DAmoynihan wrote:
> As soon as I got to the end of the book I had a
strong feeling
> that the younger-man/older-woman scenario was a
comment on Raymond
> Chandler's marriage. If it is, that is probably
common knowledge that
> I am too out of fashion to have picked up. I think I
remember reading
> (too long ago to pin down) that Mrs. Chandler was
sometimes mistaken
> for Raymond's mother. On the other hand, none of my
fast searches
> turned up a relationship between The Chill. So, any
thoughts?
I always thought MacDonald was far too preoccupied with
mining his own childhood and his and his wife's troubles with
their own daughter to pull something like this: hence his
rehashing the same situation and same basic plotline for
nearly 30 years. Don't get me wrong, I don't consider them
unoriginal, per se. To me, their variations, rhapsodies on a
theme, if you will.
> Cissy Chandler was 18 years his senior, and they
married when he was
> late 30s, IIRC. Haven't read The Chill, but if it's
a obvious
> commentary, you could do a good paper on hard-boiled
authors taking
> shots at each other.
You could, but this one you're pitching sounds like a
stretch, to me.
> Chandler offs an obvious Hammett in The Long
Goodbye, after first
> enmasculating him.
I don't see that, either. Hemingway was my best guess as to
the inspiration for that literary trainwreck of a character
(no pun intended, it's a fascinating trainwreck).
> //Aside: Elliot Gould as Marlowe?
You bet. I thought he did a credible job, too. Mitchum was
too old when he finally got around to it, George Montgomery
too wooden, Robert Montgomery too gimmicky, Bogart too much
like an apologetic Sam Spade, but come to think of it, Garner
was just about right in "Marlowe."
Best-
Brian Thornton
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