A Wild Sheep Chase and The Long Goodbye - Murakami Alluding to Chandler (Anna MacDonald)

Reading The Long Goodbye and A Wild Sheep Chase side-by-side was very interesting, especially given that we had begun discussing the fact that Chandler was a big influence on Murakami’s writing, and that furthermore Murakami employs techniques of parodying this kind of hardboiled detective writing in some novels and short stories. In class, we discussed the section of The Long Goodbye where Marlowe goes on this long tangent about blondes. We compared it to an excerpt written by Murakami that embodies a similar comparison in his own words. While I feel it is clear to see how details in A Wild Sheep Chase mirror aspects of The Long Goodbye (in terms of plot, character tropes, and the hardboiled writing style of short sentences and detailed descriptions of everyday tasks), the discussion relating to how Murakami made his own blonde blurb challenged me to look closer at the text to find some more instances where Murakami takes a more direct stance towards alluding to The Long Goodbye. For example: 

TLG: “‘Alcohol is like love,’ he said. ‘The first kiss is magic, the second is intimate, the third is routine” (23). - Terry talking to Marlowe at a bar. 

AWSC: “The second whiskey is always my favorite. From the third on, it no longer has any taste. It’s just something to pour in your stomach” (118) - Boku, to himself.

I think it is interesting that liquor isn’t compared to love or sex (as in Chandler’s line), perhaps because Boku feels he has "no sex appeal” (163)? 

Another example I found: 

TLG: “‘This peaceful little valley will become a real estate development. There will be sidewalks and lamposts and children with scooters and blasting radios. There will even’ - he heaved a forlorn sigh - ‘be Television…I hope they will spare the trees…but I’m afraid they won’t” (125) - Dr. Verringer talking about the fate of the land he used to own 

“AWSC”: “‘…they bulldoze the hills to put up houses, haul the dirt to the sea for landfill, then go and build there too. And they think it’s proper’” (103) 

“Instead of ocean, a vast expanse of reclaimed land and housing developments met my eyes” (107) 

 

J and Boku talking at J’s Bar, about the real estate development in Boku’s old hometown. The Murakami spin on this line includes replacing Verringer’s sadness about the trees being destroyed to the oceanfront being wiped away. 

I think both examples above contain aspects that are defining features of hardboiled detective fiction (alcohol and critiquing what little is left of the natural world in an empty urban environment) - however, I think that Murakami does more than include these two lines as a way of parodying the writing style and the fact that we read these novels side-by-side shows that the similarity of these lines is more than coincidence.