Raymond Chandler Essays

  • The High Window and The Lady in the Lake by Raymond Chandler

    1955 Words  | 4 Pages

    The High Window and The Lady in the Lake by Raymond Chandler Raymond Chandler, along with Dashiell Hammett, invented what is now known as modern detective literature. Chandler excelled in the art, creating "wise-cracking" cynical "private *censored*s," such as Philip Marlowe. Marlowe and Sam Spade are what shall forever be the standard Private eye with razor sharp wit, keen intellect, and the blatant disregard for authority. Philip Marlowe is the smooth talking yet sentimental private eye

  • The Big Sleep: Writing Style of Raymond Chandler

    1071 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Big Sleep: Writing Style How can I humble myself? I can write about Raymond Chandler's style. I am amazed that someone can write with a style that appears to be almost effortless. No, it seems completely effortless. Breezing through this book is very easy. There are no seams. Chandler's "no buts about it," "hard-boiled" style, characters and story are completely cohesive. All elements seem perfectly placed. The narrator and interesting use of figurative language contribute to the unity

  • The Use of Series in The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler

    1120 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Use of Series in The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler In The Big Sleep, Raymond Chandler writes items in a series in almost every paragraph that does not include dialogue, occasions, in the text where Marlowe watches the other character do something like open and close a book or light a cigarette and flick the ash into a tray. When Chandler stops the dialogue to creates a space for Marlowe to record elements in the environment, he constructs sentences that indicate how Marlowe assimilates

  • Cornell Woolrich Psychology Essay

    1774 Words  | 4 Pages

    introducing to the American audience new detectives, who not only wheels a gun but also uses their knowledge of psychoanalysis to catch the perpetrator and solve the crime. Though Woolrich extends his knowledge of the human mind, he, just like MacDonald, Chandler and Hammett gives reference to 18th-century authors which include Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Edgar Allan Poe. The use of psychology as a tool to solve the crime and catch the criminal in Woolrich’s detective fictions is nothing short of revolutionary

  • Raymond Chandler's The Long Goodbye

    1039 Words  | 3 Pages

    Raymond Chandler’s The Long Goodbye is the sixth installment of a series of novels that is revolved around Private Investigator Phillip Marlowe. It starts of with Marlowe finding a drunken Terry Lennox with several scars spread across one side of his face. After the next few months, an unstable friendship is formed between the two. During one night, Lennox shows up late at Marlowe’s home in an apparent troubling situation and in need of a ride to an airport in Tijuana, in which Marlowe agree under

  • The Simple Art Of Murder: Blaise Vs. The Big Sleep

    1464 Words  | 3 Pages

    In this collection, Raymond was able to expand his niche by adding new elements to his pieces.“The Simple Art of Murder” is a collection that entails the murder of innocent people in the society. The author comes out strong and links these happening to political endeavors, blackmail, or simple cases of wrong place at the wrong time. Raymond can portray his mastery of the undertakings within the underground life in Los Angeles in

  • Lust And Temptation In Raymond Chandler's The Big Sleep

    797 Words  | 2 Pages

    Raymond Chandler, an American Literature writer in the early twentieth-century, introduces a new type of genre that will later set the standards and inspire future literature writers. In his first book, “The Big Sleep”, Chandler features the main character, Phillip Marlowe, as a detective trying to solve a blackmail case for the Sternwood family. Marlowe goes through all kinds of hardships throughout the book in order to be the knight in shining armor. One of these hardships is lust and temptation

  • The Big Sleep, Raymond Chandler’s First Novel

    724 Words  | 2 Pages

    The rolling hills and untouched prairies of the Old West were, by and large, replaced with modern infrastructures and communities by the time Raymond Chandler and Thomas Pynchon got around to writing The Big Sleep and Crying of Lot 49. As the “New West” became the “Noir West” liberality transformed into something more along the lines of uniformity. The now more urban landscapes of the Noir West began to call for a different kind of toughness, one based on mental rather than physical strength. It

  • Euphemism And Imagery In Raymond Chandler's The Big Sleep

    792 Words  | 2 Pages

    Raymond Chandler’s novel, The Big Sleep, is well-versed in descriptive language and makes one feel as though they are experiencing the occurred events firsthand. Through Philip Marlowe’s perspective the novel progresses in a manner that answers some questions of the mystery; however, as the truth unravels one realizes that not everything will be completely resolved. Through the usage of imagery, euphemism, and symbolism Chandler crafts an ending that solves the mystery, but creates a whole new one

  • Compare And Contrast Hammon And Sam Spade

    1278 Words  | 3 Pages

    cases. The characters are usually the protagonists of the hardboiled fiction which are often accredited to Dashiell Hammet as the pioneers of the genre. However, Chandler is also a significant contributor. In this respect, two famous detectives arise from the works of the two writers; they are Philip Marlowe who was created by Raymond Chandler and Sam Spade created by Hammett. They are among the most famous figures ever known in the detective fiction. Despite the fact that both take part in solving

  • The Big Sleep, and the Dark Noir

    571 Words  | 2 Pages

    Wallis also state,"He is an investigator who stands just outside the law, yet remains the moral center of the film." (351) Philip Marlowe, has an encounter with Canino, in which Marlowe makes this statement, "I didn't want him with an empty gun." (Chandler 202) The apparent reason for this is that Marlowe knew that he was going to have to kill Canino, and he was making sure that even if he had to do it cold- bloodedly, he did not want to be incriminated. In the book, Critical Survey of Mystery and

  • A Comparison of Two Versions of The Big Sleep

    1511 Words  | 4 Pages

    integrity to surpass the viewers' expectations -- actively involving them in the film despite Hollywood's censorship. Howard Hawks is one such director who used the restrictions of the Production Code to his advantage. His screen adaptation of the Raymond Chandler novel The Big Sleep portrays the same amount of sexuality and violence apparent in the written word, using a distinctly subtle style, which develops broader themes. Comparisons with the extremely dull 70's remake by Michael Winner further

  • Why Do We Have Boiled Fiction

    1179 Words  | 3 Pages

    HARD BOILED FICTION: A NARRATIVE TECHNIQUE SOUMYA.S J Email: sjsoumyaa@gmail.com Mob: 08606432701 Guest Lecturer in English KMSM DB College, Sasthamcotta ABSTRACT Had boiled fiction is an American literary style, commonly associated with detective fiction. It follows a tough unsentimental style of writing that brought a new tone of earthy realism or naturalism to the field of detective

  • Marlowe Exposed In Raymond Chandler's The Big Sleep

    1020 Words  | 3 Pages

    Raymond Chandler’s well known detective, Philip Marlowe, is classically synonymous with the subgenre of hard-boiled fiction. Marlowe is an independent private investigator hired to “snoop” for wealthy clients such as the Sternwood family in The Big Sleep. Chandler explores more of the psychological side of mystery, often leaving the active details out, to let the reader in as Marlowe walks through a case he is presented. In The Big Sleep, General Sternwood hires Marlowe to settle gambling debts accrued

  • The Big Sleep - The Movie and The Book

    1320 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Big Sleep - The Movie and The Book One would think that it would be quite easy to adapt a novel to a screenplay; after all, what is there to do but turn the dialogue into lines and description into set design? However, common sense, aided by the horrifying number of absolutely awful adaptations, dictates that it simply is not that easy. When moviegoers have problems with a film adaptation of a book, their complaints tend to lie in the tendency of the creators of the film to change elements

  • Comparing The Film Noir And The Big Sleep

    1550 Words  | 4 Pages

    Film Noir and the Hard-Boiled Detective Genre "Such a lot of guns around town and so few brains!" is a memorable line of Humphrey Bogart's Philip Marlowe in the 1946 adaptation of Raymond Chandler's The Big Sleep (The Big Sleep). That one quote encapsulates the presence of corruption, violence and even class distinction that is characteristic of film noir and the hard-boiled detective genre. The novel and the film both focus on Philip Marlowe, a private detective, during his investigative process

  • Analysis Of Edgar Allan Poe 'Murder At The Automat'

    1701 Words  | 4 Pages

    The human mind is one of the most complex structures the gods had created. It is difficult to understand each brain process as every human being possesses his or her own distinguished thought patterns with different levels of complexities. A person’s mind greatly influences his behavior, which eventually transforms into his habit by becoming embedded into his character. Today, the world of psychology tries to understand everything that a mind can create. However, even before the field of Psychology

  • The Big Sleep Movie and Novel

    1696 Words  | 4 Pages

    The Big Sleep Movie and Novel On first inspection of Raymond Chandler's novel, The Big Sleep, the reader discovers that the story unravels quickly through the narrative voice of Philip Marlowe, the detective hired by the Sternwood family of Los Angeles to solve a mystery for them. The mystery concerns the General Sternwood's young daughter, and a one Mr. A. G. Geiger. Upon digging for the answer to this puzzle placed before Marlowe for a mere fee of $25 dollars a day plus expenses, Marlowe

  • Characteristics Of Trouble Is My Business

    745 Words  | 2 Pages

    “Trouble Is My Business” by Raymond Chandler the author reveals many distinctive traits about Marlowe. From him being able to take a lot of physical punishment, to using his fists well, and also handing out insults and wisecracks. With this, you may never know what Phillip is capable of at any given moment. The character Marlowe Marlowe is known for his constant need of liquor, especially scotch. Throughout the story, there are different times and places that the author, Chandler, makes sure that the reader

  • Theme Of Justice in "The Big Sleep" and "The Black Cat"

    1762 Words  | 4 Pages

    The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler and The Black Cat by Edgar Allen Poe both approach the theme of justice and present it in dissimilar ways. The Big Sleep presents justice as something which you can achieve through beliefs and morals, without the use of money and crime. The Black Cat presents justice as something which is absolute and something which you cannot escape psychologically, a force which is inevitable. In The Big Sleep, a conversation between Philip Marlowe and Vivien Sternwood is proceeding