/lit/ - Literature

>>11463551
I really need to re-read the Philip Marlowe series. It's been years. I remember reading The Big Sleep and the atmosphere was all-enveloping in a way that I'd never had happen with a book before. He was really at his best with the first 4 novels. The Long Goodbye gets a lot of attention, but for my money it's too meandering and self-pitying.

Chandler has been endlessly imitated, to the extent that even people who've never read him would recognise the style. None of the writers who followed him matched up, though James Crumley's early books were pretty damn good.

Also need to re-read Hammett. His novels pre-date Chandler and are written in a very different style, but they're also extremely good.

>>6428394
Visited the thread to post Chandler.

It's a pity that his style has been imitated by lots of other things (books, movies, TV) in the decades since. I think it can make the Chandler books seem stale to people who've already encountered all the rip-offs first.