麻豆影院

Remembering writer Raymond Chandler at the 65^th anniversary of his death, a CU 麻豆影院 English scholar reflects on the hard-boiled investigator and why this character still appeals

Philip Marlowe was in a grubby waterfront hotel room 鈥渨ith a hard bed and a mattress slightly thicker than the cotton blanket that covered it.鈥�

A neon light outside the window illuminated the room in red. He got up to splash cold water on his face, feeling 鈥渁 little better, but very little. I needed a drink, I needed a lot of life insurance, I needed a vacation, I needed a home in the country. What I had was a coat, a hat and a gun. I put them on and went out of the room.鈥�

Call him hard-boiled or hard-bitten, call him jaded, call him a relic鈥攈e鈥檚 all those things, and one of the most alluring and enduring archetypes in fiction. As written by Raymond Chandler, who died 65 years ago this week and who is increasingly recognized for the artistry of his writing, Philip Marlowe is the private investigator who鈥檚 seen it all and is surprised by little. He drinks too much, smokes too much, cracks wise, cracks the case and is, above all things, alone.

Many consider Marlowe the patron not-saint of all the hard-boiled and hard-edged private investigators who followed, the semi-heroes of literature and film who solve crime, yes, but generally by immersing themselves in the sordid world of it鈥攁t the expense of relationships, health, happiness and sometimes the law.

What is the continued appeal of the hard-boiled investigator character, who鈥檚 brilliant and kind of a jerk, handy in a fight and charming when it鈥檚 convenient, all kinds of trouble鈥攐r troubled鈥攁nd the ultimate cipher?

鈥淲hat Marlowe and other characters like him bring in is being more of the people,鈥� says Mary Klages, an associate professor of English who teaches a course called . 鈥�(Marlowe) doesn鈥檛 have a partner, never has anybody he works with, doesn鈥檛 need a Watson figure to explain how the great brain works. He鈥檚 just a guy, and he鈥檚 not apart from the dirty world that he has to investigate. He doesn鈥檛 have this sensibility of, 鈥極h, bad guys and criminals, they鈥檙e over there and I鈥檓 something different鈥� that you get with other detectives or investigators.鈥�

A desire for story

Understanding the appeal of the jaded investigator whose native habitat seems to be dark and rainy city streets begins with understanding the basic human desire for story, Klages says.听

鈥淗uman beings love narratives, we love telling stories, and with mysteries there鈥檚 that added element of, 鈥楥an I figure out who the villain is?鈥� Then we get the reward of a sense of justice鈥攕omebody out there is fighting crime and that makes us feel a little bit better about living in a dangerous real world. As a reader, I can go to mystery novel and say, 鈥極h, if only there were a Sherlock Holmes or a V.I. Warshawski in the real world solving crimes and making us safer.鈥�

鈥淎lso, stories鈥攅specially mysteries鈥攇ive us all that in nice container. Anything can happen, but it鈥檚 not going to happen. Reading words on a page lets us empathize with characters and have a vicarious experience that we don鈥檛 want to have happen in real life. We experience it in a way that makes it vivid, and that has shape and that wraps up in the end with a nice, neat bow. That鈥檚 the convention in most mystery stories.鈥�

And while there are as many types of mystery solvers in fiction as there are audiences for them鈥攆rom elderly knitting enthusiasts and roadster-driving teens to insufferable British geniuses with superhuman powers of observation鈥攖he hard-boiled private eye character brought a new and interesting layer to the mystery genre.

A knight in soiled armor

The character really came into his own鈥攁nd in the beginning, it was always a 鈥渉e鈥濃�攚hen the pulp magazine was launched in April 1920 by H.L. Mencken and George Jean Nathan. One of the first iterations of the hard-boiled investigator slouched through its pages in December 1922, embodied in Carroll John Daly鈥檚 novella 鈥淭he False Burton Combs.鈥�

The titular false Burton Combs memorably introduces himself in the story's fourth paragraph: 鈥淚 ain鈥檛 a crook; just a gentleman adventurer and make my living working against the law breakers. Not that work with the police鈥攏o, not me. I鈥檓 no knight errant either. It just came to me that the simplest people in the world are crooks.鈥�

His progeny includes Philip Marlowe and Sam Spade, Mike Hammer, V.I. Warshawski, Harry Hole, the Continental Op, Kurt Wallander and further generations of fictional investigators who often exist as shadow opposites to the upstanding police detectives, the crime-solving priests, the kooky Southern bookstore owners who happen upon murder, the otherwise decent people in whom readers like to think they see themselves.

Both Chandler and Dashiell Hammett, who wrote hard-boiled investigator Sam Spade, published in Black Mask and brought dimension to an essentially unknowable鈥攁nd sometimes unlikable鈥攂ut always compelling听archetype.

鈥淚n Philip Marlowe, Chandler gives us guy who鈥檚 educated, who鈥檚 been to college, who quotes Shakespeare, but works with lowlifes,鈥� Klages explains. 鈥淗e gives us a portrait of a very dirty underworld where you can鈥檛 trust anybody, the police are corrupt, rich people are corrupt, and he looks for a kind of moral compass to guide him. I think of Marlowe as a knight in soiled armor, and Chandler makes that image at the very beginning of 鈥楾he Big Sleep.鈥� He has Marlowe go into the house of a very rich client and he鈥檚 looking at this stained-glass window that shows a knight trying to free a woman from being chained up around a tree. Marlowe says something like, 鈥業 wanted to go up and help the guy, but then I realized he was never going to get that woman free.鈥�

鈥淢arlowe鈥檚 attitude is, 鈥業 know there鈥檚 supposed to be nobility and self-sacrifice in world, but I don鈥檛 see them, and I don鈥檛鈥� believe in them. But I still want there to be some kind of morality, some kind of code,鈥� so he makes his own. He doesn鈥檛 follow anything traditional, he鈥檚 not religious, not spiritual, not a law and order and justice guy, so he makes his own code, and that鈥檚 part of the ongoing appeal of this character, this knight in soiled armor.鈥�

Trench coats for a modern audience

Philip Marlowe was notably embodied on film by Humphrey Bogart, as was Dashiell Hammett鈥檚 Sam Spade, and he鈥檚 the image many people bring to mind when they think of the hard-boiled investigator, Klages says鈥攖rench coat, cigarette and, by today鈥檚 standards, appalling attitudes toward women.

In fact, some might claim that the hard-bitten investigator is a relic of the past, but Klages argues that this character and what he听(and not as often, she) represents and embodies remains relevant for modern audiences.

鈥淚t鈥檚 this idea of, 鈥榃hy should we believe in anything when we鈥檝e had time after time the proof that the politicians are corrupt, the police are corrupt, it鈥檚 all over the place,鈥欌�� Klages says. 鈥淚 think the question is, from a hard-boiled perspective, why would anybody give a damn about anybody else? You have to be in it for yourself, and I think the genius of Chandler鈥檚 portrait of Marlowe is that you have to be in it for yourself, yes, but it has to be something bigger that you stand for rather than just your own selfishness and your own greed and desires.鈥�

She notes that Marlowe sees the world with very clear eyes, without delusion or traditional notions of hope, yet he still crafts his own kind of hope and his own code of morality, which resonates with readers and viewers today.

鈥淚 just watched first season of 鈥楾rue Detective鈥� and that鈥檚 a perfect example,鈥� Klages says. 鈥淵ou鈥檝e got two guys with torn up, terrible lives and part of the plot is, let鈥檚 find out how these guys with messed up lives can pursue justice. How do you take somebody who is flawed as a character and make them be the vehicle for something as elevated as truth, justice and the American way? As people who love stories, we like that complication.鈥�

Top image: Humphrey Bogart (center) as Philip Marlowe in "The Big Sleep." (Photo: Warner Bros.)

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