The Big Sleep is Raymond Chandler's most famous and popular novel of all.
Raymond Chandler was born in Chicago in 1888 but moved to England
with his mother when he was twelve after his parents' divorce. He
was educated at Dulwich College, London and studied international
law in France and Germany. He published a number of poems and
essays in local papers and worked as a reporter, essayist and book
reviewer before emigrating to the United States in 1912. After
serving for the Canadian Army during the First World War he tried a
variety of jobs before becoming a bookkeeper and auditor for Dabney
Oil Syndicate. In 1924 he married Cissy Pascal. When Chandler lost
his job during the Great Depression, he decided to devote himself
to writing. He began writing short stories for Black Mask Magazine,
the best known of the 'hard-boiled' school of pulp fiction
magazines. In 1939 he published his first novel The Big Sleep to
instant acclaim in Britain and the US, introducing the world to his
iconic private eye, Philip Marlowe. Marlowe went on to star in
almost all of Raymond Chandler's major works and with Farewell My
Lovely (1940) and The Long Goodbye (1954) Chandler cemented his
reputation as a giant of American popular culture and master of a
style of detective fiction that would be widely admired and
imitated. Chandler turned to screenwriting in 1943 with Double
Indemnity and worked closely with director Billy Wilder. He
continued to write for Hollywood for the next four years, during
the heyday of the Hollywood studio system, receiving an Oscar
nomination for The Blue Dahlia (1946). In 1946 Chandler received an
Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America for screenplay and
in 1954 for novel writing. During the last year of his life he was
made President of the Mystery Writers of America. He died from
pneumonia in 1959.
Raymond Chandler was born in Chicago in 1888 but moved to England
with his mother when he was twelve after his parents' divorce. He
was educated at Dulwich College, London and studied international
law in France and Germany. He published a number of poems and
essays in local papers and worked as a reporter, essayist and book
reviewer before emigrating to the United States in 1912. After
serving for the Canadian Army during the First World War he tried a
variety of jobs before becoming a bookkeeper and auditor for Dabney
Oil Syndicate. In 1924 he married Cissy Pascal. When Chandler lost
his job during the Great Depression, he decided to devote himself
to writing. He began writing short stories for Black Mask Magazine,
the best known of the 'hard-boiled' school of pulp fiction
magazines. In 1939 he published his first novel The Big Sleep to
instant acclaim in Britain and the US, introducing the world to his
iconic private eye, Philip Marlowe. Marlowe went on to star in
almost all of Raymond Chandler's major works and with Farewell My
Lovely (1940) and The Long Goodbye (1954) Chandler cemented his
reputation as a giant of American popular culture and master of a
style of detective fiction that would be widely admired and
imitated. Chandler turned to screenwriting in 1943 with Double
Indemnity and worked closely with director Billy Wilder. He
continued to write for Hollywood for the next four years, during
the heyday of the Hollywood studio system, receiving an Oscar
nomination for The Blue Dahlia (1946). In 1946 Chandler received an
Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America for screenplay and
in 1954 for novel writing. During the last year of his life he was
made President of the Mystery Writers of America. He died from
pneumonia in 1959.
Chandler seems to have created the culminating American hero: wised
up, hopeful, thoughtful, adventurous, sentimental, cynical and
rebellious
*The New York Times Book Review*
Raymond Chandler invented a new way of talking about America, and
America has never looked the same to us since
*Paul Auster*
Raymond Chandler is a star of the first magnitude
*Erle Stanley Gardner*
[T]he prose rises to heights of unselfconscious eloquence, and we
realize with a jolt of excitement that we are in the presence of
not a mere action tale teller, but a stylist, a writer with a
vision
*New York Review of Books*
Raymond Chandler is a master
*New York Times*
Philip Marlowe remains the quintessential urban private eye
*Los Angeles Times*
Nobody can write like Chandler on his home turf, not even Faulkner.
. . A great artist
*The Boston Book Review*
Anything Chandler writes about grips the mind from the first
sentence
*Daily Telegraph*
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