Writing 'The Long Goodbye'

[John Carvill]

Fascinating investigation of the writing of TLG, including a
discussion of early drafts of the novel, insights into Chandler's
situation and mindset whilst writing it, including some details of the
Bodleian Library's Chandler papers. Good illustrations too. Essential
reading.

"When Bruce Taylor owned the San Francisco Mystery Bookstore, he had a
table of featured books in a central location. The books on the table
changed from time to time to highlight currently popular releases or
books that Bruce had read recently and enjoyed. But one book was never
removed: Raymond Chandler’s The Long Goodbye. And beneath the stack of
continuously restocked copies was a hand-written note that read, "Best
Book in the Store."

"...over time critics on both sides of the Atlantic came to recognize
The Long Goodbye as a novel that truly broke through the boundaries of
genre fiction into literature, and many echoed the evaluation of the
novel as Chandler’s best. Novelist and critic Anthony Burgess included
it as his only selection for 1954 in his list, "99 Novels: The Best in
English Since 1939." This is a list populated with the likes of
Finnegan’s Wake, Nineteen Eighty-Four, The Catcher in the Rye and
Catch-22, with only a smattering of other entries that might be
categorized as genre."

http://www.markcoggins.com/essays/WTLG.html