Me too, laddie. Having no feelings on anything can get rather boring after a while. After all, what does one do on a moonlit night?

HUD

Both Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler were great. But for me Chandler was a bit too sentimental I prefer the dry "objective" style of Hammett.

And yes Marlowe was too much of a a knight...Sam Spade and above all the Continental Op had more grip.

More of a grip on what exactly, Mario? The essence of these characters (Spade, the Continental Op and, yes, even Marlowe) was the quest for morality and truth in chaos. Arrogantly, as with all of us, they simply put their particular subjective lean on that reality.

In comparison to whom and what are deemed today's heroes, Spade is way on the romantic side. Sadly, we’ll never know more. We do know about Marlowe. He was in for the count, once hired. He wore that tarnished armor and a sense of loyalty shield, you know.

Had we gotten to know Spade better, I think he too would have ended up much the same.

Basic themes in both film noir and pulp fiction are those of a pervasive feeling of loss, be it innocence, true love, or our souls.

Welcome to the Industrial Revolution! WWI and II! And Women’s Lib!

To the gal doing a paper on Raymond Chandler - there was a museum in NY - the Frick museum that did a retrospect on him about 3 yrs ago - had his handwritten notes - etc - maybe they can clue you in as to where all his memorabilia are kept - hope that helps

OK - TO ANYONE TUNED IN OUT THERE IN NETHERWEB - IF PHILIP MARLOWE WERE TO BE CAST FROM TODAY'S HOLLYWOOD OR STAGE OR TV ACTORS - WHO WOULD PLAY HIM BEST - I THROW THAT QUESTION OUT TO YOU MYSTERY LIONS - HOPE I GET A MEATY ANSWER - MY OPINION? YOU FIRST

Harrison Ford would make a good Marlowe.

James Caan played him in TV Movie made from book "Poodle Springs." This was Chandler's last unfinished novel which Robert B. Parker (Spenser) finished. He was very good.

Stacy Keach (Mike Hammer) wouldn't be bad either.

Hi everybody, I'm new here! I live in France, and I'm working on "The High Window". If someone wants to help me, my e-mail adress is Americankiki@aol.com. I need your help for some questions about the book. THANK YOU SO VERY MUCH !! :) Da Frenchy

In Chandlers novels Marlow is a victim of his times. Remember these were written in the post WWI pre-WWII times in which America was an isolation self-centered mode and people were looking at life that way so their heros( or antiheros) were structered in that manner. Marlow wasn't alone in his approach to crime(Hammet). Chandler was asking people to look at their lives and how they are facing the problems of the world at the time he was writing.

P. Marlowe was both a Knight and an Existential Hero, which almost seems like an oxymoron in a way.

Romanticism as a literary form was dying out and Chandler, Hammett, Fitzgerald, Hemingway and others had started writing in an entirely different genre. Most heroes in American literature after the 1940s were what we now call anti-heroes.

However, Marlowe and Spade, unlike many of Fitzgerald's and Hemingway's heroes, didn't succumb to love and therefore survived. Since there is only one book about Sam Spade, we must surmise that he was, like Marlowe, a lone rider.

Hello, i'm studying Raymond Chandlers the big sleep. My exam is soon and i havent many notes. I was wondering if anyone has any analysis or anything or any more helpful comments on this book if you could send them me. Many thanks!