The Raymond Chandler Papers: Selected Letters And Non-Fiction, 199-1959 - Softcover

Chandler, Raymond

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0140279741 ISBN 13: 9780140279740

Publisher: Penguin, 2001

Synopsis

This selection of Chandler's letters, poetry and journalism features previously unseen material, including a lost interview with the American gangster, Lucky Luciano, conducted in a Naples hotel in 1957, as well as Chandler's classic account of attending the 1948 Oscars ceremony. Chandler's letter writing is already famous and THE RAYMOND CHANDLER PAPERS contains many newly discovered letters showing Chandler at his funniest, saddest, and most brilliant. This ultimate collection of Chandler's non-fiction also features a biographical commentary by his biographer, Tom Hiney.

About this title

Synopsis:

"I don't know why the hell I write so many letters", Raymond Chandler once wrote, in a letter. "I guess my mind is just too active for its own good!" It was also, as Tom Hiney points out in this new selection from Chandler's correspondence, a result of his peripatetic existence, his intense reclusivity, and his insomniac efforts to keep the night at bay. Writing and dictating long into the early hours, Chandler crafted his letters with a natural ease and an acute eye for people and places around him. His obervations on Hollywood and southern Californian life are perhaps unsurpassed by anyone, and his comments on the craft of writing and on fiction generally offer a fascinating insight into his own unique and innovative style. This anthology also features the best of Chandler's journalism and poetry, some of it never published before, including a lost interview, held in a Naples hotel in 1947, with the American gangster Lucky Luciano, and Chandler's classic and blistering account of attending the 1948 Oscar ceremonies. "The Chandler Papers" is both an ideal companion to Chandler's work and an intriguing account of the man himself.

These are the definitive chronicles of a famous writer and a uniquely fascinating man: Hiney's biographical commentary through the course of the papers illuminates them against the times, places and twists of the strange life of Raymond Chandler.

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.

About this edition

• Publisher: Penguin
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 0140279741
• ISBN 13: 9780140279740
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 288