In 1955, when Patricia Highsmith introduced us to the character of Tom Ripley in The Talented Mr. Ripley, the most well known series characters of the time were probably Sherlock Holmes and Miss Marple. Of course, there is much to like about Holmes. He’s intelligent, witty, resourceful, clever, and he would certainly be the type of guy with whom you’d want to have dinner. Miss Marple is equally as engaging a character as Holmes and a wide range of readers found her unobjectionable. Then Highsmith came along with Ripley who is the complete opposite of Holmes or Marple, or any series character before or since. In a traditional sense, there is nothing to like about Tom Ripley. You wouldn’t want to eat with him or be friends with him; you wouldn’t even want to know him. He has none of the admirable qualities that most people expect in a protagonist, much less in a series character. Instead of solving crimes, he commits them; instead of helping others, he is self-serving; instead of trying create order in the world, he creates disorder.]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 05:40:01 +0000 es Copyright 2021 BiblioEteca Technologies SL