Wednesday, October 7, 2020

Unseen Spoof By Raymond Chandler Shows Writer's 'Human Side'

 Alison Flood at the Guardian offers a piece on the publishing of a humorous letter by the late, great crime novelist Raymond Chandler.

Best known for his hardboiled stories starring private detective Philip Marlowe, a more playful side of Raymond Chandler is set to be revealed in a previously unpublished spoof of corporate culture, which was discovered in the Bodleian library in Oxford.

Chandler’s Advice to an Employer, which was found with several of the author’s papers, is being published in the Strand magazine this month for the first time. Short and comic, it sees the author doling out tongue-in-cheek advice such as, “Always tell your secretary you have nothing to dictate until it is time for dinner. Then rattle off a lot of letters you have left since domesday.”

In a series of “personal requests we have heard from time to time, from employees to employer”, Chandler also advises: “Please do not go to sleep in the middle of the day”, “Please do not fall on your employee or their animals”, and “No working while drinking.”

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/oct/05/unseen-spoof-by-raymond-chandler-shows-writers-human-side

You can also read my Crime Beat column on Raymond Chandler via the below link:

http://www.pauldavisoncrime.com/2009/11/on-raymond-chandlers-influence-on-crime.html 

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