Chandler (July 23, 1888 – March 26, 1959), known in Western literary circles as the "poet laureate of crime fiction", once said that his life's goal was to write a novel in which Dostoevsky and Chandler were combined.
Chandler hated drunkards, and he was an alcoholic, drunk all his life, drunk with his own pen, and always wrote short stories to make money in the early days, just like Fitzgerald.
A year before Fitzgerald's death (1939), Chandler was 51 years old before publishing his first novel, The Big Sleep.
Chandler lived to be 70 years old, but his literary career was at best 26 years, a legendary life, a bleak evening, and when he died in 1959, only 17 people attended his funeral.
Chandler once described himself as "a mixture of superficial lack of self-confidence and incongruous arrogance and arrogance on the inside" and "always living on the edge of nothingness."
Chandler's life was a mess of alcoholism, but he was very charismatic. The writer Maugham once said: "I have never seen such a pleasant person." If he did not aspire to be a writer, he would have succeeded as a comedian. ”
Chandler's style resembles Hemingway, and it is generally believed that he inherited Hemingway, and he despises Hemingway.
When the writer Wang Shuo visited Los Angeles, as soon as he saw the city, he said that it was Chandler's city. Acheng said Chandler did not die because of his novel. Scholar Shinan said that about Chandler, there is really no need to say how good he is, he is good.
In the world literary world, there is a style called "Chandleresque", which pays tribute to his concise, concise, precise and sharp language style.
Written in 1953, The Long Farewell is considered a gem of American literature, and the core of The Long Farewell is very similar to that of The Great Gatsby, and there are even Fitzgerald sentences in the book, and it is not difficult to imagine what Chandler is trying to express.
Chandler's creation is set in the Great Depression of the United States in the last century, when poverty, misfortune, and social violence in the United States increased.
Rich people live extravagantly and corruptly, and people without money live in misery. It was a society full of copper stench, and money was the center of all power.
A city of loss, frustration, and emptiness depends entirely on your location and personal achievements. "The Long Farewell" is under the appearance of a detective novel, which is the author's self-deprecation and helplessness about his own life.
Chandler's most important work, Chandler won the Edgar Allan Poe Award as soon as the novel was published, and is one of the four masterpieces of the Golden Age of American literature of the 20th century, along with The Great Gatsby, The Sun Also Rises, and On the Road.
The world of criminal literature before Marlowe's birth was ruled by a queen, Agatha Christie. In 1995, members of the American Association of Detective Fiction Writers voted the best male detective in history, and Marlowe surpassed Holmes to win the first place.
Chandler once said of Marlowe: If there were enough people like him, the world would be a safe place, not too boring to be worth living.
A hole full of cigarette butts, always hangover, full of playful words, the appearance looks indestructible, in fact, the inside is soft and messy, the prodigal tough guy indifferent and fearless posture to the extreme.
The translator Fu Weici once said: Marlowe's charm makes him reluctant to let go, he is far more than Holmes, he is a really good man.
Haruki Murakami said that whenever he got into trouble, he opened Chandler's "Long Farewell". Haruki Murakami even said: "The impact brought by Chandler may now seem even more shocking than Hemingway." ”
Chandler's "The Long Farewell" is not a case, but a life. When people reach middle age, every goodbye to friends means that they may not see each other again in this life. The more you get to the second half of your life, the lonelier and colder you become.
Milan Kundera said: "It's a world where it's popular to leave, but none of us are good at saying goodbye." ”
Not good at it, because of fear, fear that those who were once beautiful will become devastated by the loss of years, afraid that things are not human, and you are no longer the person you knew.
The tragedy of life is not that beautiful things die prematurely, but that they become vulgar and pathetic.
So, every goodbye is to die a little bit...