Raymond Chandler, Romantic Ideology, and the Cultural Politics of Chivalry

Raymond Chandler, Romantic Ideology, and the Cultural Politics of Chivalry responds to the general consensus that Philip Marlowe represents a chivalric knight out of romance. The book argues that this commonplace reading requires a stunningly rosy rewriting of Marlowe, knighthood, chivalry, and romance. The book offers a history of the cultural politics of chivalry from the Middle Ages through British Romanticism to the modern United States, exposing the elitism, violent masculinism, racism, and ethno-national othering harbored within. Rizzuto also considers the survival of the chivalric ideology after World War I, and argues that the narrative of the Great War destroying chivalry rewrites the ghastly history of warfare. Touching on Chandler throughout these cultural histories, the book then directly confronts the question of knighthood and romance in the Marlowe novels. Rizzuto identifies an explicit rejection of romance in the service of hardboiled gender, class, and genre norms, including a seldom-remarked pattern of violence against women and sexual assault. The volume concludes by offering some ideas about Chandler's motivations and the reception of the Marlowe novels. Anthony Dean Rizzuto teaches English at Sonoma State University, USA. He spearheaded The Annotated Big Sleep, a critical edition that places Raymond Chandler's first novel in its historical, cultural, and literary contexts. He has a PhD in English from the University of Virginia, and degrees in History and Literature from the University of California at Santa Cruz "Raymond Chandler, Romantic Ideology, and the Cultural Politics of Chivalry responds to the general consensus that Philip Marlowe represents a chivalric knight out of romance. The book argues that this commonplace reading requires a stunningly rosy rewriting of Marlowe, knighthood, chivalry, and romance. The book offers a history of the cultural politics of chivalry from the Middle Ages through British Romanticism to the modern United States, exposing the elitism, violent masculinism, racism, and ethno-national othering harbored within. Rizzuto also considers the survival of the chivalric ideology after World War I, and argues that the narrative of the Great War destroying chivalry rewrites the ghastly history of warfare. Touching on Chandler throughout these cultural histories, the book then directly confronts the question of knighthood and romance in the Marlowe novels. Rizzuto identifies an explicit rejection of romance in the service of hardboiled gender, class, and genre norms, including a seldom-remarked pattern of violence against women and sexual assault. The volume concludes by offering some ideas about Chandlers motivations and the reception of the Marlowe novels."--Provided by publisher Acknowledgments Contents About the Author Chapter 1: Introduction: The Elusive Game Sir Philip Marlowe References Chapter 2: A Sense of the Past: A Brisk Overview of Chivalry and Romance The Medieval Imaginary 1: Actually Existing Chivalry The Medieval Imaginary 2: Actually Existing Romance The Imaginary Middle Ages References Chapter 3: The Long Goodbye: World War I, Romantic Nostalgia, and Chivalry’s Endless Death Anything but Romantic The Dream Continues Isn’t It Pretty to Think So? References Chapter 4: Games with Knights: Philip Marlowe, Hardboiled Masculinity, and the Ungentle Negation of Romance The Big Morte The Ill-Made Knight 1: Sex and Violence The Ill-Made Knight 2: Class and Race Love and Dialectics References Chapter 5: Conclusion: The Mean Streets of the Dialectic References Index