1940 • republished by Vintage Books
304 pages / ISBN 0394758277 / $13.95 paperback
The tough-as-nails writing of Raymond Chandler has overtaken mysteries to so great an extent that it's easy to forget his role as a trailblazer. 'Farewell, My Lovely,' just Chandler's second novel, already burns with the rot of Los Angeles that spawned countless other imitations and had a far-reaching effect on both crime fiction and moviemaking over the next thirty-five years.
'Farewell, My Lovely' is a typically Chandlerian novel, using first person narrative and a slew of characters. Thirtyish private investigator Philip Marlowe starts with a dull case, before he gets pulled onto the scene of a murder at one of Los Angeles's Afro-American bars. The huge, White assailant Moose Malloy has recently left prison and is searching for his lost girlfriend. Marlowe finds himself beside a dead body and a load of curiosity. Helping with police investigations, he enters a labyrinth of the Los Angeles underworld, including crooked cops, hot blondes, swindling psychics, and racketeers.
Chandler's storytelling in the first person narrative of Marlowe is hard-boiled crime before it took on cliche status. The writing style is crude by necessity; found here is the private detective's rough and cynical attitude that influenced later antiheros like Peter Gunn and the noir style that dominated Hollywood movies. Besides several adaptations of Chandler to the big screen, other directors have paid homage, such as Roman Polanski in 'Chinatown' and David Lynch in 'Blue Velvet.'
'Farewell, My Lovely' is a well-constructed novel, but not without flaw. Chandler lets none of the characters go to waste, each holding a pivotal role in Marlowe's detective work. This novel stays consistent with his first project, 'The Big Sleep,' in having Marlowe revisit the same territory of earlier chapters. There is no predictability at all and Chandler creates genuinely tense moments.
Marlowe, however, is steered by chance far too often and there are times when the action seems contrived, or without inevitability. The easy-going narration helps to smoothen over farfetched elements, such as the unlikelihood of Marlowe getting shoved into Moose Malloy's bar brawl, which is needed just to launch the story. The climax is also rather disappointing, taking place in an unimaginative location.
While dealing with the social realities of 1940s California, Chandler's novels still need to be considered as great entertainments rather than full-fledged literature. The novels make generalizations about human life but are mostly driven by plot. It is pulp fiction of the highest rank: well-written, often humorous, and highly dependable. This novel, like others of Chandler, should hold its place in the detective genre for ages to come.
The Chandler novels have been republished in an attractive collection by Black Lizard, the crime subsidiary of Vintage Books. 'Farewell, My Lovely' is 292 pages long, in a nice art deco format. Imperfect but highly entertaining, the novel is a must for crime fiction fans.
