Reading Chandler

It has always seemed interesting, and perhaps significant, that P.G. Wodehouse and Raymond Chandler, two of the twentieth century's most talented word arrangers (to borrow a term of Mr. Gothe's) both had been classics scholars at Dulwich College.  Do you think it's too late to apply?  Even if one is still carrying grade ten algebra?

One could write about Wodehouse forever, and many have, but the Pointless Digressions Book Club wishes today to talk about Chandler, having just read--for perhaps the twelfth time--"The Lady in the Lake."

All of Chandler is worth reading and re-reading, from the early short stories ("The King in Yellow," "Pearls are a Nuisance") through the novels (especially "Farewell, My Lovely" and "The Long Goodbye"),  and his classic essay, "The Simple Art of Murder."  One could also watch and read (if available) the screenplays--"Double Indemnity," "Strangers on a Train," "The Blue Dahlia."

Of the novels, the P.D. Book Club has concluded, "The Lady in the Lake" may be the closest to perfection.  Chandler always wrote memorable prose, and "Lady" is full of it.  The plot is perhaps his cleverest, and the characters are wonderfully drawn.  (There is a rural California constable who would have made a great role for Burl Ives and would be now for Wilford Brimley.)

"The Lady in the Lake" was, indeed, made into a film, as were most of Chandler's novels.  This film was the most experimental of the lot.  Robert Montgomery, who played Philip Marlowe, Chandler's principal private eye, and was also the director, determined that all of the action should be seen through Marlowe's eyes, making the viewer a participant in the action.  The single time Marlowe's (Montgomery's) face appears is when Marlowe looks in a mirror.

Other actors who played Marlowe:  Dick Powell, Humphrey Bogart, George Montgomery, Robert Mitchum, Van Heflin (on radio), and Elliott Gould.  Fine as they all were--especially Bogart, in "The Big Sleep"--the P.D. Raymond Chandler Appreciation Society believes that Gould, in Robert Altman's film of "The Long Goodbye," was tops.  Gould has also recorded, for Audio Books, almost the entire Chandler oeuvre, and these tapes/CDs are worth seeking out. 

Final note:  "The Long Goodbye" introduced many of us to the gimlet.  If you're reading or re-reading Chandler tonight, consider mixing one (similar to a Martini, but in this case, icy gin with a health-giving hit of Rose's Lime Juice).  And the right background music:  something by Charlie Haden's L.A. Quartet.  Haden is a Chandler devotee, as shown in such works as "Bay City Blues" and "Hello, My Lovely."

And turning to sports news--we are raising a class of Advokaat and spearing pickled herring to toast Hendrik Sedin, winner of this season's Art Ross Trophy as highest NHL scorer of the season, a noble tradition that began decades ago with Moose Jaw's Elmer Lach.