Question
This story is framed by a letter written to a star author by one of her fans, which causes her to flee her study in fear before receiving a second letter informing that the story was fictional. For 10 points each:
[10h] Name this story in which an ugly craftsman creates and hides in the title object to rob a hotel, only to fall in love with the “touch of warm flesh” of the hotel’s Western guests.
ANSWER: “The Human Chair” [or “Ningen-isu”]
[10e] The author of “The Human Chair,” Edogawa Ranpo, founded a still-extant “club” for writers in this genre. Ranpo was inspired by a Howard Haycraft study on Poe’s works in this genre featuring C. Auguste Dupin.
ANSWER: detective fiction [accept murder mystery; accept crime fiction; accept suiri shōsetsu; accept tantei; accept honkaku]
[10m] A crime novelist investigates a red scar on a woman’s neck in an Edogawa Ranpo novella partly titled for these things. A 1933 essay titled for these things contrasts the fountain pen with the writing brush and examines the pleasure of holding a lacquer bowl in one’s hand.
ANSWER: shadows [or kage; accept In Praise of Shadows or In’ei Raisan; accept The Beast in the Shadows or Inju]
<Literature - World Literature - Short Fiction>
Summary
| 2024 ARGOS @ Brandeis | 03/22/2025 | Y | 3 | 13.33 | 100% | 33% | 0% |
| 2024 ARGOS Online | 03/22/2025 | Y | 3 | 20.00 | 100% | 67% | 33% |
Data
| Aw we're so sorry to hear that maman died today, she gets five big booms | throw away your cards, rally in the streets | 0 | 10 | 0 | 10 |
| I wish it were possible to freeze time so I would never have to watch you retire | CLEVELAND, THIS IS FOR YOU! | 10 | 10 | 10 | 30 |
| Thompson et al. | UBC | 0 | 10 | 10 | 20 |