Re Kevin's message below:
"With all due respect, I stand by my original assertion that
neither Marlowe
or Spade were veterans of any military service, or at least
that they never
mentioned it specifically (that I could spot). Sure, it's
possible to infer
they were vets, from vague phrases, or attitudes, but it
becomes a literary
guessing game. I call my old man my "old man", but I don't
think that makes
me a veteran. And wasn't General Sternwood, after all, an old
man?"
Spade's miltary service isn't specified, it is true. However,
the Contintal
Op is definitely an army vet (see the reference to his WW I
days in "The
Whosis Kid"). This is the only reference, in three novels and
some two
dozen short stories about the Op, to his military service. If
Hammett had
written more about Spade, perhaps his military experience
would have come up
as well. Certainly Spade, who physically is the protagonist
most resembling
Hammett, may be inferred to have a similar background (they
even have the
same first name; remember Hammett's real name was *Samuel*
Dashiell
Hammett).
Marlowe, still in his early 30s when the 1939 *Big Sleep* was
published,
would probably have been to young to be a WW I vet, though he
could have
served between the wars. As a young, able-bodied male during
WW II, it's
very possible he could have served then. Actually, it's more
than likely.
In fact, though Chandler never makes note of this, one of the
pastiches in
the Byron Preiss-edited anthology, *Raymond Chandler's Philip
Marlowe* does
make a specific reference to Marlowe's army days. I grant
that this isn't
"canonical," but it's a reasonable inference.
Most PIs are ex-cops *and* ex-military. Very often, they got
their law
enforcement and military experience simultaneously. This is
true, just off
the top of my head, for Bart Spicer's Carney Wilde, William
Arden's Kane
Jackson, Jeremiah Healy's John Francis Cuddy, and Loren
Estelman's Amos
Walker. Bill Pronzini's "Nameless" is ex-SFPD, but his first
cop job was as
an Army MP. Jonathan Valin's Harry Stoner is an former DA's
Investigator,
but also started his law enforcement career as an Army cop.
Not one of them
seems ashamed of his military service, not even the Viet Nam
era vets.
Walker, in fact, re-upped when his initial tour was
over.
As for the poem that started the controversy, which I only
read this
morning, I wasn't in the least offended. In fact, I was
moved. Whatever my
opinions about the military polcies of our civilian leaders
(and at the
moment my opinions are decidedly negative, but that's neither
here nor
there) all of us in democratic nations owe a debt of
gratitude to the
soldiers who defended us, and continue to defend us. A man or
woman who
agrees to dedicate himself to something bigger than him or
herself deserves
respect, IMHO. I didn't think, and don't think, that
remarking on the
sacrifices made by our soldiers, especially at Christmastime,
was
inappropriate for this list or any other.
If that makes me jingoistic, so be it. - Jim Doherty
--UNS_gsauns2_3023794151--
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