The Raymond Chandler Papers : Selected Letters and Non-Fiction, 1909-1959 - Hardcover

Hiney, Tom

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0241140366 ISBN 13: 9780241140369

Publisher: Atlantic Monthly, (2000)., 2000

Synopsis

. Hamish Hamilton, bright clean copy, no markings, with dustjacket, Professional booksellers since 1981

About this title

About the Author

Raymond Chandler was born in Chicago in 1888 and educated at Dulwich College in England. He was described by Evelyn Waugh as 'the best writer in America'. Tom Hiney was born in Birmingham in 1970. His book, RAYMOND CHANDLER: A BIOGRAPHY, was published in 1997.

From Booklist

Chandler, whom Time once dubbed the "poet laureate of the loner," was a recluse whose human dealings consisted primarily of long letters dictated, usually, while drunk. This is the third collection of Chandler letters (following Raymond Chandler Speaking in 1962 and The Selected Letters of Raymond Chandler in 1981) and represents never-before-published correspondence (including his first letter to the publisher of The Big Sleep, letters to friends, and letters to Erle Stanley Gardner) and unpublished early writings, which give us, among other treasures, an inquiry to an attorney about the habits of private eyes, a sketch of his meeting with Lucky Luciano, an eyewitness account of a 1940s Oscar ceremony, and numerous critiques of other mystery writers. Hiney, one of Chandler's biographers, and the late MacShane, who edited The Selected Letters, have organized their material into "Five Acts," centering on Chandler's struggles with and thoughts on the writing craft and the writing life, extending from 1909 to two weeks before his death, in 1959. Each section is preceded by helpful biographical notes. This collection includes one of Chandler's last letters, in which he wrote that he pictured Philip Marlowe "always in a lonely room, in lonely streets, puzzled but never quite defeated." The same picture emerges of Chandler in this masterfully edited collection. A must for serious readers of hard-boiled fiction. Connie Fletcher
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Edition details

• Publisher: Atlantic Monthly, (2000).
• Publication date: 2000
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0241140366
• ISBN 13: 9780241140369
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 1000