Ruth Dudley Edwards
Complete Writer
Selected Letters of Raymond Chandler
By Frank MacShane (ed)
Jonathan Cape 501pp. £12.50 order from our bookshop
These are wonderful letters – passionate, furious, funny, trenchant, informed and intelligent. Whether addressing the famous or the unknown, Chandler gave of his best on a range of subjects that included politics, religion, Hollywood, literature, sex, alcohol, food and himself.
Sincere emotion is rarely absent. J B Priestley ‘likes my books, says he smiling politely in order to get the subject out of the way and forget it, then he wishes I would write something without murders in it. Now isn’t that a typical attitude? You slam murder mysteries à la Edmund Wilson, because they are usually written, you say, by people who can’t write well. And the moment you find someone who you are willing to admit can write well, you tell him he should not be writing murder mysteries.’
Chandler took murder mysteries seriously, as he took all his work. His first novel, The Big Sleep, was quickly followed by three more which established his reputation as a major new talent in crime writing. Financial necessity drove him for a while to Hollywood as a writer, where he was
Sign Up to our newsletter
Receive free articles, highlights from the archive, news, details of prizes, and much more.@Lit_Review
Follow Literary Review on Twitter
'It is the ... sketches of the local and the overlooked that lend this book its density and drive, and emphasise Britain’s mostly low-key riches – if only you can be bothered to buy an anorak and seek.'
Jonathan Meades on the beauty of brutalism.
https://literaryreview.co.uk/castles-of-concrete
'Cruickshank’s history reveals an extraordinary eclecticism of architectural styles and buildings, from Dutch Revivalism to Arts and Crafts experimentation, from Georgian terraces to Victorian mansion blocks.'
William Boyd on the architecture of Chelsea.
https://literaryreview.co.uk/where-george-eliot-meets-mick-jagger
'The eight years he has spent in solitary confinement have had a devastating impact on his mental health ... human rights organisations believe his detention is punishment for his critical views.'
@lucyjpop on the Egyptian activist and poet Ahmed Douma.
https://literaryreview.co.uk/ahmed-douma