<<<<< I prefer to judge whether authors
perform to their own potential. By his last two books,
Chandler wasn't.
>>>>>
I agree with you there. Although a lot of folks think THE
LONG GOODBYE is Chandler's best novel, I count it as one of
his worst, with Marlowe drowning in self pity. PLAYBACK is,
as I understand it, the novelization of a screenplay, and
POODLE SPRINGS is just an incomplete first draft, not
improved by being finished by, of all people, Robert Parker.
But surely we should judge an author by his or her best work,
by the stuff they've written that endures. On that basis,
Chandler is still the one to beat at his own game. And given
that Chandler is one of the most imitated writers in the
English language, for good or for ill, I wouldn't be so wuick
to shrug him off. It's easy to see his influence on Parker,
Ross McDonald, Howard Browne (John Evans), Thomas B. Dewey
(the most underrated and possibly the best of the disciples),
but also in William Gibson, James W. Hall, Robert Stone,
James Crumley and on and on...
BobT
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