Description
Based on Chandler's experience in combat, Trott explains that the writer created detective Philip Marlowe not as the idealization of heroic individualism, as is commonly perceived, but instead as an authentic individual subjected to very real psychological frailties from trauma during the First World War. Inspecting Chandler's work and correspondence indicates that the characterization of the fictional Marlowe goes beyond the traditional chivalric readings and can instead be interpreted as a genuine representation of a traumatized veteran in American society. Substituting the horror of the trenches for the corruption of the city, Chandler formed a disillusioned protagonist in an uncaring America. Chandler did so with the sophistication necessary to straddle genre fiction and canonical literature.
The sum of this work offers a new understanding of how Chandler uses his war trauma, how that experience established the traditional archetype of detective fiction, and how this reading of his fiction enables Chandler to transcend generic limitations and be recognized as a key twentieth-century literary figure.
About the Author
Sarah Trott, Brigend, South Wales, United Kingdom, is a lecturer in American studies at Swansea University. She has published in the edited collection Men After War and the journal Comparative American Studies.
Book Information
ISBN 9781496808646
Author Sarah Trott
Format Hardback
Page Count 272
Imprint University Press of Mississippi
Publisher University Press of Mississippi
Weight(grams) 493g