Over the years there have been many iconic detectives. Some have been decidedly tweedy. Others have been distracted to the point of seeming oblivious or obsessive to the point of needing medication. One would even break out in song. But in the early 20th century, one of the more lasting images of the private detective was created: the fedora wearing, quick-witted and sharp tongued tough guy with a heart (though not too much mind you).The writer Raymond Chandler (who was born on today’s date in 1888) was one of the authors to help sear this archetype into the public’s mind. Both he and Dashiell Hammett were at the forefront of the “hardboiled” detective novels. They created beleaguered private eyes with a penchant to drink scotch and shoot their mouths off when in danger of being shot themselves. The dialogue is fast paced and pointed, like a hyper-masculine Gilmore Girls episode where people are getting roughed up and double crossing one another. Later on film noir would take up these themes, but to begin with, it was all written out in the old pulp magazines like Black Mask.
Speaking of movies though, when you think of Philip Marlowe, the private detective who is frequently at the center of Chandler’s books, you are probably envisioning this gentleman. Could be worse.
posted by -jw-
