From The Common, this section of “Just a Couple of Mugs,” a five-part prose poem from David Lehman’s new book The Mysterious Romance of Murder: Crime, Detection, and the Spirit of Noir (Cornell University Press).
Dana Andrews and Linda Darnell hate each other in a hotel room with sink in San Francisco. They have just had a fight or gone to bed; maybe both. “I’m waiting for something to happen,” he says. Then: “Nothing’s going to happen.” He takes off, goes to the Blue Gardenia, and catches the bartender’s eye. “What’ll it be?” “I’ll have a double scotch.” (Pause). “Make that a single scotch.” (Pause). “I’ll settle for a beer.” Those are the best lines he gets.
In the Blue Gardenia, Nat Cole sings and Jean Hagen recites a poem by Robert Burns. She can sing, too. “You’re hired.” “I get forty dollars a week plus bail money.”
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For the rest of the poem as posted today on The Common, click here.
On The Mysterious Romance of Murder:
“Do yourself a favor and follow Lehman’s lead on this idiosyncratic tour through the noir ethos in literature, poetry, music, and film. He’s an erudite, insightful, and amusing tour guide, whether you’re new to the terrain or a habitué.”
— Eddie Muller, host of Turner Classic Movies’ Noir Alley and author of Dark City
“Books or films? Until now, travelers to the land of noir have tended to confine themselves to one province or the other, whereas veteran explorer David Lehman has mastered the language of both territories. His field report slides back and forth between page and screen with joyful confidence, offering sharp insights throughout and giving us not only the full picture but the full story as well. I am especially grateful to him for his delightful remarks on the importance of cigarettes, music, and wisecracks in these classic films, which only seem to get better as the years go on.”
— Paul Auster
“This is a masterwork in which Lehman’s encyclopedic knowledge of film, literature, and cultural history is synthesized by way of lively exegesis, quotes, poems (his own), catalogs, mini-biographies, and eclectic, brilliantly illuminated byways, both classical and pulp. His vivid, chromatic style is what one expects from a poet and critic of Lehman’s stature. The Mysterious Romance of Murder must take a prominent place, stylistically and critically, alongside Luc Sante’s Low Life, Julian Symons’s Bloody Murder, and Cyril Connolly’s The Unquiet Grave. As with the very best mysteries?of the heart and the intellect?you can’t put it down.”
— Nicholas Christopher, author of Somewhere in the Night
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