RARA-AVIS: Chandler/Poodle Springs

From: Forstater, Mathew ( ForstaterM@umkc.edu)
Date: 20 May 2002


I have always tried to the best of my ability to wait as long as is bearable between readings of my favorites, so that the experience can seem as much like a first reading as possible. This has been partly aided by the fact that my education and professional life required lots of reading, so for years I haven't had much time for pleasure reading. So, it's been a long time since I last read The Long Goodbye (out of my trusty copy of The Midnight Raymond Chandler, which also made The Pencil available long before Raymond Chandler's Philip Marlowe).

What a beautifully crafted masterpiece. Truly incredible. How he came up with line after line, I can't even begin to give examples, I'd be reproducing the whole book. The book reads as if Chandler just sat down and it poured out of him.

Since this is the first time since I've joined the list that I've read more than a short story of Chandler's, and given the recent discussion of Parker, I thought I'd ask rara-avians their view of how good a job Parker did with Poodle Springs. (Could you imagine if an unfinished painting by Van Gogh was found and some established, popular, contemporary artist--David Hockney?--'completed' it?)

Apologies if this is all old ground and I've just been too lazy to consult the archives.

Mat

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