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LIFE_OF_HOMER

                                              February 17, 2007


   Homer Evans, hero of a
   series of books by
   Elliot Paul, is a man
   with a routine.

   His companion Miriam
   awakens first, and        Miriam is a stateusque
   begins playing the        American blonde, who
   piano.                    doubles as a body guard:
                             she was pistol champion
   Homer arises, and         of Montana.
   when he's ready,
   raises a flag on
   the pole outside
   the window, a signal
   to the barber down
   stairs that he's
   ready to be shaved --
   this takes place in
   Paris, incidentally.
                                      To quote:
      Evans has come to the           TAKEN_LIGHTLY
      conclusion that striving
      is futile, and prefers to          He's supposed to be a cosmopolitan
      take things easy -- most           intellectual, a gastronomic expert,
      of the time.                       a genius-level detective.

      It's not clear what he             He's inclined to lecture a bit,
      does for money, it does            in a discursive way, with a
      not appear that he has             calm, indolent, philosophical
      any need to do anything...         attitude.

      During World War II he
      did something-or-other
      for military intelligence
      (a popular occupation for       E.g. Carr's
      fictional detectives in         Gideon Fell
      wartime).

         There does not appear to be
         anything that he isn't good
         at -- at one point he chose
         to do a portrait painting
         to see if he could, and
         succeeded superbly, to the   ("The Mysterious Mickey Finn")
         supreme annoyance of his
         artist friends.

         There are few subjects he doesn't
         know thoroughly -- though one of
         the stories involves Egyptology,
         and a running joke is that Evans
         is mortified to realize he doesn't
         know anything about it.

                So, what we have here is
                a point along a curve         HIPSTERISM
                between Philo Vance and
                and Our Man Flint.          His habitual indolence --
                                            except when prodded by
                                            events -- seems to put
                                            him somewhere between the
                                            British Gentleman and the
                                            Lazy Beatnik.

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