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The Big Sleep
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The Big Sleep Compact disc - 2011

by Raymond Chandler; Toby Stephens (Featuring)

About this book

The Big Sleep is a crime novel by Raymond Chandler, the first in his acclaimed series about hardboiled detective Philip Marlowe. The work has been adapted twice into film, once in 1946 starring Humphry Bogart and Lauren Bacall, and again in 1978 starring Robert Mitchum. The story is noted for its complexity and is heavily influenced by classic Greek tragedy, with many characters double-crossing each other and many secrets being exposed throughout the narrative. -

From the publisher

Fast-talking, trouble-seeking private eye Philip Marlowe is a different kind of detective: a moral man in an amoral world. California in the 1940s and 1950s is as beautiful as a ripe fruit and rotten to the core, and Marlowe must struggle to retain his integrity amidst the corruption he encounters daily. "The Big Sleep" finds the world-weary, wisecracking investigator consulted by a wealthy family man with two big problems: his children. Carmen Sternwood has got herself mixed up with a blackmailer, while Vivian has managed to mislay her husband, ex-bootlegger Rusty Regan. Old, ailing General Sternwood hires Marlowe to take care of things but it s not too long before the bodies start piling up, and Marlowe finds himself knee-deep in trouble. . . Starring Toby Stephens, this landmark dramatization retains all the suspense and excitement of Chandler s complex and compelling novel.

2 CDs. 1 hr 26 mins."

First Edition Identification

 First edition published by Alfred A. Knopf in 1939. Stated first edition on the copyright page and $2.00 price point on the dust jacket. The initial edition barely sold 13,000. It was not until after the 1946 film that the novel gained in popularity. 

Details

  • Title The Big Sleep
  • Author Raymond Chandler; Toby Stephens (Featuring)
  • Binding Compact Disc
  • Pages 2
  • Volumes 2
  • Language ENG
  • Publisher Audiogo
  • Date 2011-05
  • ISBN 9781408427538 / 1408427532
  • Weight 0.25 lbs (0.11 kg)
  • Dimensions 4.9 x 5.6 x 0.4 in (12.45 x 14.22 x 1.02 cm)
  • Dewey Decimal Code FIC

About the author

Raymond Chandler was born in Chicago in 1888. He was educated at Dulwich College, London and studied international law in France and Germany. He published a number of poems and essays in local papers and worked as a reporter, essayist, and book reviewer. After serving for the Canadian Army during World War I he became a bookkeeper and auditor for Dabney Oil Syndicate. In 1939 he published "The Big Sleep" to instant acclaim in Britain and the US, introducing the world to his iconic private eye, Philip Marlowe. With "Farewell My Lovely" and "The Long Goodbye," Chandler cemented his reputation as a giant of American popular culture and master of a style of detective fiction that would be widely admired and imitated. Chandler turned to screenwriting with "Double Indemnity." He continued to write for Hollywood during the heyday of the Hollywood studio system, receiving an Oscar nomination for "The Blue Dahlia." In 1946 Chandler received an Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America for screenplay and in 1954 for novel writing. During the last year of his life he was made President of the Mystery Writers of America. He died from pneumonia in 1959.

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