Raegan Butcher's Blog - Posts Tagged "detective"
Raymond Chandler on Philip Marlowe
The passage below is quoted from an article in the New York Times:
One month before his death, Raymond Chandler wrote to Maurice Guinness, an English detective novelist, who suggested that Philip Marlowe marry. Chandler disagreed. “I think he will always have a fairly shabby office, a lonely house, a number of affairs, but no permanent connection.” he replied. “I think he will always be awakened at some inconvenient hour by some inconvenient person to do some inconvenient job. I see him always in a lonely street, in lonely rooms, puzzled but never quite defeated.”
Who can resist such characterization? I like the constant theme of loneliness and solitude. So much of the detective fiction that I enjoy is filled with melancholy and I am very drawn to that emotional state. After all, to quote Roger Ebert, “Film Noir is not about action & victory, but incompetence & defeat.”
Yep, I can relate.
One month before his death, Raymond Chandler wrote to Maurice Guinness, an English detective novelist, who suggested that Philip Marlowe marry. Chandler disagreed. “I think he will always have a fairly shabby office, a lonely house, a number of affairs, but no permanent connection.” he replied. “I think he will always be awakened at some inconvenient hour by some inconvenient person to do some inconvenient job. I see him always in a lonely street, in lonely rooms, puzzled but never quite defeated.”
Who can resist such characterization? I like the constant theme of loneliness and solitude. So much of the detective fiction that I enjoy is filled with melancholy and I am very drawn to that emotional state. After all, to quote Roger Ebert, “Film Noir is not about action & victory, but incompetence & defeat.”
Yep, I can relate.
Raegan Butcher's Blog
- Raegan Butcher's profile
- 120 followers
Raegan Butcher isn't a Goodreads Author
(yet),
but they
do have a blog,
so here are some recent posts imported from
their feed.
