Re: RARA-AVIS: POODLE SPRINGS (was A PURPLE PLACE FOR DYING by John D. MacDonald)

From: JIM DOHERTY ( jimdohertyjr@yahoo.com)
Date: 17 Dec 2004


Jack,

Re your comments on POODLE SPRINGS below:

> One of the sadest reads of Chandler is "The
> Poodle Springs Story" in which Chandler to my
> observation is pussy whipped. Yes, the book was
> finished by Parker, but the early part, the part
> that Chandler wrote, was set it up that way.

It's generally thought the POODLE SPRINGS was left uncompleted because Chandler died before he was able to finish it.

FWIW, I think Chandler developed much the same idea about POODLE SPRINGS you did. I think he stopped after four chapter simply because he thought it wasn't working and wasn't true to Marlowe's character.

After putting the MS aside, he wrote a letter to the friend who had suggested marrying Marlowe off, and said that on consideration, he decided marriage wasn't really for Marlowe.

Then he wrote the short story "The Pencil," shunting Linda Loring completely off-stage, and resurrecting Ann Riordan from FAREWELL, MY LOVELY as a more appropriate long-term romantic interest for Marlowe than Linda.

Had Chandler lived and the Marlowe series continued, I think Ann Riordan, the on-again-off-again girlfriend, might have become the recurring character, rather Linda Loring-Marlowe, the wife, and Chandler would thus have been able to have it both ways, keeping Marlowe independent but giving him access to romantic interludes with a familiar character.

JIM DOHERTY

        
                
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