Lesson 4: Analyzing Short Stories
Maddened By Mystery by Stephen Leacock
Suggested Reading Assignments
(1) A suggested reading assignment is "Maddened By Mystery" by Stephen Leacock. This is found in Detective Stories by Philip Pullman.
There are different types of Detective Fiction stories. There are historical detective fiction, comic detective fiction, pulp fiction, noir, etc. This particular story, "Maddened By Mystery" by Stephen Leacock is a comic detective fiction story. It is not written in the normal style of detective fiction. For one thing, the protagonist is killed.
>b>My Summary of "Maddened By Mystery" by Stephen Leacock>/b>
In "Maddened By Mystery," The Great Detective was hired to find the Prince of Wurttemberg. A woman went to see The Great Detective because she was upset about the prince's disappearance. The woman described the prince, so The Great Detective felt like he could locate the prince. The Great Detective, who had many disguises, set out to investigate the case. Every place he entered, he used a different disguise. He also bought something.
The prince needed to be in a show in a few days. Therefore, The Great Detective didn't have a lot of time to search and locate the prince. His time was just about up, so he pretended to be the prince.
What happened in the end of the story?
You want to leave the readers in suspense when you write a summary.
(2) As you read, remember to take notes on the main points.
(3) Think about following questions as you read.
Questions To Think About
(1) Who was the protagonist? What was he/she like?
(2) Who was the villain? What was he/she like?
(3) Who were the other characters?
(4) What happened in the story?
(5) Did you like this story? Why or why not?
(6) Would you recommend it to others?
