Thanks for the answers to my question! I'm looking forward to
reading these early stories and seeing how they compare to
the later novels.
Best, Harry
Quoting JIM DOHERTY <
jimdohertyjr@yahoo.com>:
> Mark,
>
> Re your question below:
>
> "This reminds me. I've long wondered why
Chandler's
> first story, Blackmailers Never Shoot, wasn't
included
> in Simple Art of Murder. Do you happen to know
why?"
>
> "Blackmailers Don't Shoot," Chandler's first
story,
> and the first of two to feature a Chicago
PI
> transplanted to LA named Mallory, wasn't included
in
> TSAM because, quite simply, Chandler didn't think
much
> of it. In a letter to a friend years later,
he
> described it as "pure pastiche," by which he meant
it
> was derivative with little of his own
voice.
>
> He didn't think too much higher of the
sequel,
> "Smart-Aleck Kill," either. But he thought it
enough
> of an improvement that he did include it in
the
> collection, though with the character's name
changed
> from Mallory to John Dalmas (causing untold
confusion
> to later scholars). Besides, even if it wasn't
THAT
> much of an improvement, the beginning was
an
> illustration of a point he made about pulp fiction
in
> the collection's intoduction, "When in doubt, have
a
> man with a gun come through the front
door."
>
> In that same letter, he said that "Finger Man,"
his
> third story, and the first to feature the
character
> who would eventually come to be named
"Philip
> Marlowe," was the first in which he began to find
his
> own unique style.
>
> JIM DOHERTY
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
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