Raymond Chandler
Sep. 12th, 2010 06:35 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
miriam_eI'd always intended to read some Raymond Chandler stories, so the past several days I've been reading some of "The Big Sleep" each night before bed, or during the night if I wake and my mind is too active to let me return to slumber.
In the beginning I was almost dreading it because some months back I read Dasheil Hammett's "The Maltese Falcon" and was surprised at how little I liked it. Also, I'd read some background on Raymond Chandler and how insulting the literature critics had been about his work. I should know by now that if critics like something then it is usually pretentious crap, but if they dislike it then it is often good work -- not a fool-proof guide of course, but correct often enough that I should utterly disregard critics' opinions.
I finished it this morning and have to say that I quite enjoyed "The Big Sleep". Even with its abrasive homophobia it is still an absorbing piece of work. One of the things I particularly enjoyed was how he likes to play with words and phrases in novel ways. Strangely, his main character is likeable even though he is not very pleasant or charming. The story plays its puzzle out, without being obtuse, right up to nearly the end. A very well done piece of work. I wish I could write a fraction as well. It just shows, once again, how stupid critics can be too.
In the beginning I was almost dreading it because some months back I read Dasheil Hammett's "The Maltese Falcon" and was surprised at how little I liked it. Also, I'd read some background on Raymond Chandler and how insulting the literature critics had been about his work. I should know by now that if critics like something then it is usually pretentious crap, but if they dislike it then it is often good work -- not a fool-proof guide of course, but correct often enough that I should utterly disregard critics' opinions.
I finished it this morning and have to say that I quite enjoyed "The Big Sleep". Even with its abrasive homophobia it is still an absorbing piece of work. One of the things I particularly enjoyed was how he likes to play with words and phrases in novel ways. Strangely, his main character is likeable even though he is not very pleasant or charming. The story plays its puzzle out, without being obtuse, right up to nearly the end. A very well done piece of work. I wish I could write a fraction as well. It just shows, once again, how stupid critics can be too.