Talk:In the Best Families

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[edit] Notes on infobox

The infobox has been modified to conform with the novels project style guidelines, which indicate that the infobox should describe "only the media types in which the novel was originally available. For example, eighteenth-century novels were never published in 'hardback and paperback' nor in audiobook so it is inappropriate to list those print subtypes." Since the Nero Wolfe books (1934–1975) were originally available in hardcover, and only later published in other formats, the infoboxes for these Rex Stout novels and novella collections are being amended to read "Print (Hardcover)" -- with "Media type" describing only the first-edition printing.

The ISBN field will be completed, but read "NA" by request of the novels project. Subsequent releases of the book are listed with their ISBNs in a section of the article headed "Release details."

The genre in the infobox is being listed as Detective fiction, a classification that includes both the novels and the novella collections. Novels and novella collections are clearly differentiated from each other in the articles' lead paragraphs, and in categories that appear at the bottom of the articles. — WFinch 00:23, 1 June 2007 (UTC)

[edit] The unfamiliar word

I'm troubled by the addition of "minim" to the list for ITBF. I've looked for it in chapter 13 and cannot find it. I do find minimum, on the second page of chapter 13 in my Bantam paperback edition, in the graf that starts "Through him I met people ..."

Perhaps I just missed it; I missed "slop" in TSC.

Or perhaps different editions have different words, either by design or because some "little scrivener" decided to change Stout's prose.

Can someone, perhaps Amy Duncan, who supplied the word, check this? I'd prefer not to have a typographical error make the Unfamiliar list, even if it's an interesting word.

Also: I'd prefer not to have plot discussions in tha Unfamiliar list and would recommend pruning the discussion of dissimulation. Any comments? TurnerHodges (talk) 23:03, 18 December 2007 (UTC)

I like to see the context of the unfamiliar word, not just a straight list of words. I've been busily expanding the section, actually; see The League of Frightened Men and The Rubber Band.

Including context conveys the gift Stout has for making the word familiar — or at least more familiar. Sometimes the speaker actually explains the word's meaning ("ortho-cousin" in The Red Box); but usually it's up to the reader to surmise what the word means. Stout provides just enough to do that; I've never tried looking up Weltschmerz in the dictionary, but I think I get the drift. The context doesn't illuminate just the word itself — it often illuminates the relationship between the characters. I'm obviously big on context, so I rest my case.

"Dissimulation" is a problem for me because not only does the word have no context — there's no chapter cited. I'll have a crack at a rewrite and maybe we'll like it better. WFinch (talk) 17:53, 19 December 2007 (UTC)

"Minim" is found in the Viking edition of ITBF, Chapter 13, page 150. Wolfe is voicing his concern to Archie that they not spend too long in Archie's office: "A minim of cause for suspicion and I'm through."

From the Merriam-Webster online dictionary:minim, noun, from the Latin minimus (15th century), second definition - something very minute.

Perhaps the word was unfamiliar to Bantam, and they decided to change it to "minimum."

Sorry, I should have provided the sentence as well. Amy Duncan (talk) 02:08, 19 December 2007 (UTC)

No, usually no reason to supply the sentence, although here it turns out it would have helped. I suspect you're right, that Bantam took liberties -- but as WFinch has surmised, many apparent typos in the Bantam editions may well come from errors in OCR scans and software. I do find two instances of "minimum" in chapter 13: one that I mentioned above, and another in the sentence you cite, but in the Bantam edition it's "A minimum of cause for suspicion and I'm through." (Page 156.) And it is an interesting word: the SOED gives it seven distinct meanings, ranging from a symbol for a musical note to a friar to a Roman coin. I'm glad to learn that its use in the Viking edition appears to have been deliberate.TurnerHodges (talk) 06:29, 19 December 2007 (UTC)