Reviews of Raymond Chandler

 

"It is somewhat surprising that a Twayne volume on Raymond Chandler has not appeared sooner, for Chandler is almost universally lauded as "the premier American mystery writer of the twentieth century," in author William Marling's word. This book is a sound addition to the Twayne series, which is designed to provide an introductory overview of a writer's life and canon through a cohesive critical perspective. Marling's approach is to explore the "great gap between the man and the genre," discovering in the discrepancy between the classically trained and personally fastidious and his lurid, obdurate fictional world the key to understanding Chandler's contribution to modern literature. The book serves its purpose effectively, providing an informative survey of Chandler's biography, his art - its imaginative evolution, scope, thematic direction, and stylistic proclivities -- and the literary assessment of his work. Although Marling relies perhaps too much on explication excerpted from other critics, and his own angle of analysis is not new, he odes offer insightful and articulate commentaries on individual stories. And there are still surprises for the veteran Chandler scholar."
 

                    -- Lianna Babener, Choice, March 1987, 1061.