--- Kevin Burton Smith
> I'm not so sure about that. Chandler was
supposedly
> witty, cranky,
> athletic (tennis, anyone?) and a decorated war
hero
> (which he earned
> in combat, which presumably means he wasn't
quite
> the cream puff some
> of his later author photos might suggest).
Witty,
> cranky, tough and
> brave -- sounds like Marlowe to me.
****************************************************** There
are many interviews with Chandler around and he didn't talk
or act like Marlow. I suspect the only things he and Marlow
had obviously in common were a passion for chess.
*****************************************************
> And is that really any more "detached" than
Hammett
> portraying himself
> as a quick-witted man of action and a bon
vivant,
> instead of a sickly
> drunk who was in and out of the hospital
and
> reputedly couldn't keep
> it zipped?
****************************************************** Well,
that was at the end of his life when his lifestyle had caught
up with him. I mean, they were all drunks, weren't they? They
were young adults during prohibition where the strength of a
person's character was determined by how boldly you defied
the law. As to "keeping it zipped," I've always believed that
persons who can restrain their passion are only those with
passion weak enough to be restrained. Famous writers have
groupies, too.
***************************************************** And
Fleming's Bond far-fetched adventures
> were a far cry
> from his own experiences as an intelligence
officer.
> Why, I bet he
> never found a naked girl painted gold in his
hotel
> room hardly ever...
****************************************************** But
much of what Fleming wrote was idealized from his experience.
There's a current Fleming bio showing on the Biography
Channel today, as a matter of fact. Several of the people who
knew him say that there's a good deal of Fleming in the most
absurd Bond films. As to his prowess with women, it was,
according to that same bio, legendary among the faculty and
student body when he was still at Eton. The woman who
eventually became his wife became pregnant by Fleming twice
before he relented and married her. She had to divorce the
marquis she was married to, to marry Fleming. Fleming had a
varied sex life by all accounts. He just didn't bother to
"keep it zipped."
Patrick King
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