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The Big Sleep (1939) is a hardboiled crime novel by Raymond Chandler, the first in his acclaimed series about detective Philip Marlowe. The work has been adapted twice into film, once in 1946 and again in 1978.
The story is noted for its complexity, with many characters
double-crossing each other and many secrets being exposed throughout the
narrative. The title is a euphemism for death; it refers to a
rumination in the book about "sleeping the big sleep", and is not
descriptive of the plot.
In 2005, Time magazine included the novel in its 100 Best Novels published after 1923.[1]
[edit] Plot summary
Private investigator Philip Marlowe is called to the sprawling mansion of the elderly and paraplegic General Sternwood, who asks Marlowe to deal with a blackmailer
named Arthur Gwynn Geiger, apparently a purveyor of rare books. Geiger
is involved with the General's daughter Carmen, and makes her sign promissory notes.
Marlowe tells the general that he will persuade Geiger to stop. Before
Marlowe leaves, Vivian, the General's other daughter, queries Marlowe
about the nature of his visit. She is under the impression that he is
being hired to look for Terence "Rusty" Regan (her husband), who had
disappeared about a month before.
Marlowe visits Geiger's bookshop, where he discovers that the
assistant, Agnes, knows absolutely nothing about rare books. While he is
waiting to talk with Geiger, a customer visits the back room of the
store and leaves with a book. After following him and taking the book,
Marlowe deduces that Geiger loans pornography,
and then blackmails his customers. Marlowe goes back to the store to
see Geiger leaving, and follows him to his house, where he waits
outside. After some time, he hears gunshots and a woman's scream. He
breaks his way into the house and finds Geiger dead on the floor in
front of a camera. Carmen is posing naked and drugged with "ether and something else, possibly laudanum". He takes Carmen home, but doesn't call the police. When he returns to the scene, he discovers that the body has been removed.
The next morning he is telephoned by Bernie Ohls, a policeman, who
informs him that the Sternwoods' chauffeur, Owen Taylor, has been found
dead in the harbor. He apparently drove off the pier and drowned, but
the doctor suspects the cause of death could be a blow to the back of
the head. Marlowe visits the bookstore again, and finds that the books
are being relocated to the premises of Joe Brody, a former lover of
Carmen who had been paid by General Sternwood to leave her alone.
Marlowe then goes to his office, and finds Vivian waiting for him. She
informs him that an anonymous woman is trying to extort
her for the nude photos of Carmen. Visiting the crime scene a third
time, Marlowe finds Carmen (who has forgotten the events of the previous
evening) looking for the pictures. They are interrupted by Eddie Mars, a
gangster who runs a local casino. He claims to be Geiger's landlord, looking for the rent.
Marlowe visits Joe Brody, whom he believes has the compromising
photos of Carmen. Brody, along with Agnes, is trying to take over
Geiger's business, including the blackmail. Brody admits to seeing Owen
Taylor drive off the pier, but denies being the murderer. Marlowe
eventually persuades Brody to give the photos to him, but Carmen arrives
with a gun, extremely agitated. She shoots at Brody but misses him.
Marlowe confiscates the gun and tells her to go home to her sister.
Another caller knocks at the door and asks for Brody. Brody goes to the
door but is shot dead before he can open it. Marlowe runs after the
caller, captures him, and recognizes him as the other assistant from
Geiger's store. The young man identifies himself as Carol Lundgren, and
Marlowe deduces that he's Geiger's homosexual
lover who shot Brody in revenge, mistakenly believing him to have
murdered Geiger. Lundgren had moved Geiger's body into the garage and
later to another room and laid it out with black candles. Marlowe drives
to the district attorney's house and hands Lundgren over to Bernie
Ohls.
Marlowe visits the missing persons bureau and discovers that Regan
apparently ran away with Mona Mars, Eddie Mars's wife. Eddie Mars calls
Marlowe to his club, where Mars tries to bribe him to stop following the case. Marlowe sees Vivian winning a large amount of money in roulette.
He later realizes that the win is an act to make him believe that Mars
is not involved with Vivian. He also deduces that Mars knows something
that could be very damaging to the Sternwoods, and is blackmailing her.
Marlowe asks Mars about the car following him, and Mars denies knowing
about it. When Vivian leaves the casino with a large amount of money,
Marlowe breaks up an apparent mugging of Vivian and drives her to a
coffee shop and then to the beach, where she tries to seduce him. He
refuses her advances and takes her home. When he finally returns home
himself, Carmen is in his bed, nude. He throws her out in a rage.
Marlowe's tail turns out to be a man named Harry Jones who is now
working with Agnes. After Marlowe outwits him and confronts Jones about
following him, Jones offers to sell some information about Mona Mars to
him. Marlowe agrees, and is told that she is being held at a secret
location by Eddie Mars's hitman, Canino. He also learns that she never
ran off with Regan, and is in hiding so that people will not think Eddie
Mars killed Regan. Jones asks Marlowe to meet him at his office that
night with two hundred dollars with the promise that Agnes will reveal
the location of Mona Mars. Marlowe visits Sternwood and is paid $500 for
his work. When Marlowe arrives to meet Jones, he hears Canino talking
to Jones through a doorway. Marlowe sneaks in through another entrance
and hears Canino coerce Jones to tell him where Agnes is staying. Jones
lies to him and Canino suggests they have a drink to celebrate Jones's
common sense. Canino poisons the drink with cyanide
which kills Harry. As Marlowe examines Harry's body for a clue as to
Agnes's true location, the phone rings and Agnes agrees to meet with
him. She gives him Mona's location in exchange for the $200.
On the way to the location (a house behind an auto repair shop),
Marlowe runs over tacks and gets two flat tires. Marlowe describes this
as "fateful" as it gives him an excuse to get into the repair shop and
then make his way to the safe house. He recognizes Canino, who is in the
shop with the mechanic and who does not initially recognize Marlowe.
The mechanic knocks Marlowe unconscious. He comes to in the house where
Mona is staying. When he wakes, he sees her, and she frees him.
Canino comes back and a gunfight ensues. Canino is killed and Marlowe
goes to the police, who do not press charges. Marlowe visits General
Sternwood the next day, who is initially upset that Marlowe tried to
find Rusty Regan, which he had not been asked to do. On the way out,
Marlowe returns the gun to Carmen and she asks Marlowe to teach her how
to shoot. Carmen leads Marlowe to an abandoned oil field owned by the
Sternwoods. He sets up a can on a tire for target practice. As he walks
back to her, Carmen shoots at him in a rage, but the gun was filled with
blanks by Marlowe. Carmen then has an epileptic fit.
Marlowe returns Carmen to the house and visits Vivian and tells her his
theory that Carmen killed Regan. Marlowe figures that Regan had thrown
Carmen out of his bed, just like Marlowe, causing Carmen to hate him.
She asked him to teach her how to shoot, and she shot him dead. Vivian
admits that Carmen shot Regan and Vivian asked Eddie Mars to cover it
up, but then he blackmailed her. Marlowe promises not to go the police
as long as Carmen is institutionalized. The book ends with Marlowe
ruminating on his adventures and the grim, sordid human comedy he has
been thrust into.
[edit] Trivia
- The murder of Owen Taylor, found in a Packard that has been pushed
into the bay, is left unexplained. Chandler was shocked to find later
that he did not know who the killer was.[2]
[edit] Adaptations
[edit] See also
- ^ "All Time 100 Novels". Time. 2005-10-16. http://www.time.com/time/2005/100books/0,24459,the_big_sleep,00.html. Retrieved 2010-05-25.
- ^ Hiney, T. and MacShane, F. Letter to Jamie Hamilton, 21 March 1949, The Raymond Chandler Papers, p. 105, Atlantic Monthly Press, 2000
- ^ IndieWire, "An Interview with The Coen Brothers, Joel and Ethan about The Big Lebowski," 1998
- ^ IndieWire, "The Coens Speak (Reluctantly)", March 9, 1998 (retrieved January 7, 2010)
[edit] Further reading
- Phillips, Gene D. (2000). Creatures of Darkness: Raymond Chandler, Detective Fiction, and Film Noir. Lexington, KY: University of Kentucky. ISBN 0-8131-9042-8.
[edit] External links
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