Fictional characters are appreciated a lot, especially if they are a part of the crime or detective novels. Raymond Chandler created a well known fictional character named Philip Marlowe which was first introduced in the year 1939 in the novel The Big Sleep. Chandler had been writing several short stories, which were later converted to novels and were greatly cherished by the readers.
Similarly, the character Philip Marlowe was also born from such stories and only the name was changed. Under the category of hardboiled crime fiction, Philip Marlowe was the first character introduced to the people who portrayed a perfect blend of crime and violence in a unique manner.
Otherwise, Philip Marlowe was originated in the year 1920 in a short story named Black Mask, but with the cannibalizing process of short stories, it was changed to a novel. This essentially commenced the birth of Philip Marlowe in the year 1939.
Introduction
Philip Marlowe is a tough guy who prefers hard drinking, is slightly philosophical and loves to play chess. This fictional character was born in Santa Rosa, California and he was 38 years old when he describes everything in a letter written to D.J. Ibberson. He spent few years in the college learning different subjects and then served as an investigator in an insurance company.
Other than this insurance company, Marlowe also worked in Los Angeles County under district attorney, but was fired for disobedience and noncompliance. However, the chief investigator of district attorney was a colleague to Marlowe and becomes a good friend in later life that helps to provide him different source of information so as to assist him solve his cases. Philip Marlowe was not scared of violence and so he used this aspect to solve the mysteries.
Philip Marlowe – Personally
The six feet tall Marlowe, weighs almost 190 pounds, smokes camels and pipes and always tries to beat himself in the game of chess. He neither takes any divorce cases and nor does he has a secretary as like other fictional characters.
In most of the novels, Marlowe has been portrayed drinking brandy and whisky, as in like “The High Window” and “The Little Sister”. In the novel “The Little Sister”, Philip Marlowe actually takes a Kentucky Bourbon named as Old Forester, rather than going in for brandy or whisky.
The most interesting part is that Marlowe even uses drinks to slacken truths from people’s mouth and get some links for the cases. The novels “Farewell My Lovely” and “The High Window” have clearly depicted the use of drinks by Marlowe in order to extract reality from people.
The fictional detective character also loves to have cream coffee in the morning and black one at night. He always keeps a .32 ACP Colt Model 1903 Pocket Hammerless pistol along with him while investigating different cases.
The character has been greatly admired by the people in some of the extremely exciting novels like The Big Sleep, Farewell My Lovely, The Lady in the Lake, The Simple Art of Murder, The Long Good Boy and Poodle Springs to name a few. All these novels feature Philip Marlowe’s unexpected hardboiled way of solving the crime.
