I grew up on the works of Franklin W. Dixon and Victor Appleton II, which is to say the Hardy Boys and Tom Swift, Jr., as they appeared in the early 1960s. I've had the same disillusioning experience as Gene Weingarten—except that I also devoured the original 1930s versions when I discovered the pulps collection at Alderman Library at UVA.
However, I'm no Gene Weingarten, so I failed to see the profound tragedy at the heart of my boyhood idols.
But this is a story of redemption too. Aunt Gertrude enters the series: "If you are a good writer, you cannot hide it forever, no matter how hard you try. It's like trying to stifle a sneeze."
