Philip Marlowe, Knight in Blue Serge

MARY WERTHEIM

'hen Raymond Chandler's first novel. The Big Sleep,
was published by Alfred A. Knopf in 1939, private
detective Philip Marlowe made his entrance into a
world that was recovering from the Great Depression even as it tee¬
tered on the brink of war. The heroic ideals ofthe 1936 Olympic
Games were subverted in the miasma of triumphant Naziism.
Although prohibition had been repealed in 1932, the barracudas of
crime spawned during its heyday were not about to relinquish the
wealth and power they had acquired serving a thirsty and hypocriti¬
cal public. As corruption flourished, public icons failed. When
Edward VIII relinquished the English throne in favor of romance,
common people took a long look at their notions of duty as well.
It was a time of disillusionment, and the public wanted heroes.

For readers of detective fiction, Philip Marlowe helped fill the
void. Handsome, well educated, and fearless, Marlowe helps his
clients in their quest for personal justice. At the age of thirty-three
he has presumably sown his wildest oats while still retaining the
vigor of youth. Marlowe brings a certain elegance to his profession
which sets him apart from conventional private detectives. Not
every "shamus" makes casual allusions to Proust and sports black
socks with dark blue clocks on them. Marlowe's clients anticipate
that his performance will approach that of a medieval knight. They
are flawed individuals, and the discrepancy between their expecta¬
tions and Marlowe's final resolution of their problems becomes
part of the indigenous morality of the detective story.

Marlowe evolved as a very real person in the eyes of his creator;
Chandler gave him a background which was concrete and thor¬
oughly detailed. Marlowe was born in Santa Rosa, California and
university educated in Oregon. First employed as an insurance
investigator, he later worked in the office of the district attorney of
Los Angeles county. He never spoke of his parents and apparently