Hey Kevin,
I think you missed Jim's recent note where he said he had had
enough of this debate and had said everything he wanted
to.
Mike
--- In
rara-avis-l@yahoogroups.com, Kevin Burton Smith
<kvnsmith@...> wrote:
>
> I hear there's recently been some sort of Holy
Decree on the
topic,
> but I don't think it's official until we see three
puffs of smoke...
>
> Jim wrote:
>
> > Let's take that statement piece by piece. First
of
> > all, he asserts that Chandler saw Marlowe as a
loser.
> > Clearly Chandler did NOT. He saw Marlowe as
"the best
> > man in his world and a good enough man for any
world,"
> > as "a man fit for adventure," and as "the hero
. . .
> > everything."
>
> Chandler also clearly referred to him as "Tarzan on
a motor
scooter."
> Does that sound like the best man in the
world?
>
> To me, that sounds like EVEN Chandler was sharp
enough to realize
the
> conflicts and ambiguities and flaws in the monster
he'd unleashed.
> Certainly, the author's opinions about almost
everything bounced
back
> and forth in his writings -- both public and
private. He'd argue
up
> one day and down the next. He was alternately a
raging egomaniac
and a
> self-doubting, self-pitying petty-minded crank, with
more issues
than
> a newsstand, who married his mother. Or at least
tried to.
>
> (He was also a decorated war hero whose quiet
bravery in battle
> reveals some loud-mouthed "tough guy" writers as the
poseurs they
> always were.)
>
> Which is why it's almost always safer to argue the
art than the
> artist. As Lawrence Block (Hey! Aren't we supposed
to be talking
about
> him?) once said, "In the end it's what's on the page
that counts --
> not how or why it got there." That applies to movie
screens too.
>
> And judging from the result, I think Altman
understood Chandler
pretty
> well, and respected him at least well enough to
disagree with him.
All
> this wind and melodrama about Altman being "immoral"
and burning
in
> hell -- yeah, yeah, it's a joke -- seriously
undermines some of
the
> finer points (and some of them are very fine indeed)
of your
arguments.
>
> I love Chandler's work as much as the next guy, and
the
implication
> that those who enjoyed Altman's "immoral" THE LONG
GOODBYE are
somehow
> lesser fans (or perhaps even "immoral" themselves)
is unfortunate.
>
> And now, speaking of Chandler, has anyone else here
read THE LONG
> EMBRACE, the new book on that fun-lovin' Ray and his
beloved Cissy?
>
>
> Kevin Burton Smith
> www.thrillingdetective.com
>
>
>
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been
removed]
>
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