Google Groups no longer supports new Usenet posts or subscriptions. Historical content remains viewable.
Dismiss
Raymond Chandler, and PGW
22 views
Skip to first unread message
DonH
Jul 18, 2012, 6:52:04 PM7/18/12
to
Oddly, I came across American crime writer, Chandler's book, "The Big
Sleep", and decided to buy it. Then went hunting for movie of same name,
starring Bogart and Bacall.
Actually, I've now rehd "Farewell, my Lovely", instead (Big Sleep,
later), and found it both fascinating and amusing - which brings us to PGW.
If you want an American equivalent of Wodehouse, then Raymond Chandler
might be apt.
Not that crime is so funny, but both authors use metaphor and simile as
basis for humour.
And both typify their respective cultures - at least of the 1930s or
thereabouts.
Chandler has a direct, no-nonsense, style, of the hard-boiled private eye
type, and tends to metaphor moreso than simile (why mess about?).
Can you read Chandler for laughs? Yes, mostly.
Incidentally, both attended Dulwich College at age 12, but not at the
same time.
Sleep", and decided to buy it. Then went hunting for movie of same name,
starring Bogart and Bacall.
Actually, I've now rehd "Farewell, my Lovely", instead (Big Sleep,
later), and found it both fascinating and amusing - which brings us to PGW.
If you want an American equivalent of Wodehouse, then Raymond Chandler
might be apt.
Not that crime is so funny, but both authors use metaphor and simile as
basis for humour.
And both typify their respective cultures - at least of the 1930s or
thereabouts.
Chandler has a direct, no-nonsense, style, of the hard-boiled private eye
type, and tends to metaphor moreso than simile (why mess about?).
Can you read Chandler for laughs? Yes, mostly.
Incidentally, both attended Dulwich College at age 12, but not at the
same time.
DonH
Jul 23, 2012, 5:56:14 PM7/23/12
to
"DonH" <donlhu...@bigpond.com> wrote in message
news:l6HNr.687$qv3...@viwinnwfe01.internal.bigpond.com...
# Some examples of Chandler's style (from "Farewell, My Lovely"):
* "Montemar Vista was a few dozen houses of various sizes and shapes
hanging by their teeth and eyebrows to a spur of mountain and looking as if
a good sneeze would drop them down among the box lunches on the beach."
* "I didn't say anything. I lit my pipe again. It makes you look thoughtful
when you are not thinking."
* "Pretty, but not so pretty that you would have to wear brass knuckles
every time you took it out."
* "You have a somewhat peculiar sense of humour," he said.
"Not peculiar," I said. "Just uninhibited."
* "It was a nice room, if you didn't get rough."
* "Anne Riordan took her lower lip between her teeth and held it there a
moment as if making up her mind whether to bite it off and spit it out or
leave it on a while longer."
* "You lied to me."
"It was a pleasure."
news:l6HNr.687$qv3...@viwinnwfe01.internal.bigpond.com...
* "Montemar Vista was a few dozen houses of various sizes and shapes
hanging by their teeth and eyebrows to a spur of mountain and looking as if
a good sneeze would drop them down among the box lunches on the beach."
* "I didn't say anything. I lit my pipe again. It makes you look thoughtful
when you are not thinking."
* "Pretty, but not so pretty that you would have to wear brass knuckles
every time you took it out."
* "You have a somewhat peculiar sense of humour," he said.
"Not peculiar," I said. "Just uninhibited."
* "It was a nice room, if you didn't get rough."
* "Anne Riordan took her lower lip between her teeth and held it there a
moment as if making up her mind whether to bite it off and spit it out or
leave it on a while longer."
* "You lied to me."
"It was a pleasure."
DonH
Sep 17, 2012, 5:48:15 PM9/17/12
to
"DonH" <donlhu...@bigpond.com> wrote in message
news:l6HNr.687$qv3...@viwinnwfe01.internal.bigpond.com...
news:l6HNr.687$qv3...@viwinnwfe01.internal.bigpond.com...
Chandler in "The Simple Art of Murder", and PG in "A Note on Humour"
("Plum Pie")
In neither case did they really give away any trade secrets.
After all, if you earn a living by it, why share?
Still, both essays are worth reading.
Marilyn Suzanne
Sep 30, 2012, 1:33:55 PM9/30/12
to
Marilyn
Marilyn Suzanne
Sep 30, 2012, 1:38:40 PM9/30/12
to
Incidently, since this is about similar forms of Wodehouse literature,If you havent read 'Three Men in a Boat' by Jerome.K. Jerome, do check it out.
Marilyn
Marilyn
DonH
Sep 30, 2012, 4:27:25 PM9/30/12
to
"Marilyn Suzanne" <marilyn...@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:0eb62247-d50b-42e5...@googlegroups.com...
# Perhaps I went too far, but certainly Chandler does have a unique style,
and he's not over-awed by the English language (or Anglo-American, if you
like).
Came across this, recently - "Abyssinia" ("Ah'll be seein' ya") - in
"Pearls are a Nuisance", a short story in his anthology "The Simple Art of
Murder".
It is in his full length novels that wise-cracking is most evident,
having more time and space to indulge, whereas there is more hard-boiled
action in the shorts.
It is noted that, whereas in Sherlock Holmes tales, carrying a handgun is
rare, in the Chandler tales it is common, and women are not passive victims,
but can be killers - having a nice little gun in the handbag. Second
Amendment, in action.
news:0eb62247-d50b-42e5...@googlegroups.com...
and he's not over-awed by the English language (or Anglo-American, if you
like).
Came across this, recently - "Abyssinia" ("Ah'll be seein' ya") - in
"Pearls are a Nuisance", a short story in his anthology "The Simple Art of
Murder".
It is in his full length novels that wise-cracking is most evident,
having more time and space to indulge, whereas there is more hard-boiled
action in the shorts.
It is noted that, whereas in Sherlock Holmes tales, carrying a handgun is
rare, in the Chandler tales it is common, and women are not passive victims,
but can be killers - having a nice little gun in the handbag. Second
Amendment, in action.
0 new messages