The Eel (fictional character)

The Eel is a pulp fiction character, a gentleman thief of "courageous action and questionable morals," created by Hugh B. Cave, writing under the pseudonym Justin Case.[1] Short stories about The Eel originally appeared from 1936 to 1942 in the Spicy magazines issued by Culture Publications.[2] The Eel had no other name.[3]

In the first of the series, "Eel Trap," the author introduces the character:

I like my name, The Eel. People have been calling me that ever since I began working on the theory, years ago, that the world owed me a living and damned if I wouldn't collect it. Matter of fact, the gentry of the law who tagged me with the name now like it a whole lot less than I do. Eels tend to be slippery, no?

Cave would later explain, in his foreword to Escapades of the Eel, that it was his admiration of author Damon Runyon that led him to write the adventures using "the same present-tense, first-person narrative style that marked so many of his great yarns."

  1. ^ Cave, Hugh B. (1994). Magazines I Remember. Tattered Pages Press. p. 64. ISBN 1-884449-04-2. Retrieved 8 February 2024.
  2. ^ Schweitzer, Darrell (October 1998). "The Dagger of Tsiang and Other tales of Adventure". Cemetery Dance. Vol. 8, no. 4. p. 13.
  3. ^ Dill, Timothy Ray (January 1997). "An Interview with Hugh B. Cave". Pulp Fiction Monthly: 3. Retrieved 8 February 2024.