Is Marlowe a Racist (or even homophobic)?

[Paul Nightingale]

"I took my dark glasses off and tapped them delicately on the inside of my
left wrist. If you can weigh a hundred and ninety pounds and look like a
fairy, I was doing my best."

Penguin 1948 ed, 54.

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-pynchon-l at waste.org [mailto:owner-pynchon-l at waste.org] On Behalf
Of Otto
Sent: 20 August 2009 16:30
To: Pynchon Liste
Subject: Is Marlowe a Racist?

In the tenth chapter of "The Big Sleep" Chandler lets Marlowe say
about himself that if someone of his weight can look like a gay he's
the one. I've got only the German text, sorry:

"Wenn einer mit hundertachtzig Pfund wie ein Schwuli aussehen konnte,
dann schaffte ich das bestens."

("Der große Schlaf", Diogenes, Zürich 1974, p. 45)

That doesn't sound very homophobic, at least to my ears.

Otto