The brilliant, exquisitely talented Raymond Chandler, Cain’s contemporary and peer (and incidentally the co-author of the Oscar-nominated screenplay for Double Indemnity), was one of those who loathed Cain. He wrote, with characteristic eloquence and pungency, “He is every kind of writer I detest … a Proust in greasy overalls, a dirty little boy with a piece of chalk and a board fence and nobody looking.” But Chandler had it wrong. He thought this description of Cain was a condemnation, when in fact it was a badge of honor. And everyone was looking.
