Freeper Reading Club Discussion---Raymond Chandler

Self | February 24, 2002 | PJ-Comix

[PJ-Comix]

Also you can buy it used at Amazon.com for from $29.00 to $99.00

Check Half.Com. Much cheaper.

[PJ-Comix]

Reading these stories, some of the slang being used slowed me down.

When I lived in L.A. I knew an Iranian who became fascinated by American slang after I mentioned that I was going to "hit the sack and catch a few Zs." Anyway, he begged me to teach him American slang. The funny thing about slang is that if you use it naturally it is one thing but if you start thinking about it, slang isn't so easy to use without being very self-concious. Anyway, I started feeding my Iranian friend, Hassan, hyped up American slang. For example, if I was going to eat some chili burgers and drink some beer with it, I would tell him that I was going to "line my guts with chiliburgers and soak some suds." Hassan became thought this slang was common usage when in fact, it was just me exaggerating in a Chandleresque sort of way.

One day, Hassan asked me what some crude slang that he heard meant. Rather than tell Hassan the dirty truth (use your imagination), I told him it meant "Have a nice day." The next thing I know he calls me up cursing loudly. He was almost arrested for using that slang on a supermarket checkout lady. I won't tell you what the phrase he mistakenly used was but it was of the sort to get the security guard there called out on him.

[MississippiMan]

This is the first week I've looked at the reading discussion. Is there a list somewhere of books you've discussed in the past?

MM

[PJ-Comix]

This is the first week I've looked at the reading discussion. Is there a list somewhere of books you've discussed in the past?

From memory, this:

"Shane"

Electric Acid Kool-Aid Test" by Tom Wolfe

"Homage To Catalonia" by Ralph Ellison

"Invisible Man" by Ralph Ellison

"From Here To Eternity" by James Jones

"My Life And Loves As The Hedgehog" by Ron Jeremy

Just kidding about the last book!

[MississippiMan]

Thanks, PJ.

MM

[Kip Lange]

...which tells me I should have been on this reading list a WHILE ago.

[Kip Lange]

I'm a HUGE Mickey Spillane fan but I just couldn't buy Stacey Keach as Mike Hammer. Completely WRONG casting.

I agree, Keach leaves a LOT to be desired, but there still was a revival of the genre in the mid-80s.

[u-89]

Yeah, Bing Crosby is cool. Because I had a natural fondess for black and white films - the old silver screen I learned about music of generations past. Especially the 1930's as it was the new era of sound films - the talkies and they had to give you something worth listening to. A lot of musicals back then but also comedies frequently had mucic like the Marx Borthers or Bob Hope films for example. Not really related to topic but I'm very amused by the 1940's retro movement that has been happening on the two coasts for the past decade - vintage clothing, swing dancing, etc.

[PJ-Comix]

Robert Mitchum didn't do too bad playing Philip Marlow back then. BTW, have you noticed that instead of a "tough" name for his detective, Chandler chose a rather elite sounding name of "Philip Marlowe." I think this was done to distinguish Marlowe from his sleazy surroundings and to mark him as more of an intellectual than you would think from his profession.

[Kip Lange]

Grabbed this off a bio (answers where "Marlowe" comes from):

"Chandler originally considered naming his detective Malory, in honor of Sir Thomas Malory, author of Le Morte d'Arthur. Ultimately he settled on 'Marlowe,' after the poet, dramatist, and Shakespeare contemporary. There is a building named after Christopher 'Kit' Marlowe on the Dulwich College campus in England, where Chandler attended classes between 1900 and 1904."

[bt_dooftlook]

Sorry about the delay; no, Pearls Are A Nuisance is not a Marlowe story. Chandler is experimenting with a new, funnier persona here - I think you will like it!

[mmrocker13]

You do know this is an uncreditited citation, correct?

It was my honors thesis way back in 1999. I know this is a VERY old post...but I stumbled across it while doing research for another project, and was like...hey, those words sound familiar ;-)

[PJ-Comix]

You do know this is an uncreditited citation, correct?

No. What was cited here?