Newly discovered Chandler story chastises medical industry
NEW YORK — A newly discovered Raymond Chandler story has everything from an indictment of the medical industry to some mysterious scribble.
“It’s All Right: He Only Died,” the title suggesting a macabre Bob Dylan song, is a brief, bitter narrative about a doctor who refuses to treat a patient and the consequences of his decision. The story appears in the holiday edition of The Strand Magazine and comes with an author’s note from Chandler and a puzzler for readers. The Strand’s layout includes some handwritten comments by Chandler at the bottom of the manuscript, so illegible the magazine is asking for help. (Individual words, such as “suddenly” and “she,” can be deciphered).
“Whenever we get stumped, we call on our readers’ skills and intelligence to save the day,” reads an editor’s note. “Email us your ideas to unlock the ‘Chandler Code’ at chandlercode@strandmag.com.”
Chandler, who died in 1959, is known for “The Big Sleep,” ”Farewell, My Lovely” and other fiction featuring private eye Philip Marlowe. Sarah Trott, author of “War Noir: Raymond Chandler and the Hard-Boiled Detective as Veteran in American Fiction,” believes that “It’s All Right” was written between 1956 and 1958. Strand managing editor Andrew Gulli obtained the story from the University of Oxford’s Bodleian Library, to which “It’s All Right” and other papers were donated in a shoe box in the 1990s.