
> himself, travelling with his two trusty side-kicks across a highly
> questionable-looking bridge, to confront a darker nightmare than any
> goat has ever encountered before.
>
> What do you think? A winner - or what?
Where do I sign up for pre-order?!
Annie C
"Kat R" <null....@lycos.com> wrote in message
news:76idnYlVY5cu_FvZ...@comcast.com...
Definite winner, Richard! LOL :-)
I'll sign on too..
Annie
Jr@Ease
Weary, Over Many a Quaint and Curious Forgotten Post, and then wrote:
--------------------------------------------------------------
>GOAT TO THE SLAUGHTER
>
>Billy Gruff is deeply flawed, barely human, but nevertheless he's a goat
>amongst sheep; a ram who does things his own way. Unlike his human
>counterparts, Billy's main flaw is not indiscriminate drinking, but
>indiscriminate eating. That, and his weakness for a bit of fluff on the
>side, which has led to Flossy his life-long love evicting him from the
>paddock.
>
>But when young lambs start disappearing, it is Billy they turn to for
>help. What he discovers is a terrible secret right at the woolly heart
>of life on the farm. But no one will listen to him. And when Flossy
>herself tells him she has decided to leave, and make a new life for
>herself in mystical land of Abba-Toir, he realises that the only way he
>can prevent more innocent blood being spilt is to take that same journey
>himself, travelling with his two trusty side-kicks across a highly
>questionable-looking bridge, to confront a darker nightmare than any
>goat has ever encountered before.
>
>What do you think? A winner - or what?
>
You should get together with Stephen Booth and collaborate. He has a
lot of knowledge of goats.
Not that kind of knowledge.
John P
Kat R
>
> You should get together with Stephen Booth and collaborate. He has a
> lot of knowledge of goats.
>
> Not that kind of knowledge.
How do you know?
Jr@Ease
15:37:25 -0700), while Kat R Pondered, Weak and Weary:
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
>Jr@Ease wrote:
>
>>
>> You should get together with Stephen Booth and collaborate. He has a
>> lot of knowledge of goats.
>>
>> Not that kind of knowledge.
>
>How do you know?
He says so. I believe him. Shouldn't I? :)
John P
Kat R
Just askin'.
Jr@Ease
Over Many a Quaint and Curious Forgotten Post, and then wrote:
--------------------------------------------------------------
>> Once Upon a Midnight Dreary (actually, it was on Wed, 26 Jul 2006
>> 15:37:25 -0700), while Kat R Pondered, Weak and Weary:
>>
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>> Jr@Ease wrote:
>>>
>>>> You should get together with Stephen Booth and collaborate. He has a
>>>> lot of knowledge of goats.
>>>>
>>>> Not that kind of knowledge.
>>> How do you know?
>>
>> He says so. I believe him. Shouldn't I? :)
>>
>> John P
>>
>
>Just askin'.
Ok. Just thought maybe you knew something I didn't. There may be
extortion possibilities here. :)
John P
Jenni
at in...@richardburke.co.uk wrote on 7/25/06 6:36 AM:
> In article <2lkxg.106998$wl.7...@text.news.blueyonder.co.uk>,
> Jim Barker <j...@cartoonise.com> wrote:
>
>> Kat R wrote:
>>> Dan Goodman wrote:
>>>
>>>> Kat R wrote:
>>>>
>>>>>> without a
>>>>>> doubt the best sheep detective novel you're going to read this year.
>>>>>
>>>>> Or any year, I hazard.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> You never know. This may turn out to be a hot new subgenre.
>>>>
>>>
>>> The Sheep Detective... wasn't that a movie with Peter Faaaalk and Aaan-
>>> Maaaagret? I seem to recall it had Fernando Llamas too.
>>>
>> And Peter Ewestinov, Ewe Jackman, Scarlett Ewehanssen and Baaaarbraaaa
>> Streisand
>
> Do you think this ruins my plans to use a goat as the detective in my
> next book?>>
Jumping on the baaaandwagon, are we?
--
Jenni (I'm sorry. I won't do it again.) :-)