With the first book published and book two now in the editing stage after a signed contract, I have become immersed in the world of Harold Bergman. WW II veteran with a limp. Former policeman. Private detective. And Jew. He may be like me in certain sensibilities but we are of different ages and from different generations. Yet, we are both Jewish.
It is one thing to infuse a work of fiction with Old Testament and Talmudic quotations for the benefit of identifying a state of mind relative to a character’s theological beliefs. What is more significant (and more important) are the actions of said character because of those beliefs.
The original post already laid the foundation for both Jewish detectives as main characters as well as philosophical works embedded within the crime and mystery genre. This continuing series has allowed for both a literary development of the character as well as a more personal development within myself. We are symbiotic in nature without being able to become the other.
Starting with “The Day of Calamity”, there has been an understanding of the unique approach within Judaism to relationships with other human beings as well as with Adonai, the clarity of purpose and responsibility. The main character, Harold Bergman, finds himself no longer able to simply follow the rules established by the judicial and legal systems despite their intentions of law and order after experiencing the devastating toll of war. Nor can he simply fall back upon his religious upbringing as a matter of resolving the tragedies of the human condition and fulfill his father’s desire that he become a rabbi.
While becoming a private detective does not seem a readily obvious approach to his moral dilemma, he has the opportunity to seek justice on both a societal and moral level. This is a stepping stone to his future character development. For me, I get the chance to grow as well, perhaps providing Harold with words I might say given the chance in similar situations. Obviously, the respect he has for his father, his consideration of friends, his relationships with former co-workers, and the contemplative need to understand what makes people tick are traits I get to share with him, primarily by virtue of the fact I created him as a writer.
The most important thing is having a character with a moral center, not simply a code such as Philip Marlowe exhibited, or professional integrity as you could find in either the Continental Op or Sam Spade. I am concerned the character not be the largely macho brute as one would find in Mike Hammer. My hope is that Harold Bergman be a real human being with conscious decisions to make regarding his future after undergoing severe trauma. For the moment, he is no more or no less than a Jew in a trenchcoat.
The Tikiman Says... 