RARA-AVIS: the romance of HB

From: Carrie Pruett ( pruettc@hotmail.com)
Date: 13 Mar 2002


>rene said:

>some semantic confusion going on over the word "romantic", with the
>literary & colloquial meanings being interchanged. Describing Marlowe as a
>romantic doesn't (necessarily) mean that he's a horndog or lovestruck.

Mike said:
>yes it does. or maybe we're just using two different dictionaries, >rene,
>but mine has this under romance: love, romantic involvement. a >strong,
>usually short- lived attachment or enthusiasm. a love affair.

with all due respect, Mike, if that's the only def. your dictionary gives, I'd invest in a new dictionary. I'll leave it to someone else to attempt a definition but "romance" and "romanticism" have much longer, more complicated traditions. Perhaps most simplistically, we're talking about the Don quixote complex, via broadway (to dream the impossible dream, etc etc). Chandler's vision of the PI as knight, walking down the mean streets, without himself being tarnished or afraid is straight out of the Arthurian tradition.

Currently, I'm reading "The Postman always rings twice," and I'm struck by the narrator (Frank Chambers)'s poetic streak regarding the presumably fatal female - I don't know if I'd call it romantic or even sentimental, but he's more than just horny. (I suppose one could argue that the difference between Chambers and Marlowe or Spade is chiefly that Chambers is a lot dumber).

I also think Rene's assessment of Marlowe vs. Spade in dealing with the
"femmes" is right on.

Carrie

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