![]() ![]() In the city that constantly renews itself without ever changing, Chandler created an astonishingly adaptable genre that continues to evolve. As the cover art of the new Vintage reissues of Chandler's nine published books proves, nostalgia is a large part of Chandler's appeal. ![]() ![]() at the same time he was providing us with an enduring object of nostalgia. Probably no writer has evoked urban Southern California for more readers than Raymond Chandler, which is ironic, because Chandler hated L.A. To paraphrase Burt Lancaster in "Atlantic City," the Pacific Ocean was really something back then. Then I saw, for the first time, the Pacific pier where Philip Marlowe caught the water taxi to the Montecito gambling boat in "Farewell, My Lovely" and realized the source of my dij` vu: I had seen it all before through the eyes of Raymond Chandler. International, I found myself gazing at the pseudo-Mexican, stucco-ed architecture and wondering why an area I had never been anywhere near before seemed so familiar. A few years ago, passing through Santa Monica on the way to L.A. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |