Erick wrote:
<I would certainly call it tragic. It's a kick in the
teeth to the chivalric code Marlowe has lived his life by.
It's a death of part of himself. How do you begin to mourn
that?>
And Chris wrote:
<The Long Good-Bye is a tragedy. When Lennox/Maioranos
disappears down that corridor "first
[his footsteps] grew faint, then they got silent." Marlowe is
saying goodbye not only to his friend but to a whole moral
code, an heroic model, and a whole era in American history.
In my opinion this novel is Chandler's lament at the arrival
of the new postmodern world that he, and Marlowe, will never
fit into. If it's not tragic, what is it?>
One of the brilliancies of Robert Altman's controversial film
adaptation of The Long Goodbye is to show *exactly* how
Marlowe will fail to fit in, by placing a seemingly misfit
version of him into just that postmodern order. (I say
"seemingly" because by the end of the film, we know that
Elliott Gould's Marlowe is in fact plenty tough.) Another
coup is to answer Erick's question - "How do you begin to
mourn that?" - by having Marlowe do the logical thing, the
thing his code in fact demands: he kills the friend who has
deceived him. (This is also an inspired way for Altman to
deal with the "anxiety of influence" - he out-hardboils
Chandler himself.)
Mark
===== Mark Harris Educational Consulting College Admissions
Strategies 773-914-3472 http://admissionsplus.blogspot.com/
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