I am currently on the last lap (Launch minus 19 days) of the publication of the fourth volume of my new series, The Phenomenological Detective, “Jacqueline’s Tears”.
The Risk of Putting Readers Off…
It’s quite strange, looking at this from the current perspective. Originally, at the time of Book 1 – The Only True Remedy, there was concern at headquarters(!) that using ‘phenomenology’ in the series title would put people off. It was said, by friends and early readers, that people would not know what it is. And, be honest, a lot of people who are supposed to know can be a bit hazy. Some readers looked the word up in dictionaries and encyclopaedias – but few found clarity there.
If there was a straightforward definition or way of explaining what it actually is, it would make it more approachable.
Some entry-level research was undertaken and produced endless quotes from great phenomenologists but little useful help. It was then that I realised that phenomenology is nothing like ‘deceptively simple’ and it is pretty well impossible to navigate between talking down to people unfamiliar with the term and baffling them with complication. It is a complicated subject and requires a lot of study.
It became clear, though, here on the ground, that we should have to accept that phenomenology is a complex subject, and its methods not well known. But, the whole of the book series depends on the method our main character derives from it. Perhaps, to change the series name would be to change the whole concept of the books? As that could not be done, we should have to go ahead with The Phenomenological Detective.
So, what next? A short course in phenomenology before they read the book? Hardly!
Patrice Lanier is from Languedoc-Roussillon in the South of France but only one of the novels is set substantially there, so that won’t do. And ‘The Conscientious Detective’ won’t do, will it?
In the end, it has to stay as ‘The Phenomenological Detective’ – as least several of those surveyed said they were intrigued by this and loved the actual word! I hope that the actual novels will inform readers about what phenomenology is – and how Patrice uses it – but think I should probably use some quotes in my newsletter and, perhaps, some explanations on this website. It’s an interesting conundrum – and being interesting is what all this is about.
