The great hardboiled author Raymond Chandler is a big favorite of ours here at Cladrite Radio, and if you’re a fan, too, you’ll want to avail yourself of the stream of the Symphony Space’s recent panel discussion of Chandler and his debut 1939 novel, The Big Sleep.

It’s an intriguing, enlightening discussion that suggested some new ways for us to look at the great man’s work.

The participants were Jonathan Lethem, whose first novel, Gun, with Occasional Music, was, he openly admits, fully intended to be Chandler-esque; Judith Freeman, author of The Long Embrace: Raymond Chandler and The Woman He Loved (a volume we highly recommend); and Rich Cohen, author of Sweet and Low: A Family Story, and each brings interesting insights to the table.