Raymond Thornton Chandler was born on July 23, 1888, and died on March 26, 1959. He was a novelist and screenwriter who lived in both the United States and Britain. In 1932, at the age of 44, Chandler began writing detective fiction after losing his job as an executive for an oil company during the Great Depression, a time when many people struggled to find work and money was scarce. His first short story, "Blackmailers Don't Shoot," appeared in 1933 in Black Mask, a magazine that published exciting and often fast-paced stories. His first novel, The Big Sleep, was published in 1939. Over his lifetime, Chandler wrote seven novels. A eighth novel was being written when he died, and it was finished later by Robert B. Parker. All of Chandler’s books, except one called Playback, were made into movies. Some of these movies were made more than once.

Chandler had a major influence on American literature. He helped create the hardboiled style of detective fiction, which focuses on realistic and often tough stories. This style was shared by writers like Dashiell Hammett, James M. Cain, and others who wrote for Black Mask. The main character in Chandler’s novels, Philip Marlowe, is often compared to Hammett’s character Sam Spade. Both are seen as typical examples of private detectives. These characters were played in films by Humphrey Bogart, who many people believe perfectly portrayed Marlowe.

The Big Sleep ranked second in a list of the 100 best crime novels by the Crime Writers’ Association. Other novels by Chandler, including Farewell, My Lovely (1940), The Lady in the Lake (1943), and The Long Goodbye (1953), also appeared on this list. The Long Goodbye was praised for being a serious and important novel that also included mystery elements. Chandler was also known for his thoughtful critiques of detective fiction. His essay, "The Simple Art of Murder," is considered a key text in the field. In it, he wrote: "Down these mean streets a man must go who is not himself mean, who is neither tarnished nor afraid. The detective must be a complete man and a common man and yet an unusual man. He must be, to use a rather weathered phrase, a man of honor—by instinct, by inevitability, without thought of it, and certainly without saying it. He must be the best man in his world and a good enough man for any world."

Robert B. Parker wrote that Chandler created a hero who perfectly represented American values. He described Philip Marlowe as a character who was wise, hopeful, thoughtful, adventurous, sentimental, cynical, and rebellious. Marlowe was both innocent and experienced, and he faced challenges in a world where traditional ideas about good and evil no longer seemed clear. Parker said that Chandler’s choice of Marlowe as a hero matched the setting of the American West, where the American dream had faded. Chandler’s work explored important themes at a time when people were questioning what was right and what was wrong.

Life and career

Chandler was born in 1888 in Chicago, Illinois, to Florence Dart (Thornton) and Maurice Benjamin Chandler. He lived with his parents and relatives in Plattsmouth, Nebraska, during his early years. His father, a civil engineer who worked for the railway, struggled with alcohol and left the family in the early 1890s. To provide Raymond with better education, his mother, originally from Ireland, moved to England with him in 1900. They lived in Upper Norwood, now part of Croydon in London, from 1901 to 1907. Raymond lived with his mother, an unmarried aunt, and his maternal grandmother during this time. A relative in Waterford, Ireland, who was a successful lawyer, supported them while they lived in London. Raymond was a first cousin to Max Adrian, an actor and founding member of the Royal Shakespeare Company. Max’s mother, Mabel, was Florence Thornton’s sister.

Chandler attended Dulwich College in London, a public school known for producing notable authors like P. G. Wodehouse and C. S. Forester. He spent summers in Waterford, Ireland, with his mother’s family. He did not attend university but studied in Paris and Munich to improve his language skills. In 1907, he became a British citizen to take a civil service exam, which he passed. He worked briefly for the Admiralty but left after a year due to dissatisfaction with the job. His first poem was published during this time.

Chandler disliked the civil service and resigned, disappointing his family. He later worked as a reporter for the Daily Express and wrote for The Westminster Gazette. Though he struggled as a journalist, he continued writing poetry and reviews. A meeting with Richard Barham Middleton, a talented but troubled writer who later committed suicide, influenced Chandler’s view of his own abilities. Chandler described himself as neither clever nor happy during this period.

In 1912, at age 24, Chandler borrowed money from his uncle in Waterford, Ireland, and returned to America. He visited family in San Francisco, where he took a bookkeeping course. His mother joined him in 1912, and they moved to Los Angeles in 1913. There, Chandler worked odd jobs and eventually found steady work at the Los Angeles Creamery. In 1917, he enlisted in the Canadian Expeditionary Force and fought in France during World War I. He was hospitalized twice with Spanish flu and was training to fly for the Royal Air Force when the war ended.

After the war, Chandler returned to Los Angeles and began a relationship with Pearl Eugenie “Cissy” Pascal, a married woman 18 years his senior. Cissy divorced her husband in 1920, but Chandler’s mother opposed their relationship. After his mother’s death in 1923, Chandler married Cissy in 1924. He worked as a bookkeeper and later became a vice president of the Dabney Oil Syndicate by 1931. However, his alcoholism, absenteeism, and other issues led to his dismissal from the company.

During the Great Depression, Chandler turned to writing to support himself. He studied pulp fiction by analyzing the work of Erle Stanley Gardner. His first professional story, “Blackmailers Don’t Shoot,” was published in 1933. His first novel, The Big Sleep, featuring detective Philip Marlowe, was published in 1939.

In 1950, Chandler explained to his publisher that he began reading pulp magazines during his travels along the Pacific Coast. He found the writing honest and forceful, even if it was sometimes crude. He spent five months writing an 18,000-word novelette, which he sold for $180. This experience inspired him to pursue writing full-time.

Chandler’s second Marlowe novel, Farewell, My Lovely (1940), became the basis for several films, including Murder My Sweet (1944), which introduced Marlowe on screen. His collaboration with Billy Wilder on Double Indemnity (1944), based on a novel by James M. Cain, earned an Academy Award nomination for its screenplay. Wilder credited Chandler with much of the film’s memorable dialogue.

Chandler’s only original screenplay, The Blue Dahlia (1946), was completed with the help of secretaries and drivers due to his difficulty finishing the script. It earned his second Academy Award nomination. He also worked on Strangers on a Train (1951), a film by Alfred Hitchcock based on Patricia Highsmith’s novel. Chandler and Hitchcock had a disagreement, and their professional relationship ended.

In 1946, Chandler and his wife moved to La Jolla, a wealthy neighborhood in San Diego, California. There, he wrote two more Marlowe novels: The Long Goodbye and Playback, the latter being his final completed work.

Views on pulp fiction

In his introduction to Trouble Is My Business (1950), a collection of many of his short stories, Chandler explained the structure of detective stories and how stories in pulp magazines differed from earlier detective stories:

The emotional foundation of the traditional detective story was that murder would be discovered and justice would be achieved. Its technical foundation was that everything except the final ending was of little importance. The events leading up to the ending were mostly background details. The ending would explain everything. In contrast, the technical foundation of stories published in Black Mask magazine was that the setting was more important than the plot. A good plot was one that created exciting scenes. The ideal mystery was one that would still be interesting to read even if the ending was missing. Writers who tried to create such stories shared the same viewpoint as filmmakers. When Chandler first worked in Hollywood, a smart producer told him that a mystery story could not be turned into a successful movie because the ending was usually a quick reveal that happened while the audience was leaving. The producer was wrong, but only because he was thinking about the wrong kind of mystery.

The emotional foundation of hard-boiled stories was different. These stories did not believe that murder would be discovered and justice would be achieved unless someone worked very hard to make it happen. These stories focused on the people who made justice happen. These characters were often tough individuals, and their work—whether as police officers, private detectives, or reporters—was difficult and dangerous. This kind of work was always available, and it still is. The stories about these characters included elements of fiction. Real events happened, but not as quickly, not to the same group of people, and not within such a strict logical framework. This was necessary because readers wanted non-stop action. If a story paused for thinking, it would lose its impact. When unsure, writers often had a character enter a room with a gun. This could become silly, but it did not seem to matter. A writer who avoids taking risks is as ineffective as a general who avoids making mistakes.

Chandler also described the challenges writers of pulp fiction faced when following the strict rules set by the editors of pulp magazines:

Looking back on his stories, Chandler admitted it would be foolish to wish they had been better. However, if his stories had been much better, they likely would not have been published. If the rules for writing had been more flexible, more stories from that time might have survived. Some writers tried hard to break away from these rules, but they often failed and had to rewrite their work. To push the limits of a formula without breaking it is a goal every magazine writer who is not a hopeless hack dreams of achieving.

Reputation

Many critics and writers, such as W. H. Auden, Evelyn Waugh, and Ian Fleming, admired Chandler's writing style. In a radio interview, Fleming said Chandler wrote "some of the finest dialogue in any prose today." Contemporary mystery writer Paul Levine described Chandler's style as "the literary equivalent of a quick punch to the gut." Chandler's fast-paced, tough style was influenced by Dashiell Hammett, but his original use of vivid comparisons, such as "The muzzle of the Luger looked like the mouth of the Second Street tunnel" and "He had a heart as big as one of Mae West's hips," made his writing unique. Chandler's work changed the private eye fiction genre, inspired the term "Chandleresque," and became the subject of imitations and parodies. However, Philip Marlowe, the detective in Chandler's stories, is not a typical tough guy. He is complex, sometimes sentimental, educated, speaks Spanish, and respects Mexican and Black people. He also studies chess and classical music and refuses to take cases he considers unethical.

Although Chandler is widely respected today, he faced criticism during his lifetime. In a 1942 letter, he wrote, "When I write something fast and full of action, I get criticized for that. When I try to add more emotion, I get criticized for not having enough action."

Some critics, like Patrick Anderson of The Washington Post, have pointed out that Chandler's plots can be confusing and that his portrayal of Black, female, and homosexual characters was problematic. Anderson called Chandler "a rather nasty man at times" but also praised him as "probably the most lyrical of the major crime writers."

Chandler's stories and novels vividly describe 1930s and 1940s Los Angeles. Locations like Bay City (Santa Monica) and Gray Lake (Silver Lake) are real places, though given different names.

Only one of Chandler's novels, Playback, has never been made into a movie. The 1946 film The Big Sleep, directed by Howard Hawks and starring Humphrey Bogart, is the most famous adaptation. Chandler's work influenced American film noir, including Robert Altman's 1973 The Long Goodbye, a neo-noir version of his novel. In a New Yorker review, Pauline Kael noted that Chandler's writing was "locked in the conventions of pulp writing" and that he struggled to address "malaise" in his stories.

A square where Hollywood Boulevard and Cahuenga Avenue meet in Los Angeles is named Raymond Chandler Square, honoring the author and the belief that Philip Marlowe's office was located nearby. The square was designated a Los Angeles Historic Cultural Monument in 1994.

In 2014, the Hollywood Walk of Fame selection committee announced Chandler would be honored the following year, but as of 2024, he has not yet received a star. In 1991 and 1994, the Fulbright Program awarded the "Raymond Chandler Mystery Writing Award" and "Raymond Chandler Award," respectively. The Noir in Festival lifetime achievement award is also named after Raymond Chandler.