Lew archer ross macdonald biography

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Archer is a private detective working in Southern California. Macdonald's Archer novels have been praised for building on the foundations of hardboiled fiction by introducing more literary themes and psychological depth to the genre. Critic John Leonard declared that Macdonald had surpassed the limits of crime fiction to become "a major American novelist" [ 2 ] while author Eudora Welty was a fan of the series and carried on a lengthy correspondence with Macdonald.

Initially, Lew Archer was similar to if not completely a derivative of Philip Marlowe , the pioneering sleuth created by Raymond Chandler in the s. However, Macdonald eventually broke from that mold, though some similarities remain. Archer's principal difference is that he is much more openly sensitive and empathetic than the tough Marlowe.

He also serves a different function from Marlowe. Chandler's books were primarily studies of Marlowe's character and code of honor, while Macdonald used Archer as a lens to explore the relationships of the other characters in the novels. Macdonald wrote, "Certainly my narrator Archer is not the main object of my interest, nor the character with whose fate I am most concerned," and moreover that Archer "is not their [the novels'] emotional center.

Another subtle difference was that Marlowe prowled the city of Los Angeles during the s, while Lew Archer primarily worked the suburbs in the s, moving outward with the populace.

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Like Marlowe, Archer observes growing dichotomies in American society with visual "snapshots". His path repeatedly crosses a group of young surfers who own a hearse painted in gay zebra stripes. To the youngsters, death is remote and funny. To the world-weary detective, it's close and grim. Lew Archer is largely a cipher, rarely described.

His background is most thoroughly explored in The Moving Target : he got his training with the Long Beach California Police Department, but left Archer himself says he was "fired" after witnessing too much corruption.