IVIV Chandler

[kelber at mindspring.com]

Doc seems more like a "cute" TV detective than a noir one.  Admittedly, I don't know what I'm talking about since I avoided those cheesy 'tec shows (except for The Rockford Files, which I liked).  I'm thinking of the guy with the cockatoo (Baretta?) and Magnum PI.

Laura

-----Original Message-----
>From: Mark Kohut <markekohut at yahoo.com>
>Sent: Aug 20, 2009 12:01 PM
>To: pynchon-l at waste.org, kelber at mindspring.com
>Subject: Re: IVIV Chandler
>
>IV as spoof-homage? my first reading.
>Rational Marlowe vs. Doper Doc
>Tough world  vs. low intensity one
>Macho marlowe   vs. Pussy-eating Doc
>Bad Boy Marlowe  vs. All-Hangs-Out Doc
>
>
>--- On Thu, 8/20/09, kelber at mindspring.com <kelber at mindspring.com> wrote:
>
>> From: kelber at mindspring.com <kelber at mindspring.com>
>> Subject: Re: IVIV Chandler
>> To: pynchon-l at waste.org
>> Date: Thursday, August 20, 2009, 10:30 AM
>> What makes Marlowe and Sam Spade
>> (channeled by Humphrey Bogart) work is that they're rough
>> around the edges (maybe, in Marlowe's case, to the point of
>> brutishness), but underneath is the moral core, the heart of
>> gold.  Hidden away like that, it's a lot more endearing
>> than if they wore it on their shirt sleeve, playing the
>> indignant (and inherently boring) good-guy/hero. 
>> Pynchon gets it kind of wrong with Doc, who seems pretty
>> laid back and affable on the outside, robbing us of the fun
>> discovery that there's a moral core hidden away. 
>> Bigfoot makes a better hero in that regard.  Speaking
>> for womankind, we're attracted to the bad boys because we
>> want to ferret out the good hidden within.  
>> 
>> Laura
>> 
>> -----Original Message-----
>> >From: John Carvill <johncarvill at gmail.com>
>>  You're not basing this on the text(s), just a
>> >feeling you have that Marlowe is a 'brute'. Marlowe is
>> always on the
>> >side of the downtrodden and defeated. He'd a been a
>> prime candidate
>> >for The Counterforce. Hell, when Pynchon wants to
>> express the fat that
>> >all is lost and nobody can help, at teh end of GR, he
>> has Philip
>> >Marlowe suffering a migraine, reaching for his whiskey
>> bottle, and
>> >feeling homesick for the lasce balconies of the
>> Bradbury building.
>> >Hardly a brute.
>> >
>> >For the last time, Doug, Marlowe doesn't hang aroudn
>> with cops, he is
>> >not generally on friendly terms with them. They usually
>> pull him in
>> >for questioning and rough him up and get in the way and
>> acn't be arsed
>> >to solve crimes, whereas Marlowe *does* care, and
>> abjhors murder and
>> >seeks to do justice for victims. And even the few cops
>> he does
>> >occassionally fraternise with, who he's stayed friends
>> with since his
>> >days in the District Attorney's office, still treat him
>> with suspicion
>> >and come knocking on his door at 2am in the morning
>> wanting to shake
>> >him down.
>> >
>> >Go read 'Farewell, My Lovely', there you can see plenty
>> of racism, but
>> >you can also see it's not Marlowe who's teh racist, and
>> in fact, the
>> >endemic racism is one of the factors which serves to
>> alienate Marlowe
>> >from society.
>> >
>> 
>> 
>
>
>