"I'm
representing my clients. I'm a paid gladiator. I have to go in and
fight - that's what my clients hired me for. Anytime I get weak-kneed so
I don't have guts enough to wade in and fight, I've unfitted myself to
carry on my profession. Anyway, the branch of it that I specialize in.
I'm a fighter. I'm hired to fight. Everything I've got in the world,
I've got from fighting."
Erle Stanley Gardner wrote over eighty
Perry Mason novels. In each of the novels I've read (and listened to the
audiobook), Perry Mason emphatically states what he's all about in such
language.
The Case of the Velvet Claws, published in
1933, is the first Perry Mason novel. The lawyer Erle Stanley Gardner
writes about is a tough, rawboned combatant who thrives on cases that
are exciting and dangerous, as he states directly to his secretary Della
Street. Case in point: in this novel, out on a street in Los Angeles,
the city that serves as the setting for all the novels, Perry Mason
decks a huge hunk of a man by slamming his fist into his face and
watching as he goes down “like a sack of meal” before turning to his
car, getting in, and pushing out into traffic.
Sidebar: I
developed an interest in the Perry Mason series because Mario Levrero,
one of my favorite Latin American authors, was, as noted in his Luminous Novel, a big Erle Stanley Gardner fan. I wanted to see what attracted Mario to the author.
The
Perry Mason novels are short and predominantly written in dialogue,
making them quick reads. The story always focuses exclusively on the
case where Perry Mason, a savvy criminal lawyer, performs a significant
amount of the detective work. While Mason utilizes Paul Drake's
detective agency, he doesn't hesitate to take risks and push the
boundaries of legality to uncover clues and do what needs to be done for
his clients.
Here's an example of the way Erle Stanley Gardner
describes Mason in the heat of a case, “Back and forth, back and forth
he paced, his hands behind his back, his head thrust forward, and
slightly bowed. There was something of the appearance of a caged tiger
in his manner. He seemed impatient, and yet it was a controlled
impatience. A fighter who was cornered, savage, who didn't dare make a
false move.”
The Perry Mason series features powerful, wealthy
men and alluring, beautiful women. This is America in the '30s, '40s,
and '50s. All the main characters are white, and Perry Mason will toss
out phrases like “that a girl” when talking to his ever-faithful
secretary, Della Street. A reader will also come across the occasional
racist remark made not by Perry Mason or Della Street, but by other men and women. We should keep in mind that as a California
lawyer, Erle Stanley Gardner defended the impoverished, especially
Chinese and Mexican immigrants. This experience led to his founding The
Court of Last Resort for those individuals who were imprisoned unfairly
or couldn't get a fair trial.
A few more fun facts about the author:
-Erle
Stanley Gardner was an avid boxer. Legend has it that Erle was the only
person to pass the California Bar Examination with two black eyes. We
shouldn't be surprised to find the connection between author as boxer
and Perry Mason as a fighter who never gives up.
-When Erle
Stanley Gardner saw Raymond Burr's persuasiveness and intensity during
auditions for the TV show (Raymond Burr was auditioning for the part of
district attorney Hamilton Burger), he cried out, “That's Perry Mason!”
As they say, the rest is history.
-In 1949, British novelist
Evelyn Waugh called Erle Stanley Gardner the best living American
novelist and at the time of his death in 1970, Erle Stanley Gardner was
the best-selling American writer of the 20th century.
Allow me to
end on a personal note. I've enjoyed the Perry Mason novels primarily
for the insights into American culture and society in mid-20th
century. We can see how Erle Stanley Gardner gave his readers a shining
example of the Great American Hero. 
American author Erle Stanley Gardner, 1889-1970
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