Since several of the recent threads have discussed Chandler
and the definition of literature, respectively, I thought
members of this list might be interested in Chandler's
thoughts on the subject:
In 1964, Alfred Knopf published "The Raymond Chandler
Omnibus", which collected The Big Sleep, Farewell, My Lovely,
The High Window, and The Lady in the Lake. The foreword was
written by Lawrence Clark Powell, of the UCLA Library
Service, and he included a quote from Chandler's
correspondence with Erle Stanley Gardner: "When a book, any
sort of book, reaches a certain intensity of artistic
performance it becomes literature. That intensity may be a
matter of style, situation, character, emotional tone, or
idea, or half a dozen other things. It may also be a
perfection of control over the movement of a story similar to
the control a great pitcher has over the ball."
Like so many things of Chandler's, very well said.
Patrick Lee
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