CH 15

[Robin Landseadel]

On Nov 23, 2009, at 9:42 AM, Joseph Tracy wrote:

Not the best hosting job on the Chapter.

Whattaya talkin' about? Ya did swell!

>  There is a level on which this is a tightly plotted noir mystery  
> along the lines of Chinatown, but with  broader political focus.

At all times and in all ways, Pynchon is giving a nod to Raymond  
Chandler. Chandler has a certain sort of power—that whole "Golden  
Fang" flavoured "Greater Los Angeles Mob"—humming in the background of  
all his stories*, a power structure that points to a larger political  
empire outside of Marlowe's ability to control or change. Once Marlowe  
gets his assignments intertwined with the local law enforcement, the  
best he can hope for is a friend on the inside like Bernie Ohls to  
warn him off of the kinds of entrapment hustles that Bernie can't  
mention to AI. Bigfoot tries to do a good for Doc in Inherent Vice but  
can't actually name any names out loud—it's that old muting that TRP  
brought up in CoL49. That part's all Pynchon. But the locales, the  
"characters", the old John Garfield and Ida Lupino‡ movies playing in  
the background, the cops and the heavies—all of that owes a whole lot  
to Raymond Chandler.

*All that stuff going on in "Bay City", Santa Monica in the thirties  
through fifties, the center os militarty contracts before spy  
satallites got really big, down the coast, closer to Doc. Chandler may  
not have been speaking directly of military installations as being  
pits of illegal activities, but consider those parts of L.A. where  
Marlowe usually gets in trouble.

‡ The other honorary aquarium parent along with Ralph Bunch.