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The Man Who Knew Too Much
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The Man Who Knew Too Much is a collection of detective short stories written by G. K. Chesterton in 1920-22 and published in 1922.The book centers on Horne Fisher, a brilliant and extremely well-connected gentleman who is not a professional detective but can solve riddles with the best of them. Fisher revolves in the very upper crust of the British society. He is a relation or a good friend to the most powerful men in the Empire, like prime minister, Chancellor of the Exchequer or Foreign Secretary.Turns out, all those statesmen are thoroughly corrupt. The British state is rotten to the core, it cannot be saved, only distructed. Big political figures violate every law, they are concerned only about money they can embezzle. In the end they resort to murder.Enter Horne Fisher. As an amateur master of detection, he easily guesses the culprit, which is usually a very high-ranking official. However he mostly cannot reveal the truth and bring the murderer to justice. Because that individual is such an indispensable pillar of the British political and social system that it will collapse if the public learns about the crimes of man in question. Britain will lose its empire and probably perish.Moreover often the victim is an equally important and criminal person and had it coming for his sins. Thus the murder is committed only to save the kingdom. Of course in this case Fisher has every reason to silence the truth.Thus most short stories end anticlimactically. Fisher (and Harold March, The Confidant) don't tell anyone who is the real murderer. Because if they did, a much bigger crash, than a sole loss of life, would ensue.Horne Fisher appears in the eight stories in this collection. The Tree of Pride, the ninth story, does not include him, as well as three additional stories featured in the UK edition.Alfred Hitchcock used the title, but nothing else, for his movie The Man Who Knew Too Much. | |
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The Man Who Knew Too Much / int_1994ba0b | type |
Gone Horribly Right | |
The Man Who Knew Too Much / int_1994ba0b | comment |
Gone Horribly Right: That's how in The Temple of Silence people ostensibly supporting Horne Fisher's attempt to be elected to the Parliament actually regard his rise in popularity with the voters. From the beginning he was planned as a spoiler, to distract votes from the candidate they did not like and secure the win of the planned candidate. However his campaign was a runaway success which they did not expect. | |
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The Man Who Knew Too Much / int_2484396e | type |
Know-Nothing Know-It-All | |
The Man Who Knew Too Much / int_2484396e | comment |
Know-Nothing Know-It-All: That's how Harold March is introduced in the very first story. | |
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The Man Who Knew Too Much / int_372bc105 | type |
Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism | |
The Man Who Knew Too Much / int_372bc105 | comment |
Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism: The Horne Fisher short stories are so extremely on the side of cynicism that they actually achieve the zone where the opposites meet and they suddenly become quite idealistic in general approach. | |
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The Man Who Knew Too Much / int_3a1c2171 | type |
The Man Behind the Man | |
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The Man Behind the Man: Chesterton likes to mention the officials who, while holding a post inferior to the top position in a certain body, are in fact more influential than the formal chief. Somehow several of Fisher's relations are this. | |
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The Man Who Knew Too Much / int_4063acfd | type |
Woman Scorned | |
The Man Who Knew Too Much / int_4063acfd | comment |
Woman Scorned: Bridget Royce in The Vanishing Prince is oddly this. One day Prince Michael runs into the farmhouse of Bridget and tells her that the police are following him. She offers him help. He curtly rejects her offer, proceeds through her farmhouse to the field and manages to hide there. The narrator presents it as though Prince Michael deeply hurt Bridget by his refusal to accept her assistance and hiding on his own instead. | |
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The Man Who Knew Too Much / int_41a3e267 | type |
Hidden in Plain Sight | |
The Man Who Knew Too Much / int_41a3e267 | comment |
Hidden in Plain Sight: Prince Michael in The Vanishing Prince runs into the field, closely followed by several policemen (though still out of their sight) and disappears into thin air. Of course he disguises as a scarecrow and the men overlook him and depart. | |
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The Man Who Knew Too Much / int_48ca7c29 | type |
Broken Ace | |
The Man Who Knew Too Much / int_48ca7c29 | comment |
Broken Ace: Fisher. He is extremely clever and shrewd. He also has huge connections. However he keeps saying that he cannot improve things in the British political system. Fisher can only keep silent and hope that total breakdown won't happen. | |
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The Man Who Knew Too Much / int_4918b32a | type |
Scully Syndrome | |
The Man Who Knew Too Much / int_4918b32a | comment |
Scully Syndrome: Forms the key to the plot of The Hole In the Wall. As Fisher puts it: | |
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The Man Who Knew Too Much / int_49f6a9e4 | type |
Most Writers Are Writers | |
The Man Who Knew Too Much / int_49f6a9e4 | comment |
Most Writers Are Writers: Harold March is a journalist. | |
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The Man Who Knew Too Much / int_6cc2137b | type |
The Scream | |
The Man Who Knew Too Much / int_6cc2137b | comment |
The Scream: Jefferson "Jink" Jenkins pushes out one when sees his hits on the target highlighted by phosphorus courtesy of Horne Fisher. Although none of them hit the center of the target, together they made a caricatured face of a recognisable man. Thus Fisher reveals that Jenkins is actually a pretty great shot which proves his involvement in the murder of the short story The Face in the Target. | |
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The Man Who Knew Too Much / int_737a65f4 | type |
The Watson | |
The Man Who Knew Too Much / int_737a65f4 | comment |
The Watson: Harold March. He follows the reasonings of Horne Fisher but is never able to figure anything out on his own. Short stories are not written in the first-person-narration but are generally told from the perspective of Harold March. | |
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The Man Who Knew Too Much / int_7a0374eb | type |
Impoverished Patrician | |
The Man Who Knew Too Much / int_7a0374eb | comment |
Impoverished Patrician: Michael O’Neill, aka Prince Michael is this. He is from a very ancient Irish family and he is currently quite poor. | |
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The Man Who Knew Too Much / int_8ed5c6e4 | type |
Asshole Victim | |
The Man Who Knew Too Much / int_8ed5c6e4 | comment |
Asshole Victim: Many instances of this. That's also why Horne Fisher frequently does not reveal the murderer. That's because he killed the victim to save Britain from war. | |
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The Man Who Knew Too Much / int_9a3b7208 | type |
The Needs of the Many | |
The Man Who Knew Too Much / int_9a3b7208 | comment |
The Needs of the Many: That's why the British prime minister kills Sir Isaac Hook, the ship tycoon, with his own hands. Hook was pushing for the war with Sweden which would claim numerous lives and he was just one man. | |
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The Man Who Knew Too Much / int_9cc1a329 | type |
Upper-Class Twit | |
The Man Who Knew Too Much / int_9cc1a329 | comment |
Upper-Class Twit: Lord Bulmer in The Hole in the Wall. He thinks that architect and archeologist have much in common because their names start with the same four letters: | |
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The Man Who Knew Too Much / int_9d6e002e | type |
Whole Episode Flashback | |
The Man Who Knew Too Much / int_9d6e002e | comment |
Whole Episode Flashback: The Temple of Silence is set in the past. Horne Fisher was a young, fresh-faced rookie in politics and tried to get elected to Parliament. | |
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The Man Who Knew Too Much / int_a3a7c41 | type |
Black Sheep | |
The Man Who Knew Too Much / int_a3a7c41 | comment |
Black Sheep: Horne Fisher is the one in his family. While he is very intelligent, he never made any career. | |
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The Man Who Knew Too Much / int_a70223 | type |
Karma Houdini | |
The Man Who Knew Too Much / int_a70223 | comment |
Karma Houdini: for most of the murderers. In The Vanishing Prince things are at their most egregious. A policeman kills two of his colleagues to clean the place for himself and is retired with a weighty pension. While the titular prince, who shot and wounded him to punish for these crimes, goes to jail (although Fisher does arrange for him to escape after a suitable interlude). | |
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My Country, Right or Wrong | |
The Man Who Knew Too Much / int_b7248073 | comment |
My Country, Right or Wrong: Horne Fisher's country (meaning it's political leadership) seem to be always wrong. But it is still his country. The state would be helped by a little bit of dismantling but Fisher is not the one who would set it off. | |
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Improbable Aiming Skills | |
The Man Who Knew Too Much / int_bcd27e37 | comment |
Improbable Aiming Skills: Jefferson "Jink" Jenkins in The Face in the Target. Aggravated by the fact that people around him believe he is a notoriously bad shot. They attribute his few hits of which they know to pure chance. Other times they see that does not hit the center of the target although he does not even try. Instead he draws a picture on the target (Jenkins is that good) but no-one notices. | |
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It Runs in the Family | |
The Man Who Knew Too Much / int_c63e5338 | comment |
It Runs in the Family: In the family of Horne Fisher statesmen hold position in a certain department, not on the very top, however they are somehow more influential than ministers and viceroys to whom they are subordinate. | |
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No Name Given | |
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No Name Given: For the prime minister in The Fad of the Fisherman and The Vengeance of the Statue. He (they) is always referred to as the prime minister. | |
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Damned by Faint Praise | |
The Man Who Knew Too Much / int_cbe3d017 | comment |
Damned by Faint Praise: Harold March asks Horne Fisher whether he admires his outstanding cousin, Sir Howard Horne (who has just drawn up a budget March thinks is excellent). Fisher replies: Rather. He’s the best shot I know. | |
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Batman Grabs a Gun | |
The Man Who Knew Too Much / int_d563a53c | comment |
Batman Grabs a Gun: In the last story about Horne Fisher he is the one who "kills" the victim, aggravated by the fact that the dead was his uncle, a high ranking military officer. Of course his uncle was in fact a traitor, he was going to transfer very important documents to the enemy who has just invaded England. | |
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Screw the Rules, I Have Connections! | |
The Man Who Knew Too Much / int_d8573ef9 | comment |
Screw the Rules, I Have Connections!: A common M.O. for many characters in short stories. | |
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Authority Equals Asskicking | |
The Man Who Knew Too Much / int_e34ada78 | comment |
Authority Equals Asskicking: That's the case in The Fad of the Fisherman. The evil tycoon who was pushing for the war with Sweden is killed by the prime minister who only wanted to save thousands of lives. Of course this good deed remained unpunished even though Horne Fisher figured out the truth and also revealed it to the journalist Howard March. | |
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