After reading an article sent to me by my mom stating that
Michael Connelly turns to Raymond Chandler for inspiration whenever he is stuck
for ideas, I decided to read a few of his novels for myself. After all, I am a
big fan of the noir style as well as an author of that genre, and I love
nothing better than reading about the hard-boiled PIs who populated big, dark,
post-war cities like LA.
What I found was prose so beautifully descriptive that it
often rivaled the best poetry. Yes, I believe prose can do that sometimes, and
Mr. Chandler did it on almost every page. Two elements of his style stand out
for me.
First are his gritty descriptions – mostly of post-war LA --
that paint a dark (thus noir) portrait of a crime-ridden city of surprising
beauty, with a violent undercurrent. His phrases suck you into that city as
sure as a Kansas tornado touching down on a pig farm. It’s gritty, but somehow
accessible, compelling and certainly believable.
Next is the dialog. Mr. Chandler never forgets that while
characters are speaking they don’t stop moving – sometimes revealing their
guilt or malicious intent through a shifty look or hand gesture that has the
potential of drawing a small pistol from some hidden pocket. He combines dialog
with the physical world in which the characters live to such a seamless degree,
making it rare and totally delicious. It’s no wonder Hollywood elected to make
movies from several of his novels, and it’s no wonder that almost all of them
became classics including “The Big Sleep,” “Murder My Sweet,” “Double Indemnity.”
As I read more of his novels, one disturbing element rose to
the top – his liberal use of the “N-word” in describing black people. He
doesn’t use the word in a particularly malicious manner, just in a
matter-of-fact way, which is somehow worse. In fact it’s a lot worse because it
lessens my admiration of Mr. Chandler even as I recognize that back in those
dark years after WWII, racism was accepted to the extent that no one even
questioned it.
I still admire you, Mr. Chandler, but I wish you could have
been a bit more progressive. No, I wish everyone back then could have
been a lot more progressive.
Labels: Solstice Shadows, Solstice Publishing, paradoxes, noir, mystery, crime, LA,
Labels: Solstice Shadows, Solstice Publishing, paradoxes, noir, mystery, crime, LA,
