Writer James Chase: biography, creativity, books and reviews

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

The author of detective novels James Hadley Chase became widely popular in Russia and throughout the post-Soviet space only in the nineties. But throughout the rest of the literary world, he was known for a long time and rightfully enjoyed authority as one of the largest luminaries in the field of the criminal genre.

Some facts from the biography of the author of detective stories

The future famous writer James Hadley Chase was born in December 1906 in the capital of Great Britain. As befits the son of a retired British officer, he received a classical English Victorian education at a high school in Rochester, Kent. And later he continued it in the colony, in Calcutta. But it should be noted that in the school magazine he was listed as Rene Brabazon Raymond. That was the name given to him at birth.

And he would take the pseudonym James Hadley Chase much later, when he chose a literary career. But there was still a long way to go before her. And this has its own positive meaning - before taking up a pen, a person should experience something in life.

On the way to literature

Contrary to the expectations of relatives, the future James Chase, when choosing a life path, categorically refusedmilitary and government service. He began an independent life early and managed to try many different professions. He earned his livelihood mainly in the sphere of commerce. This did not bring any we alth to the young man, but greatly expanded his ideas about the world around him and social mores. The book trade and everything connected with it seemed closest to him.

For several years, he could observe everything that happens in the literary world of London from a close distance. And this determined the final life choice, which James Chase came to at the age of thirty. His commercial career had by this point culminated as a department head in a large bookstore. He decides to try his hand at competing with those people whose products he was forced to trade.

First steps

Having studied the demands and customs of the mass public well, the writer begins with works of an easy form - short humorous stories and feuilletons. But this does not bring tangible success. And James Chase really loudly declared himself the first major novel - "No Orchids for Miss Blandish." This work is considered his debut. It immediately determined the level of his skill and made him treat the thirty-two-year-old author as an already mature writer.

This book, which by its plot is an ordinary gangster thriller, at first glance did not differ from any of its kind. But readers andThe novel attracted publishers with its lightness of style and wit in the presentation of criminal life. It was the first novel signed by the pseudonym James Hadley Chase. The public considered him to be his real name.

During the war

James Chase, whose books were readily bought by the reading public and published by major publishers, was inspired by the long-awaited success and worked on new works. But his creative plans were hindered by the Second World War. From September 1940, London was subjected to fierce bombing by German aircraft. It left no choice. James Chase becomes a pilot in the Royal Air Force of Great Britain. He makes sorties and fights against the Nazis.

In the Pacific

The novels of James Chase in the post-war period firmly entered the literary circulation as a kind of classic of the crime genre. The writer could only rejoice at such a state of affairs. But this also lurked a considerable danger for further creative development.

It was easy to get bogged down in clichés and endless repetition of what had already been written. To avoid this, James Chase travels to Southeast Asia. The action of his new novels will unfold in this very vast and far from Europe region of the planet. A series of novels from the life of the Asian mafia, the best of which are considered "The Coffin from Hong Kong" and "Lotus for Miss Kwon", was created by the writer already in the sixties. The writer himself at that time moved to permanent residence in France.

Stylistic features

Many readers of James Chase's novels, which mostly take place on the territory of the United States of America, do not even realize that the writer himself rarely had a chance to visit this country. And the persuasiveness in the depiction of American realities is the exclusive merit of the author's talent and imagination. As well as the ability to collect and comprehend the collected information. Reviews of readers and literary critics about Chase's novels agree that their success is due to the author's ability to create a dark oppressive atmosphere in his works and intrigue by the inability to calculate the development of events.

Their outcome is most often unexpected for the reader. And of course, that specific black humor that corresponds to the depicted realities and characters. His closest competitors in the detective genre are such American authors as Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett. For the stylistic designation of this genre, it is most often customary to operate with the definition of "noir". There is nothing surprising in the fact that the books of James Chase were widely filmed in many countries of the world. What is interesting here is that European directors turned to this material much more often than Hollywood ones.

Chase's books in Russia

James Hadley Chase, whose books have managed to win steady success all over the world, came to Russia very late. This was due solely to ideological circumstances. Reviews of the officialSoviet criticism of this kind of literature has always been sharply negative. Consequently, it simply was not published, and no one knew about it. This state of affairs changed only in the era of perestroika, when ideological barriers collapsed and the inhabitants of a vast country were allowed to read and watch what they wanted. And not what the ideological authorities allowed.

For several years, almost the entire literary heritage of James Chase has been translated into Russian. His books were published in millions of copies throughout the post-Soviet space. And one can only regret that James Chase, who left this world in February 1985, was not destined to find out about this. In Russia, he became known only posthumously. But reading some of his modern Russian colleagues, it is easy to see from whom they learned to twist the criminal intrigue and put the characters in their places.