In Over My Dead Body, Wolfe mentions that he was born in the United States. In one of the novels involving a client who obtains US citizenship, Wolfe says that is a naturalized citizen. I believe that in The Black Mountain he says that he was born in Montenegro. Which is it?
In what published order are these three statements made?
Over My Dead Body was published in 1940, The Black Mountain 1954. I don’t recall the title with an immigrant client.
I thought he was born in Montenegro.
StG
I would think the last one would be canon, since it goes into great detail as to his birthplace and upbringing in Montenegro. The previous books only contain toss-off statements.
It’s clear in the Black Mountain that Nero and his friend/brother??? Marko are from Serbia/Montenegro region. He’s fluent in those languages.
I wasn’t surprised in the mid 1990’s to see that region explode into violence. All the ethnic tensions Stout describes in the Black Mountain played out for real after Yugoslavia dissolved.
I’ll go with that. Perhaps he lied to the Federal Agent in Over My Dead Body.
*The corpus implies or states that Nero Wolfe was born in Montenegro, with one notable exception. In the first chapter of Over My Dead Body (1939), Wolfe tells an FBI agent that he was born in the United States — a declaration at odds with all other references. Stout revealed the reason for the discrepancy in a 1940 letter cited by his authorized biographer John McAleer: “In the original draft of Over My Dead Body Nero was a Montenegrin by birth, and it all fitted previous hints as to his background; but violent protests from The American Magazine, supported by Farrar & Rinehart, caused his cradle to be transported five thousand miles.”[1]:403[c]
*
*I suggest beginning with autobiographical sketches from each of us, and here is mine. I was born in Montenegro and spent my early boyhood there. At the age of sixteen I decided to move around, and in fourteen years I became acquainted with most of Europe, a little of Africa, and much of Asia, in a variety of roles and activities. Coming to this country in nineteen-thirty, not penniless, I bought this house and entered into practice as a private detective. I am a naturalized American citizen.*
— Nero Wolfe addressing the suspects in "Fourth of July Picnic" (1957)
The Nero Wolfe stories, like those of Sherlock Holmes, are innocent of the burden of complete consistency. While they are generally pretty much in accord, Stout never really verified that everything perfectly agreed. so the exact dimensions of the globe in his study and the address of his brownstone vary from time to time. Wolfe’s behavior and beliefs in early stories don’t always square with those in later ones. And, of course, there are the ages of the participants. Despite stories that stretch from 1937 to 1972 (ignoring the Robert Goldsborough later stories), Archie is always in his thirties and Wolfe in his fifties.
In Too Many Cooks (1939), when Wolfe brings in all the African-American cooks/waiters/busboys to pump them for clues, I recall he makes a comment about how he’s an inferior American in comparison: “…I wasn’t born here.”
Looks like you missed a few…
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Fer-de-Lance
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The League of Frightened Men
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The Rubber Band
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Please Pass the Guilt
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A Family Affair
Get busy, you incredibly lucky bastard.
Sorry, that’s what I get for working from my non-Wolfe imperfect memory
Too bad — if you still had The League of Frightened Men ahead of you, I would be day-glo green with envy.