--- Kevin Burton Smith
> But then again, I've always sorta thought
Chandler
> would have made a
> great stand-up comedian, as smart but
uncomfortable
> in his own skin as
> Allen in his stand-up days. It's easy enough
to
> picture Chandler's
> similes being delivered as one-liners.
>
> "I tell ya, this dame, well, I'm not saying she
was
> hot, but she could
> make a bishop kick a hole in a stained
glass
> window."
>
> "This guy was so ugly, man, he had a face like
a
> collapsed lung."
****************************************************** The
thing about Chandler that makes him unusual as a thriller
writer is that Phillip Marlow, his idealized self, was so
detached from his real self. You can clearly see Dashiel
Hammett in Sam Spade, Nick Charles, and The Continental Op.
In describing James Bonds physical characteristics, Ian
Fleming was describing himself. But Raymond Chandler was,
neither in stature, vocal inflection, nor athletic prowess,
anything like Phillip Marlow. Chandler was a smart enough
businessman to see what the public would respond to, and a
good enough author to pull it off.
Patrick King
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