Since their inception, detective novels have been a wildly successful genre of American fiction, featuring a uniquely American belief in rugged individualism. This book focuses on Raymond Chandler’s creation of Philip Marlowe, a detective whose feeling for community and willingness to compromise radically changed the genre’s vigilantism and violence. It compares Chandler’s work to early and mid–20th century American detective novels, particularly those by John Carroll Daly, Mickey Spillane, Dashiell Hammett and Ross Macdonald, as well as contemporary British detective fiction, highlighting Chandler’s contribution to the American genre.

John Paul Athanasourelis is an associate professor of English at Bronx Community College/CUNY and received his Ph.D. in American Literature from Purdue University. He is presently writing a detective novel.

John Paul Athanasourelis
Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 208
Bibliographic Info: notes, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2012
pISBN: 978-0-7864-4215-7
eISBN: 978-0-7864-8892-6
Imprint: McFarland

Acknowledgments vii
Preface 1
Introduction 3
One. Rugged Individualism in Carroll John Daly and Mickey Spillane 25
Two. Dashiell Hammett: Individualism in Transition 54
Three. Marlowe as Negotiator 70
Four. Marlowe and the Police 86
Five. Marlowe and the Criminals 114
Six. Ross Macdonald 138
Seven. Cinematic Considerations 161
Conclusion 178
Chapter Notes 193
Works Cited 195
Index 199

Finalist, Edgar Allan Poe Award—Mystery Writers of America
“The author argues persuasively that Marlowe, far from being a standard super-confident loner private eye, is connected to a larger society and is given to introspection and self-doubt in contrast to the rugged individualist vigilantes of Daly, Hammett and Spillane”—Mystery Scene.