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For other persons named Raymond Chandler, see Raymond Chandler (disambiguation).
Raymond Chandler

Born July 23, 1888(1888-07-23)
Chicago, Illinois, United States
Died March 26, 1959 (aged 70)
San Diego, California, United States
Occupation Novelist
Nationality American
Writing period 1933-1959
Genres Crime

Raymond Thornton Chandler (July 23, 1888 – March 26, 1959) was an American author of crime stories and novels of immense stylistic influence upon modern crime fiction, especially in the style of the writing and the attitudes now characteristic of the genre. Events 1632 - Three hundred colonists bound for New France depart from Dieppe France. Year 1888 ( MDCCCLXXXVIII) was a Leap year starting on Sunday (click on link for calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Chicago (ʃɪˈkɑːgoʊ is the largest City by population in the state of Illinois and the American Midwest of the United States. The State of Illinois ( roughly ill-i-NOY is a state of the United States of America, the 21st to be admitted to the Union. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the Events 1026 - Pope John XIX crowns Conrad II as Holy Roman Emperor. The year 1959 ( MCMLIX) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the Employment is a Contract between two parties, one being the employer and the other being the employee. A novel (from Italian novella, Spanish novela, French nouvelle for "new" "news" or "short story Nationality is a relationship between a Person and their State of Origin, Culture, association Affiliation and/or Loyalty The United States of America —commonly referred to as the A literary genre is a category of literary composition Genres may be determined by Literary technique, tone, Content, or even (as in the case of fiction Crime fiction is the Genre of Fiction that deals with Crimes their detection criminals and their motives It is usually distinguished from Events 1632 - Three hundred colonists bound for New France depart from Dieppe France. Year 1888 ( MDCCCLXXXVIII) was a Leap year starting on Sunday (click on link for calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Events 1026 - Pope John XIX crowns Conrad II as Holy Roman Emperor. The year 1959 ( MCMLIX) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the An author is defined both as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created Crime fiction is the Genre of Fiction that deals with Crimes their detection criminals and their motives It is usually distinguished from Crime fiction is the Genre of Fiction that deals with Crimes their detection criminals and their motives It is usually distinguished from His protagonist, Philip Marlowe, is synonymous with "private detective," along with Dashiell Hammett's Sam Spade. The Protagonist or main character is the central figure of a story. Philip Marlowe is a fictional character created by Raymond Chandler in a series of novels including The Big Sleep and The Long Goodbye This article deals with the general meaning of the term "synonym" Samuel Dashiell Hammett ( May 27, 1894 — January 10, 1961) was an American Author of Hardboiled detective Sam Spade is a Fictional character who is the Protagonist of Dashiell Hammett 's novel The Maltese Falcon

Contents

Early life

He was born in Chicago, Illinois, in 1888, but moved to Britain in 1895 with his Irish-born mother after they were abandoned by his father, an alcoholic civil engineer for an American railway company. Chicago (ʃɪˈkɑːgoʊ is the largest City by population in the state of Illinois and the American Midwest of the United States. The State of Illinois ( roughly ill-i-NOY is a state of the United States of America, the 21st to be admitted to the Union. See also Kingdom of Great Britain Great Britain (Breatainn Mhòr Prydain Fawr Breten Veur Graet Breetain is the larger of the two main islands The Irish people ( Irish: Muintir na hÉireann, na hÉireannaigh, na Gaeil) are a Western European Ethnic group who originate His uncle, a successful lawyer, supported them. [1] In 1900, Chandler attended Dulwich College, London,[1] where he was classically educated. Dulwich College is an independent selective fee-paying public school for boys in Dulwich, a suburb of south-east London United Kingdom He did not attend university, instead spending time in France and Germany. This article is about the country For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic France topics. Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany ( ˈbʊndəsʁepuˌbliːk ˈdɔʏtʃlant is a Country in Central Europe. In 1907, he was naturalised as a British subject in order to take the Civil Service examination, which he passed with the third-highest score. See also Bureaucrat The term civil service has two distinct meanings Branch of governmental service in which individuals are hired on the basis He then took an Admiralty job lasting slightly more than a year. The Admiralty was formerly the authority in the United Kingdom responsible for the command of the Royal Navy. His first poem was published during that time.

Chandler disliked the servile mindset of the civil service and quit, to the consternation of his family. He then was an unsuccessful journalist, published reviews, and continued writing Romantic poetry. Romanticism is a complex artistic literary and intellectual movement that originated in the second half of the 18th century in Western Europe, and gained strength during the Accounting for that checkered time he said that "It was the age of the clever young man, but I was distinctly not a clever young man. "[2]

In 1912, he borrowed money from his uncle (who expected it repaid with interest), and returned to the U. S. , eventually settling in Los Angeles. Los Angeles (lɑˈsændʒələs los ˈaŋxeles in Spanish) is the largest City in the state of California and the American West He strung tennis rackets, picked fruit and endured a lonely time of scrimping and saving. Finally, he took a correspondence bookkeeping course, finished ahead of schedule, and found a steady job. In 1917, when the U. S. entered World War I, he enlisted in the Canadian Army, served in France, and was in flight training in England at war’s end. World War I (abbreviated WWI; also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All Land Force Command ( LFC) is responsible for army operations within the Canadian Forces. This article is about the country For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic France topics. [1]

After the armistice, he returned to Los Angeles and his mother, and soon began a love affair with Cissy Pascal, a married woman eighteen years his senior. The armistice treaty between the Allies and Germany was signed in a railway carriage in Compiègne Forest on November 11, 1918 [1] Chandler's mother, who had opposed the union, died on 26 September 1923, and not long after, in 1924, Chandler and Pascal married. [3][1] By 1932, in the course of his bookkeeping career, he became a vice-president of the Dabney Oil syndicate, but a year later, his alcoholism, absenteeism, and a threatened suicide[1] provoked his firing.

Pulp writer

To earn a living with his creative talent, he taught himself to write pulp fiction; his first story, “Blackmailers Don't Shoot”, was published in Black Mask magazine in 1933; his first novel, The Big Sleep, was published in 1939. Pulp magazines (or pulp fiction; often referred to as "the pulps" were inexpensive Fiction magazines Black Mask was a Pulp magazine launched in 1920 by journalist H The Big Sleep is a 1939 novel by Raymond Chandler, with two film versions one filmed in 1945, and another filmed in 1978. The year 1939 in literature involved some significant events and new books Literary success led to work as a Hollywood screenwriter: he and Billy Wilder co-wrote Double Indemnity (1944), based upon on James M. Cain's novel of the same name. Billy Wilder ( June 22, 1906 – March 27, 2002) was an Austrian born Jewish - American Journalist Double Indemnity ( 1944) is an Academy Award nominated Film noir starring Fred MacMurray, Barbara Stanwyck, and Edward The year 1944 in film involved some significant events Events July 20 - Since You Went Away is released James Mallahan Cain ( July 1, 1892 &ndash October 27, 1977) was an American Journalist Double Indemnity is a highly influential 1943 crime novel, written by American Journalist -turned- Novelist James M His only original screenplay was The Blue Dahlia (1946). The Blue Dahlia ( is an American Film noir directed by George Marshall and written by Raymond Chandler. The year 1946 in film involved some significant events Events Top grossing films (U Chandler collaborated on the screenplay of Alfred Hitchcock's Strangers on a Train (1951) - a story he thought implausible - based on Patricia Highsmith's novel. Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock, KBE (13 Strangers on a Train is a Film released in 1951 by Warner Bros The year 1951 in film involved some significant events Events Sweden - May Britt is scouted by Italian Patricia Highsmith ( January 19, 1921 - February 4, 1995) was an American Novelist known for her Psychological thrillers Strangers on a Train ( 1950) is a Psychological thriller Novel by Patricia Highsmith. By then, the Chandlers had moved to La Jolla, California, a rich coastal town near San Diego. La Jolla (ləˈhɔɪə "luh-HOY-uh") is a wealthy Seaside resort community of up to 42808 residents within the city of San Diego, California

Later life and death

In 1954, Cissy Chandler died after a long illness, during which time Raymond Chandler wrote The Long Goodbye. The Long Goodbye (ISBN 0-394-75768-8 is a 1953 novel by Raymond Chandler, centered on his famous detective Philip Marlowe. Lonely and depressed, he returned to drink, never quitting it for long, and the quality and quantity of his writing suffered. [1] In 1955, he attempted suicide; literary scholars documented that suicide attempt. In The Long Embrace: Raymond Chandler and the Woman He Loved, Judith Freeman says it was “a cry for help”, given he called the police beforehand, saying he planned to kill himself. Raymond Chandler’s personal and professional life was both helped and complicated by the women to whom he was attracted — notably Helga Greene (his literary agent); Jean Fracasse (his secretary); Sonia Orwell (George Orwell's widow); and Natasha Spender (Stephen Spender's wife), the latter two of whom assumed Chandler to be a repressed homosexual. Eric Arthur Blair (25 June 1903 – 21 January 1950 who used the Pseudonym George Orwell, was an English writer Natasha Lady Spender (born London, 1921 is an English Author and former Pianist. Sir Stephen Harold Spender CBE, ( 28 February 1909 – 16 July 1995) was an English Poet, Novelist [4] Note that Judith Freeman's book perpetuates errors dating back to the MacShane biography relating to the death of Florence Chandler and a number of residences. [3]

After time in England he returned to La Jolla, where he died of pneumonial peripheral vascular shock and pre-renal uremia in the Scripps Memorial Hospital per the death certificate. Helga Greene inherited the Chandler estate after a lawsuit with Jean Fracasse. Raymond Chandler is buried at Mount Hope Cemetery, San Diego, California, as per Frank MacShane, The Raymond Chandler Papers, Chandler directed he be buried next to Cissy, but wound up in the cemetery's Potter’s field, because of the lawsuit over his estate. Mount Hope Cemetery is a municipal Cemetery located at 3751 Market Street San Diego California, and gives its name to the neighborhood of Mount Hope. A potter's field is a place for the burial of unknown or indigent people

Critical reception

Critics and writers, ranging from W. H. Auden to Evelyn Waugh to Ian Fleming greatly admired the finely wrought prose of Raymond Chandler. Wystan Hugh Auden (21 February 1907 – 29 September 1973 ˈwɪstən ˈhjuː ˈɔːdən who signed his works W Arthur Evelyn St John Waugh (ˈiːvlɪn ˈwɔː (28 October 1903 &ndash 10 April 1966 was an English Writer, best known for such darkly humorous and Ian Lancaster Fleming ( May 28, 1908 – August 12, 1964) was a British author, Journalist and Second World War [1] Although his swift-moving, hardboiled style was inspired mostly by Dashiell Hammett, his sharp and lyrical similes are original: The muzzle of the Luger looked like the mouth of the Second Street tunnel; The minutes went by on tiptoe, with their fingers to their lips, defining private eye fiction genre, and leading to the coining of the adjective Chandleresque, which is subject and object of parody and pastiche. Hardboiled Crime fiction is a literary style pioneered by Carroll John Daly in the mid-1920s popularized by Dashiell Hammett over the course of the Samuel Dashiell Hammett ( May 27, 1894 — January 10, 1961) was an American Author of Hardboiled detective SIMILE is a research project focused on developing tools to increase the interoperability of disparate digital collections A private investigator or private detective (often shortened to PI or private eye) is a person who can be hired by individuals or groups to undertake A parody (ˈpɛɹədiː US, [ˈpaɹədiː] UK) in contemporary usage is a work created to mock comment on or poke fun at an original work its subject The word pastiche describes a literary or other artistic Genre. Yet, Philip Marlowe is not a stereotypical “tough guy”, but a complex, sometimes sentimental man of few friends, who attended university, speaks some Spanish and, at times, admires Mexicans, is a student of classical chess games and classical music. He will refuse a prospective client’s money if he is ethically unsatisfied by the job.

The high critical regard in which Chandler is usually held today makes poignant the critical pans that stung Chandler in his lifetime. In a March 1942 letter to Mrs. Blanche Knopf, published in Selected Letters of Raymond Chandler, Chandler complained: "The thing that rather gets me down is that when I write something that is tough and fast and full of mayhem and murder, I get panned for being tough and fast and full of mayhem and murder, and then when I try to tone down a bit and develop the mental and emotional side of a situation, I get panned for leaving out what I was panned for putting in the first time. "

Chandler’s short stories and novels are evocatively written, conveying the time, place, and ambience of Los Angeles and environs in the 1930s and 1940s. Los Angeles (lɑˈsændʒələs los ˈaŋxeles in Spanish) is the largest City in the state of California and the American West [1] The places are real, if pseudonymous: Bay City is Santa Monica, Gray Lake is Silver Lake, and Idle Valley a synthesis of rich San Fernando Valley communities. Silver Lake is a district east of Hollywood in the city of Los Angeles California. The San Fernando Valley or The Valley is an urbanized Valley located in the north-western section of the city of Los Angeles California, United States

Raymond Chandler also was a perceptive critic of pulp fiction; his essay “The Simple Art of Murder” is the standard reference work in the field. "The Simple Art of Murder" refers to both a critical Essay and a collection of short stories written by Hard-boiled Detective fiction

All of his novels have been cinematically adapted, notably The Big Sleep (1946), by Howard Hawks, with Humphrey Bogart as Philip Marlowe; novelist William Faulkner was a co-screenplay writer. The Big Sleep ( 1946) directed by Howard Hawks, is the first film version of Raymond Chandler 's novel of the same name (1939 Howard Winchester Hawks ( May 30, 1896 &ndash December 26, 1977) was an American Film director, producer and William Faulkner (born William Cuthbert Falkner) ( September 25, 1897 – July 6, 1962) was an American Author Raymond Chandler's few screen writing efforts and the cinematic adaptation of his novels proved stylistically and thematically influential upon the American film noir genre. Film noir is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize moral ambiguity and sexual motivation

Novels

These are the criminal cases of Philip Marlowe a Los Angeles private investigator. Philip Marlowe is a fictional character created by Raymond Chandler in a series of novels including The Big Sleep and The Long Goodbye Los Angeles (lɑˈsændʒələs los ˈaŋxeles in Spanish) is the largest City in the state of California and the American West A private investigator or private detective (often shortened to PI or private eye) is a person who can be hired by individuals or groups to undertake Their plots follow a pattern in which the men and women hiring him reveal themselves as corrupt, corrupting, and criminally complicit as those against whom he must protect his erstwhile employers.

Short stories

Typically, the short stories chronicle the cases of Philip Marlowe and other down-on-their-luck private detectives (e. g. John Dalmas, Steve Grayce) or good samaritans (e. g. Mr Carmady). The exceptions are the macabre The Bronze Door and English Summer, a Gothic romance set in the English countryside. Gothic fiction (sometimes referred to as Gothic horror) is a genre of literature that combines elements of both horror and romance. England is a Country which is part of the United Kingdom. Its inhabitants account for more than 83% of the total UK population whilst its mainland

Interestingly, in the 1950s radio series The Adventures of Philip Marlowe, that included adaptations of the short stories, the Philip Marlowe name was replaced with the names of other detectives, e. g. Steve Grayce, in The King in Yellow. In fact, such changes restored the stories to their originally published versions. It was later, when they were republished, as Philip Marlowe stories that the Philip Marlowe name was used, with the exception being The Pencil.

Detective short stories

Most of the short stories published before 1940 appeared in pulp magazines like Black Mask, and so had a limited readership. Chandler was able to recycle the plot lines and characters from those stories when he turned to writing novels intended for a wider audience.

Non-detective short stories

I'll Be Waiting, The Bronze Door and Professor Bingo's Snuff all feature unnatural deaths and investigators (a hotel detective, Scotland Yard and California local police, respectively), but the emphasis is not on the investigation of the deaths. Unnatural death is a category used by Coroners and Vital statistics specialists for classifying all human deaths not properly describable as Death by natural causes A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging usually on a short-term basis New Scotland Yard or Scotland Yard, informally known as The Yard and NSY, is the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police Service, responsible California ( is a US state on the West Coast of the United States, along the Pacific Ocean.

Atlantic Monthly magazine articles:

Published as

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Iyer, Pico. "The Knight of Sunset Boulevard", The New York Review of Books, December 6, 2007, pp. Events 1060 - Béla I of Hungary is crowned king of Hungary 1240 - Mongol invasion of Rus: Kiev Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century.  31–33.  
  2. ^ Raymond Chandler: Raymond Chandler Speaking (Dorothy Gardiner and Kathrine Sorley Wakker, ed. ) p. 24 (Houghton Mifflin Company (1962) ISBN 978-0520208353. Houghton Mifflin Company is a leading educational Publisher in the United States.
  3. ^ a b Raymond Chandler's Shamus Town Timeline and Residences pages using official government sources (death certificate, census, military & civil - city & phone directories)
  4. ^ The Man Who Gave Us Marlowe - November 7, 2007 - The New York Sun
  5. ^ a b c Philip Durham, Introduction, Killer in the Rain, Ballantine Books 1964
  6. ^ Not to be confused with the 1895 short story collection The King in Yellow by Robert W. Chambers

Further reading

External links

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