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Notes on Marlowe
Raymond Chandler’s Philip Marlowe is the quintessential hard-boiled detective. Although Dashiell Hammett’s Continental Op and Sam Spade preceded him, Marlowe’s first appearance in „The Big Sleep“ (1939) set the definitive standards for what his kind was and is supposed to be like: tough, incorruptible, stoically brave, sometimes to the point of self-destruction, deeply disillusioned, yet…
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Fleming and Chandler on air
A hidden gem for fans of Raymond Chandler and Ian Fleming is available on the Internet Archive: a July-1958 BBC recording of a conversation by the two authors on the occasion of the publication of Chandler’s last novel Playback. Chandler was not in great shape. Alcohol, depression and grief about the death of his wife…
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Treibhausklima und Marlowe
Das gegenwärtige Treibhausklima erinnert mich an die Anfangsszene des Chandler-Klassikers „The Big Sleep“ (1939). Marlowe trifft seinen Auftraggeber, den greisen, kranken General Sternwood, in einem Gewächshaus und schwitzt sich die Seele aus dem Leib. Sternwood ist, salopp gesagt, am Abnippeln. Die Wärme zögert das Unvermeidliche noch etwas hinaus. Er genießt es, Marlowe beim Rauchen und…