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Biography of Raymond Chandler, Jr.Name: Raymond Chandler, Jr.Birth Date: July 23, 1888 Death Date: March 26, 1959 Place of Birth: Chicago, Illinois, United States Nationality: American Gender: Male Occupations: writer, novelist Raymond Chandler, Jr. Raymond Chandler (1888-1959) was a leading exponent of the hard-boiled detective novel and, with Dashiell Hammett, a seminal figure in American crime fiction.Raymond Chandler was born in Chicago on July 23, 1888, of parents of Irish Quaker descent. His parents were divorced when he was very young, and in 1895 his mother took him to England where they lived with relatives in South London. There he attended Dulwich School from 1900 to 1905, and the following year he went to business school in Paris. In 1907, in order to qualify for a civil service job, he was naturalized as a British citizen. A few years later he free-lanced as a journalist for the Daily Express and showed his first creative inclination with some poetry and satire for the Westminster Gazette.As an American living abroad, Chandler had grown up with an ethnic ambivalence and a curiosity about his native land that finally, in 1912, prompted his return …showed first 150 words…
…showed last 150 words…number of drink-related ailments.He moved to London in 1955, but his depression only deepened and his drinking grew worse, so he returned to the United States in 1956. He died in La Jolla, California, on March 26, 1959, of pneumonia either caused or aggravated by heavy drinking and self-neglect. He died a disappointed, frustrated man despite his natural gifts as a writer and his considerable achievements. Further Reading The authorized biography is The Life of Raymond Chandler (1976) by Frank MacShane, who also edited Selected Letters of Raymond Chandler (1981). Another source to try is the series of collected letters and works of Chandler, Raymond Chandler Speaking, (1962); The Selected Letters of Raymond Chandler, (1981); and The Raymond Chandler Papers: Selected Letters and Nonfiction, 1909-1959 (2001). Also, the title essay in The Simple Art of Murder (1950) provides some valuable insights into Chandler's views on art and life.MacShane, Frank, The life of Raymond Chandler, Boston, Mass.: G.K. Hall, 1986, 197. |