Raymond Chandler

“William Marling is the first critic to center his study of Raymond Chandler’s work on style, tracing the relation between style and era for each of Chandler’s seven full-length books. For each novel there is a section of metaphor and simile, showing how each is used, how each changes from novel to novel, and what myths each masks. Marling reveals how themes as traditional of those of James Fenimore Cooper and as ancient as those of the quest for the holy Grail lie behind the wisecracking detective Phillip Marlowe, made so famous on the screen by Humphrey Bogart. Nor does any other study of Chandler offer as much California history or decode the Los Angeles period references.”