24 minutes of Ian Fleming interviewing Raymond Chandler in 1958. It starts like this:
i f: Well, the first thing, really, is to define what we’re supposed to be talking about. I think the title of what we’re supposed to be talking about is English and American thrillers. What is a thriller? To my mind of course, you don’t write thrillers and I do.Here's a pdf of the interview. Via Neil Gaiman, whose been investigating when Los Angeles stopped being pronounced An-Guh-Less.
r c: I do too.
i f : I don’t call yours thrillers. Yours are novels.
r c: A lot of people call them thrillers.
i f : I know. I think it’s wrong.
I think I see Ian's point, if you define a thriller in terms of the pace of the action and depth of the plot. Ian's stories, from Bond to Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, had fast-paced action and shallow plots, like running white-water rapids. On the other hand, Raymond's novels, like Farewell My Lovely and The Big Sleep, had less action and deeper plots. Having read Fleming and Chandler, I can say that they are both very well written and extremely enjoyable to read, but they really are not the same genre.
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