Isn't it interesting how some of us are turning back to
Travis McGee?
Recently had occasion to reread Tan and Sandy Silence--for a
popular library discussion series--and was struck by McGee's
rejection of what would seem the Ideal Life, no work
required. Jilly, well-endowed in both senses, wants him to
yacht around with her, and he can't say yes, even though he
grants her point that he is getting a step slow, losing his
edge. He pictures the men in that kind of life, subservient
though well cushioned; he even has an imaginary dialogue
about this option with Papa Hemingway, arguing a bit with the
notion that the moral choice is what you feel good after. He
doesn't feel good or bad. His conclusion is that he will keep
working because he doesn't want to give up his personal sense
of morality (the tinpot knight motive):
"Jillian Brent-Archer is another name for giving up your
fatuous, self-serving morality, and when you give it up, you
feel grainy, studlike, secure, and that doggy little smirk
becomes ineradicable...You retain the fragile self-respect by
giving Them the increasingly good chance of ventilating your
skull..." (83)
So I guess he's really with Hemingway, in a sense: he may
doubt the worth of what he's doing, but he feels right (good)
doing it. As my favorite pre-noir writer once said, the
important thing is to have some sort belief you can bow down
and worship. One of the few things he believed in was the
value of honest work. (Conrad in Heart of Darkness)
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