Okay, I know I said my most recent post of *TSAM* would be
my last,
but I recalled something else that stuck me.
Why did Chandler choose the stories he chose for inclusion
in *TSAM*.
We know that the stories he "cannibilized" into novels were
excluded,
but that still leaves two that weren't cannibilized and
still weren't
included, his very first story "Blackmailers Don't Shoot"
(*Black
Mask* 12/33) and his last published pulp story "No Crime in
the
Mountains" (*Detective Story* 9/41).
We know from letters he wrote that he was considering both
of these
stories. Ultimately he decided to exclude them from what he,
no
doubt, considered to be his "official" short story
collection.
I'm guessing that he found "Blackmailers Don't Shoot," as
his novice
work, simply not up to the standards he wanted for
*TSAM*.
It's often assumed the "No Crime in the Mountains" was
excluded
because it was "cannibilized" in *The Lady in the Lake*,
but, reading
the story, this doesn't seem to be the case. Certainly, both
*Lady in
the Lake* and "No Crime" share a rural setting, and both
feature
colorful, rustic policemen as characters. But so does the
short story
version of "Lady in the Lake." Chandler didn't need to
cannibilize
"No Crime" to get these elements, because they were already
present in
the earlier story. Moreover, Chandler had already started
work on,
probably was close to completing the novel-length *The Lady
in the
Lake* at the time he wrote "No Crime." If anything, he
borrowed the
rural setting and cop from the novel rather than the other
way around.
I suspect he dropped "No Crime" because he thought the Axis
espionage
plot was dated. In a letter to his publisher he mentioned
that, if he
included it, he would have to "re-write it heavily, deleting
the Nazi
stuff." But "the Nazi stuff" was central to the plot. What
would he
replace it with? Commie stuff? In the end it was easier just
to
exclude it.
Any other thoughts? - Jim Doherty
PS
The "cannibilized" stories, along with "No Crime in the
Mountains" are
all, as Mario pointed out, included in the posthumous
Chandler
collection *Killer in the Rain*.
"Blackmailers Don't Shoot" was finally reprinted in an
omnibus volume
called *The Midnight Raymond Chandler* in the States. I
bleieve it
was also included in the British Chandler collection *The
Smell of
Fear*. It's also included in the first volume of that ritzy,
literary
multi-volume Chandler series that was published (to some
controversy)
a year or two ago. - JD
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