Down these mean streets a man must go who is not himself mean, who is neither tarnished nor afraid
He must be a complete man and a common man and yet an unusual man
In everything that can be called art there is a quality of redemption. It may be pure tragedy, if it is high tragedy, and it may be pity and irony, and it may be the raucous laughter of the strong man. But down these mean streets a man must go who is not himself mean, who is neither tarnished nor afraid. The detective in this kind of story must be such a man. He is the hero, he is everything. He must be a complete man and a common man and yet an unusual man. He must be, to use a rather weathered phrase, a man of honor, by instinct, by inevitability, without thought of it, and certainly without saying it. He must be the best man in his world and a good enough man for any world. I do not care much about his private life; he is neither a eunuch nor a satyr; I think he might seduce a duchess and I am quite sure he would not spoil a virgin; if he is a man of honor in one thing, he is that in all things.
by Raymond Chandler
(July 23, 1888 – March 26, 1959)
from The Simple Art of Murder
image – Francis Bourgouin
March 10th, 2010 at 6:30 am
Aha, ‘without thought of it’, that is the key.
March 19th, 2010 at 6:47 am
[...] In today’s quote, Poe’s description suggests that a great detective needs to understand both fanciful ingeniousness and the truly imaginative. Chandler’s description of a detective’s ability to walk on both sides of the street is pithier, but also speaks to a duality: “Down these mean streets a man must go who is not himself mean, who is neither tarnished nor afraid.” [...]