Raymond Chandler, born July 23, 1888, went on to create the paradigm of first-person series private eye fiction, Philip Marlowe. In his quest to elevate the detective story, Chandler sometimes took himself too seriously, but any writer of detective fiction to follow is grateful for his gumption.
2 comments:
I've never read Chandler. Last weekend I purchased "The Big Sleep" and put it in my books-to-be-read-on-vacation pile. I'm looking forward to reading it. That one and a couple of Spillane books should satisfy my PI fiction needs for the time being.
I've always been of two minds regarding Chandler. One the one hand, he was just fantastic at creating mood. On the other, I always thought his plotting was silly and inept. It's really a credit to his abilitites as a writer that notwithstanding his limitations, he was still as good as he was.
Having said that, gimme Mickey Spillane any day!
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