Davis on Chandler

[Carvill, John]

I'm gonna go and read some more of what Davis has to say on Chandler. So
far I don't much care for it! I had heard of 'City of Quartz' and given
my ignorance of all things Californian, would have hoped to get round to
reading it some day, particularly in the light of IV. I get the feeling
that a lot of the mud Davis throws at Marlowe/Chandler could as easily
be thrown elsewhere. Not that there aren't uncomfortable hints of, if
not racism, homophobia etc., then lets say dubious attitudes, on
display. But branding Marlowe/Chandler a 'racist' or a 'homophobe' is
reductive at best. Calling him a Fascist just calls eveything else you
might say into question - it's just so far off base.


> Though Philip Marlowe tries to do the honorable thing, the world as it
is prevents him from doing so.


Disagree. More like the other way round. Marlowe does do the honorable
thing (in as much as there's a clear cut case as to what the honorable
thing to do is), but the world as it is threatens to prevent him doing
so. That he wins out in the end, however partially, that he comes out on
the other side with his own humanity, if not his faith in humanity in
general, intact, well, that could be taken as a metaphor for what we all
can hope to achieve, at best. I think Chandler intends Marlowe as a
slightly exaggerated version of what a man can aim to be, in a corrupt
and rotten world.

I also question how literally and absolutely you seem to be painting
Marlowe as a tarnished knight. We recogise the quest narritive trope,
yes. But the time travel thing I'm not si sure of. Marlowe is not
medieval, he is of his own time. He may feel out of synch with the tenor
of the times, but that doesn't mean he has teleported in direct from
Camelot.


Cheers
J