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RARA-AVIS: Chandler in WW I
To really understand Chandler in respect of WW I as reflected in _The
long goodbye_, you have to understand his war in which he served in the
trenches and was buried in a shell explosion. None of the biographies of
Chandler that I have read do justice to this experience because through
American parochialism none of the authors bothered to research the
regimental histories of the battalions of the CEF in which Chandler
served. He had, without being sarcastic, and in the best sense, "a good
war". He knew very well what he was talking about in respect of Lennox
and Menendez, (do I have that last name right? -- we're in the process of
moving and my copy is now packed and not to hand). Chandler, despite his
birthplace, and because of his upbriging and education, is always, as is
"Ross Macdonald", (and why is he not being re-published when the
repetitive trashy schlock of John D. is?), the outsider viewing the
American experience from a different perspective -- this is what makes
his views on the Southern California of his time and place so trenchant
-- and, in a way that transcends Hammett, (on whom all praise there be),
makes Chandler oeuvre just that so much more classic, (i.e., immortal).
There will never ever be another paragraphy so telling as his about the
"Santa Anna wind". If I need repeat it, you need a course in basic
reading.
David Skene-Melvin
Compiler of: _Candain Crime Fiction 1817-1996; an annotated
comprehensive bibliography and biographical dictionery of Canadian crime
writers_.
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