Raymond Chandler on Philip Marlowe

The passage below is quoted from an article in the New York Times:

One month before his death, Raymond Chandler wrote to Maurice Guinness, an English detective novelist, who suggested that Philip Marlowe marry. Chandler disagreed. “I think he will always have a fairly shabby office, a lonely house, a number of affairs, but no permanent connection.” he replied. “I think he will always be awakened at some inconvenient hour by some inconvenient person to do some inconvenient job. I see him always in a lonely street, in lonely rooms, puzzled but never quite defeated.”

Who can resist such characterization? I like the constant theme of loneliness and solitude. So much of the detective fiction that I enjoy is filled with melancholy and I am very drawn to that emotional state. After all, to quote Roger Ebert, “Film Noir is not about action & victory, but incompetence & defeat.”

Yep, I can relate.