»L.A. noir spoke to those far from California because readers recognized the hidden truth that the web of American corruption implicated everyone. All the great scandals of American life from the Second World War through Watergate involved some acknowledgment that sordid actuality and the shiny official imagery were, so to speak, scenes from one movie. Florida-glare novels speak to us because we see our current condition in the way that violence rises out of nowhere and is barely noticed.«
— Adam Gopnik
Bloodlines of genre fictionAdam Gopnik about the history of Florida crime fiction. His essay In the Back Cabana, first published in June 2013, is now available online at The New Yorker.
»Since Chandler is so famous, you can find criticism of his work. I haven’t found much criticism of Thomas; people say that he is great and underrated and leave it at that. Probably his place in 20-century literature is reasonably secure but it would be nice to get him a little more respect. It doesn’t matter that Thomas doesn’t always provide a satisfying dénouement. He provides voice, subtle perception, history, and a passionate but cynical love of politics unrivaled by any other author in the genre.«
»This year [2009] marks the thirtieth anniversary of the publication of V. C. Andrews’s Flowers in the Attic, the best-selling novel about incest, imprisoned children, and very, very bad parenting. Andrews went on to write six more books, each one beloved by millions of readers, mostly young women, and each a play on the same themes that made Flowers wonderful and unique: lust, violence, and pain. For two generations now, a private ritual of female adolescence has been reading Andrews’s spine-creased paper-backs, often passed down from an older, wiser girl with the whispered promise of secret knowledge hidden between the covers.«
»Lefty Gomez said his secret was »Clean living, and a fast outfield.« Mine is something like that.«
Elmore Leonard
Jon Wiener met Elmore Leonard, who died on August 20 at age 87, a couple of times. In 2000 Mr. Wiener spoke with Mr. Leonard, after he had just published Pagan Babies, a comic novel on the unlikely subject of genocide in Rwanda. Read the interview at The Los Angeles Review of Books.
Podcast | The Long Goodbye by Raymond Chandler. Dramatised by Bill Morrison.
Listen to the radio drama in six parts. To select a part, please click on the playlist symbol.
Podcast | The Little Sister by Raymond Chandler. Dramatised by Bill Morrison.
Listen to the radio drama in eight parts. To select a part, please click on the playlist symbol.
Podcast | The Lady in the Lake by Raymond Chandler. Dramatised by Bill Morrison.
Listen to the radio drama in nine parts. To select a part, please click on the playlist symbol.
Podcast | The High Window by Raymond Chandler. Dramatised by Bill Morrison.
Listen to the radio drama in eight parts. To select a part, please click on the playlist symbol.
Podcast | Farewell,My Lovely by Raymond Chandler. Dramatised by Bill Morrison.
Listen to the radio drama in six parts. To select a part, please click on the playlist symbol.
