I'm struck by the fraternal aspects of drinking in Chandler,
especially
_The Long Goodbye_, where Marlowe is the reformed alcoholic,
committing to
people (Terry, Wade) who have hit bottom. There seems to be a
bond, though
it doesn't always hold, between those who have known the
bottle--the taxi
driver who won't accept extra from Marlowe when he finds that
M. is trying
to help a drunk friend. The reverse side, of course, is the
guy or girl
who slips you a mickey in your drink, seen as worse than
knocking you on
the head.
Other aspects of drink? The value of bars? Hemingway famously
talked
about a "clean, well-lighted place," where one could become
inebriated with
dignity. The bar where Mario Balzics goes when he doesn't
want to go home,
where he often argues healthily, seems to be such a place for
him.
Bill Hagen
<billha@ionet.net>
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