Jim W,
Re your comments below:
> The story is serviceable enough. Marlowe's hired
to
> discreetly recover the Brasher Doubloon (where
the
> movie based on this book got its name. I like
that
> title better.) and bodies start to pile up.
Don't
> get me wrong. Chandler never threw me out of
the
> story at any point, but it just didn't grab me
the
> way TBS, FML, or THE LONG GOODBYE did. A
> serviceable enough plot with a decent mystery
behind
> it, I did catch myself yawning a few
times.
I found the plot substandard for Chandler too. Perhaps it's
because this is the first novel plotted from scratch rather
than plotted by expanding previously published short stories.
While one can kvetch that the plots of TBS or FML are hard to
follow, they certainly pack a lot of incident into the pages.
By cotrast, THW seems somewhat simplistic.
Chandler would go back to expanding his old short stories for
his next book, 1943's THE LADY IN THE LAKE. He wouldn't
attempt to plot out a novel from scratch again until THE
LITTLE SISTER in 1949.
Just as an aside, THE BRASHER DOUBLOON was Chandler's
original title. His publisher persuaded him to change it to
keep readers from thinking the novel was a novel of
swashbuckling adventure rather than a contemporary PI novel.
When the movie used his original title, Chandler felt
somewhat vindicated.
> Even Chandler's trademark styling seems a
little
> flatter in this one, like the man's gotten
bored
> with Marlowe.
Some of Chandler's best writing is found in FARWELL, MY
LOVELY, which immediately precedes THW. FML is also the book
most marked by the use of simile and metaphor, which very
quickly became a cliche in hard-boiled PI fiction (see, or
more correctly, hear the OTR show PAT NOVAK FOR HIRE, for an
example of just how over the top the unrestrained use of
simile and metaphor can go).
Chandler, noting that other writers were self-consciously
aping his style, tended, in post-FML books, to cut back on
the use of these stylistic devices. That may be why THW seems
comparatively flat, style-wise.
> I think it's Chandler's
> characterizations. Style and plotting were
always
> his strong points, making otherwise bland
characters
> come alive. In THW, where everything is...
OK...
> there's not enough of either to let the
characters,
> other than Marlowe and maybe Lt. Breeze, be
anything
> more than cardboard cutouts. I especially
hated
> Mrs. Murdock. I know I'm supposed to hate her,
but
> she's like a bad hair metal band - three chords
and
> the same damn lyrics over and over again. She
sits
> around and drinks port and verbally abuses
anyone
> within reach.
Merle is even more disappointing. Loren Estleman once said
that Marlowe spent his whole life looking for a damsel in
distress to rescue. In THW, he actually gets one, and she
turns out to be one of Chandler's most pallid
creations.
Given your earlier post about THE MALTESE FALCON, I'm
surprised you haven't mentioned two devices Chandler lifts
from that novel and uses in THW.
First, of course, is the "Macguffin/quest object," a fabled
article with both historical and monetary value that turns
out to be phony in the end.
Second is the parable, a story that the detective tells to
another character that has nothing to do with the rest of the
plot but which does provide some insight into the detective's
personality.
In FALCON, of course, the parable was the Flitcraft story. In
THW, it's the "Cassidy case." Interestingly, the Cassidy case
that Marlowe talks about to the two cops actually happened.
In real life, it was the Doheny case. You can read about it
here:
http://home.comcast.net/~mossrobert/html/criticism/cassidy.htm
JIM DOHERTY
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