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What is Raymond Chandler's profession?

Raymond Chandler

Raymond Thornton Chandler (July 23, 1888 - March 26, 1959), writer of mystery novels. He has had a profound influence on modern mystery novels, especially his writing style and views, which have been adopted by quite a few colleagues in the past 60 years. Chandler's protagonist, Philip Marlowe, became synonymous with the traditional hard-boiled private eye, alongside Dash Hammett's Sam Speidel.

Chandler is one of the greatest names in the history of American fiction. He is the only detective novelist in the world who has entered the palace of classic literature with his detective novels and written into the history of classic literature. Chandler is highly praised by writers such as T.S. Eliot, Haruki Murakami, Camus, Qian Zhongshu, Eugene O'Neill, and Auden. He is called the "Poet Laureate of Crime Novels" in the Western literary world and is known as the "tough guy school". Style enhances the literary quality of detective stories. Haruki Murakami once said that his lifelong goal is to write a novel that combines Dostoevsky and Chandler.

Chinese name: Raymond Chandler

Foreign name: Raymond Thornton Chandler

Alias: Raymond Chandler

Nationality: United States

Birthplace: Chicago, United States

Date of Birth: July 23, 1888

Date of Death: March 26, 1959

Occupation: Writer

Representative works: "The Long Goodbye" and "The Big Sleep"

Character Experience

The model of detective novels is in the United States What was established was also overturned in the United States. This is the "American Revolution" in the history of reasoning. This revolution led to the division between detective fiction and crime fiction. Although it can be traced back to Carroll John Daly (1889-1958)'s "Three Gun Terry" in 1923, the roots of the rise of the American Revolution were the poverty, misfortune and misfortune of the Great Depression of the 1930s. Violence is increasing day by day in American society. This period produced a group of writers with completely different ideological trends from the golden age. Most of them started out in cheap magazines, and the detectives they wrote were not all-powerful. They believed in the power of weapons and were called tough guys, so they were called the "Hard-Boiled School". The most famous masters are Dashiell Hammett (1894-1961) and Raymond Chandler (1888-1959).

Raymond Chandler was born on July 23, 1888 in Chicago, USA. When he was seven years old, his parents divorced and he came to England with his mother. Raymond aspired to be a writer, but his mother and grandmother insisted that he become a civil servant. After serving briefly in the Navy Department, Chandler left to try his luck as a freelance writer. Unexpectedly, this choice failed, and he returned to the United States to settle in 1912. He worked in a variety of jobs and joined the Canadian Army and the Royal Air Force during the First World War. In 1922, he entered the Debney Oil Company as a bookkeeper and was soon promoted to vice president, which can be said to be a successful career. In 1924, Chandler married Sissy Pasika, who was eighteen years older than him. After a few years of happy life, Chandler began to decline. In 1932 he was fired for drunkenness and absenteeism.

After losing his job and having to rely on savings to survive, he thought of writing again. Chandler read some cheap magazines and began to imitate his favorite writers. Among them, Hammett was the one who had the greatest influence on him. After many revisions, his first detective story "Blackmailers Don't Shoot" (Blackmailers Don't Shoot) was submitted to the famous cheap magazine "BlackMask" and published in the December 1933 issue. Thereafter, he began writing short detective stories. Most of his short works were produced between 1933 and 1939. In 1938, a publisher asked Chandler to write a novel, which resulted in "The Big Sleep" (The Big Sleep), published in 1939.

After the publication of "The Big Sleep", some reviewers thought the book was too violent or depraved, but more opinions pointed out that a new star of the tough guy genre had been born. After the paperback version was published, the sales were even more astonishing. Four to five million copies were sold at once, which made Chandler famous. In 1943, Paramount invited Chandler to Hollywood. In Hollywood, Chandler achieved great success. He wrote or co-wrote many influential films, including "Double Claim" (1943) and "The Blue Dahlia" (1946), which were nominated for Academy Awards. His subsequent novel, The Long Goodbye (1953), was also widely praised by critics and won the Edgar Award for Best Detective Novel. After his wife's death in 1954, Chandler also attempted suicide and became addicted to alcohol. At the same time, the quality of his works dropped significantly, and his only full-length work, Playback (1958), was far from its former glory. In March 1959, Chandler was elected president of the Mystery Writers of America. Unfortunately, he passed away in California on March 26. Philip Marlowe (Philip Marlowe) was not the earliest detective created by Chandler, but he was his most successful character. In Chandler's Marlowe, what stands out is the character, and the case is for the development of the character. This kind of tough guy has led the direction of most detective novels to this day. In 1995, members of the American Mystery Writers Association voted for the best male detective in history, and Marlowe surpassed Sherlock Holmes to take first place. Marlowe appears in all seven novels and some short stories, but Chandler didn't describe much about his appearance. He only said that he was six feet tall and had gray eyes. His feeling for Marlowe was more through his actions. and dialogue expressed. In his debut novel "The Big Sleep," Marlowe said that he was thirty-three years old, unmarried, and a former detective with the Los Angeles District Attorney's Office. By the time of "The Long Goodbye," he was forty-two years old. If we want to say that Marlowe's prototype is probably Chandler's own ideal incarnation. He looks somewhat similar to Chandler and has the same withdrawn personality, and his name comes from the name of a schoolhouse at Dullridge School where Chandler attended.

"If I am not tough, I cannot live. If I am not gentle, I do not deserve to live." Marlowe said in "Replay". Marlowe works for money but does not sell his soul for money. He said: "In order to make a living, I sell what I have to sell. What I can sell is a little courage and wisdom given to me by God, and a little bit of willpower to protect my customers and would rather suffer a loss." He accepted the commission. They will get to the bottom of it, even if the final truth even surprises the client. The college-educated Marlowe liked to sneer and act with a bit of cynicism. Facing the evil and dirty world, he refused to give up his desire for justice and was willing to wait hard in the tension between justice and sin. Therefore, what we often see is his cynical attitude and what we hear are his harsh words. Chandler secretly commented to his detective: "If there were enough people like him, the world would be a safe place and not too boring to be worth living in." Marlowe is "the knight of the dirty streets." ", and Chandler is the "poet laureate of crime novels." As for Marlowe's personal life, Chandler had arranged it for him. In "The Long Goodbye" he met Linda Rolling, a millionaire, and they renewed their relationship in "Replay". They were married at the beginning of the unfinished posthumous work "The Poodle Springs Mystery" (continued by Robert B. Pike and published in 1989). After their marriage, Marlowe refused to live in Linda's mansion or accept financial support from her. He also wanted to be a private detective. He said: "I am a poor man who married a rich wife. I am at a loss. I just believe in one thing - a shabby office, where I can be myself. That's where I can be." There is no other way for me to be where I want to be." Readers can't help but smile, this cynical detective is really cute and silly.

In 1944, Chandler published his famous review "The Simple Art of Murder" in "The Atlantic Monthly". This is an article with the nature of a hard-boiled manifesto, expounding Chandler's main view of detective novels and attacking traditional British detective novels. He said that mystery detective novels “ideologically speaking, they cannot be called a puzzle; artistically speaking, they cannot be called a novel.

They work behind closed doors and are too ignorant of things in the world. ” And his so-called detective novels are “written for those who have a positive attitude towards life. It returns the murder case to the person who has a reason to kill, not just a corpse; it also gives the person who has the murder weapon at hand.” "This weapon is not a hand-forged dueling pistol, a poison arrow, or a tropical fish." Chandler emphasized the reality of detective novels: the characters, scenes, and atmosphere must be real; there must be credible motives at the beginning and end; the characters and The words and deeds must be credible in the environment; the murder and reasoning methods must conform to the procedures and techniques; etc. Chandler's views on detective novels, together with publishers, movies, etc., have been compiled into "Chandler". So Says" (Raymond Chandler Speaking, 1962). These remarks are as poignant and interesting as his Marlowe series. Chandler's influence is huge, and there are few tough guy writers in later generations who are not affected by him, and the tough guy detectives are not affected by it. The biggest difference between hard-boiled novels and mystery novels is the approach and method of treating detective novels as a game of mystery, while the former treats detective novels as reflecting society, observing life, and even making statements. A serious art of moral concepts. Therefore, the tough guys no longer huddle in country houses or easy chairs. They face society and the wider and sordid crimes. Mysteries are not the main axis of the story, and the detective protagonist is no longer. Superior to others, they live in a dark society and must rely on their fists, feet and perseverance to survive. Hammett said: "A little man moves forward day after day in the mud, blood, corpses and deception, trying his best to survive." Insensitive, rude and cynical, moving towards an obscure goal, with no reason to urge or call him forward except that he is employed to do his job. "Writers often highlight various irrational phenomena in society through the eyes and mouths of detectives, with a cold onlooker's eye. Therefore, we often find that tough guys are good at describing the evils of the metropolis and the moral dilemmas of detectives.

In 1944, "Farewell, My Lovely" was first put on the screen, renamed "Murder, My Lovely", with Dick Powell playing Marlowe. He won the Edgar Award for Best Detective Film. Except for "Replay", all his works have been adapted into movies, and many of his works, including short stories, have been adapted into TV movies. Humphrey Bogart also played Marlowe in "The Big Sleep" (1946), but Chandler himself felt that Calle Grant was the best choice for Marlowe, but Chandler failed to realize it. In the preface to his collection of short stories, Trouble Is My Business (1950), he wrote the following: "There is no such thing as a 'classic' of crime or mystery, not even one. Within its own reference range, it is the only criterion for evaluation. A classic should be a work that exhausts the possibilities of its own form and that no one can surpass. No detective novel or story has yet reached that level, and very few come close. This is why reasonable people continue to attack this bunker. "No one will deny Chandler's statement, and no one will deny that his works are classics.

He is one of the greatest names in the history of world literature. His works are included in the In the authoritative "American Library"

He is a master who has been recorded in the history of classic literature for his detective novels. He was voted the best writer in the 150-year history of detective novels by the Mystery Writers of America (MWA).

He is the greatest screenwriter in the history of film, and his collaboration with Billy Wilder "Double Indemnity" is called the textbook of film noir.

From 1942 to 1947, his four novels were adapted into the screen six times by Hollywood. It seems that no writer has enjoyed such love from Hollywood.

His Marlowe is recognized as the most popular novel. A charming man. "A knight with a golden heart." In the 1940s, Hollywood actors were honored to play Philip Marlowe, among whom Humphrey Bogart was the most successful.

Main works

1939 "The Long Sleep"

1940 "Goodbye, My Love"

1942 "High Window"

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1943 "The Woman at the Bottom of the Lake"

1949 "Little Sister"

1950 "The Simple Art of Murder" (Short Story Collection)

1950 "Looking for "Trouble is My Profession" (Short Story Collection)

1953 "The Long Goodbye"

1958 "Replay"

Character Evaluation

Raymond Chandler described his character as "an incongruous mixture of superficial lack of confidence and inner arrogance"; he served as a soldier, participated in World War I, experienced suffering and loneliness, and considered himself "always Living on the edge of nothingness.” He didn't like to look at the sea because there was too much water and too many drowned people. He is an alcoholic. He believes that "a man should get drunk at least twice a year. This is a principle." His pipe never left his lips. Co-written with Billy Wilder, Billy, who was so unbearable from the smoke, often ran to the toilet to hide, and he actually suspected that there was something wrong with Billy's genitals. He despised Hemingway and once named a policeman Hemingway in a novel, calling him "a guy who always repeats the same words until everyone believes that they must be wonderful." He declined any awards. If he had been offered the Nobel Prize he would have refused it. There are two reasons: first, he will not go to Sweden to accept the award, but also put on an evening dress to give a speech; second, the Nobel Prize has been awarded to too many second- and third-rate writers, and many outstanding writers are far better than them. But he didn't win. He died alone in a foreign land. Only 17 people attended his funeral.