Lew Archer
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Lew Archer is a
fictional character In fiction, a character (or speaker, in poetry) is a person or other being in a narrative (such as a novel, play, radio or television series, music, film, or video game). The character may be entirely fictional or based on a real-life person, ...
created by American-Canadian writer Ross Macdonald. Archer is a private detective working in Southern
California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
. Between the late 1940s and the early '70s, the character appeared in 18 novels and a handful of shorter works as well as several film and television adaptations. Macdonald's Archer novels have been praised for building on the foundations of
hardboiled fiction Hardboiled (or hard-boiled) fiction is a literary genre that shares some of its characters and settings with crime fiction (especially detective fiction and noir fiction). The genre's typical protagonist is a detective who battles the violence o ...
by introducing more literary themes and psychological depth to the genre. Critic John Leonard declared that Macdonald had surpassed the limits of crime fiction to become "a major American novelist" while author
Eudora Welty Eudora Alice Welty (April 13, 1909 – July 23, 2001) was an American short story writer, novelist and photographer who wrote about the American South. Her novel ''The Optimist's Daughter'' won the Pulitzer Prize in 1973. Welty received numero ...
was a fan of the series and carried on a lengthy correspondence with Macdonald. The editors of ''Thrilling Detective'' wrote: "The greatest P.I. series ever written? Probably."


Profile

Initially, Lew Archer was similar to (if not completely a derivative of)
Philip Marlowe Philip Marlowe () is a fictional character created by Raymond Chandler, who was characteristic of the hardboiled crime fiction genre. The hardboiled crime fiction genre originated in the 1920s, notably in ''Black Mask'' magazine, in which Dashiel ...
, the pioneering sleuth created by
Raymond Chandler Raymond Thornton Chandler (July 23, 1888 – March 26, 1959) was an American-British novelist and screenwriter. In 1932, at the age of forty-four, Chandler became a detective fiction writer after losing his job as an oil company executive durin ...
in the 1930s. However, Macdonald eventually broke from that mold, though some similarities remain. Archer's principal difference is that he is much more openly sensitive and empathetic than the tough Marlowe. He also serves a different function from Marlowe. Chandler's books were primarily studies of Marlowe's character and code of honor, while Macdonald used Archer as a lens to explore the relationships of the other characters in the novels. Macdonald wrote, "Certainly my narrator Archer is not the main object of my interest, nor the character with whose fate I am most concerned," and moreover that Archer "is not their
he novels' He or HE may refer to: Language * He (pronoun), an English pronoun * He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ * He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets * He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' ...
emotional center." Another subtle difference was that Marlowe prowled the city of Los Angeles during the 1940s, while Lew Archer primarily worked the suburbs in the 1950s, moving outward with the populace. Like Marlowe, Archer observes growing dichotomies in American society with visual "snapshots". In ''
The Zebra-Striped Hearse ''The Zebra-Striped Hearse'' is a detective mystery written in 1962 by American author Ross Macdonald, the tenth book featuring his private eye, Lew Archer. The Coen Brothers wrote an as-yet-unproduced screenplay based on the novel for Joel Silver ...
'', Archer hunts a missing girl who may be dead, possibly murdered. His path repeatedly crosses a group of young surfers who own a
hearse A hearse is a large vehicle, originally a horse carriage but later with the introduction of motor vehicles, a car, used to carry the body of a deceased person in a coffin at a funeral, wake, or memorial service. They range from deliberately ano ...
painted in gay zebra stripes. To the youngsters, death is remote and funny. To the world-weary detective, it's close and grim. Lew Archer is largely a cipher, rarely described. His background is most thoroughly explored in ''
The Moving Target ''The Moving Target'' is a detective novel by writer Ross Macdonald, first published by Alfred A. Knopf in April 1949. The novel ''The Moving Target'' introduces the detective Lew Archer, who was eventually to figure in a further seventeen nove ...
'': he got his training with the Long Beach California Police Department, but left (Archer himself says he was "fired") after witnessing too much corruption. Subsequent novels mentioned details of Archer's life only in passing. In ''Black Money'' (1966) Archer mentions that he's about 50 years old, thus born circa 1916. In ''
The Doomsters ''The Doomsters'' is a 1958 mystery novel by American writer Ross Macdonald, the seventh book in his Lew Archer series. Plot summary Archer is hired by escaped mental patient Carl Hallman to investigate the deaths of his wealthy and influential ...
'' a sheriff mocks his 6'2" and blue eyes. As old failures plague him, we learn he once "took the strap away from my old man", that he was a troubled kid and petty thief redeemed by an old cop, that he sometimes drank too much, that his ex-wife's name is Sue, and he thinks of her often. During
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, he served in
military intelligence Military intelligence is a military discipline that uses information collection and analysis approaches to provide guidance and direction to assist commanders in their decisions. This aim is achieved by providing an assessment of data from a ...
in the
United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...
, again mentioned in ''The Doomsters''. Archer is sometimes depressed, often world-weary. An almost Greek sense of tragedy pervades the novels as the sins of omission and crimes of sometimes-wealthy parents are frequently visited upon their children, young adults whom Archer tries desperately to save from disaster. This use of Greek drama was deliberate, e.g., Macdonald based ''The Galton Case'' (1959) on a loose interpretation of the
Oedipus Oedipus (, ; grc-gre, Οἰδίπους "swollen foot") was a mythical Greek king of Thebes. A tragic hero in Greek mythology, Oedipus accidentally fulfilled a prophecy that he would end up killing his father and marrying his mother, thereby ...
myth.Macdonald, Ross (1973). On Crime Fiction. Santa Barbara : Capra Press, Series title: Yes! Capra chapbook series ; no. 11 Key incidents in the novels are typically separated by fifteen years, a scant generation, as evidence from old crimes surfaces to haunt new characters. As suspense in a novel builds toward a climax, Archer often gets little or no sleep, racing the clock and prowling the suburban Southern California landscape day after night after day, trying to put the pieces of a puzzle together in order to prevent new violence. This 36- or 48-hour wakefulness mimes the classic Greek tragic play where everything takes place in one day; here it might be more than a day, but since the character doesn't get to sleep, it essentially honors the tragic convention and contributes to the sense of unalterable impending doom. Tom Nolan in his ''Ross Macdonald, A Biography,'' wrote of the author, "Gradually he swapped the hard-boiled trappings for more subjective themes: personal identity, the family secret, the family scapegoat, the childhood trauma; how men and women need and battle each other, how the buried past rises like a skeleton to confront the present. He brought the tragic drama of
Sophocles Sophocles (; grc, Σοφοκλῆς, , Sophoklễs; 497/6 – winter 406/5 BC)Sommerstein (2002), p. 41. is one of three ancient Greek tragedians, at least one of whose plays has survived in full. His first plays were written later than, or co ...
and the psychology of
Freud Sigmund Freud ( , ; born Sigismund Schlomo Freud; 6 May 1856 – 23 September 1939) was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis, a clinical method for evaluating and treating pathologies explained as originating in conflicts in ...
to detective stories, and his prose flashed with poetic imagery." Philosophical references underlined the thoughtful tone of the novels, with '' The Chill'' (1964) having mentions of
Parmenides Parmenides of Elea (; grc-gre, Παρμενίδης ὁ Ἐλεάτης; ) was a pre-Socratic Greek philosopher from Elea in Magna Graecia. Parmenides was born in the Greek colony of Elea, from a wealthy and illustrious family. His dates a ...
,
Heraclitus Heraclitus of Ephesus (; grc-gre, Ἡράκλειτος , "Glory of Hera"; ) was an ancient Greek pre-Socratic philosopher from the city of Ephesus, which was then part of the Persian Empire. Little is known of Heraclitus's life. He wrote ...
and
Achilles and the tortoise Zeno's paradoxes are a set of philosophical problems generally thought to have been devised by Greek philosopher Zeno of Elea (c. 490–430 BC) to support Parmenides' doctrine that contrary to the evidence of one's senses, the belief in pluralit ...
, while ''Black Money'' (1966) briefly discusses
Henri Bergson Henri-Louis Bergson (; 18 October 1859 – 4 January 1941) was a French philosopherHenri Bergson. 2014. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Retrieved 13 August 2014, from https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/61856/Henri-Bergson
. The only recurring characters of note are Arnie and Phyllis Walters, who appear in several of the novels and seem to enjoy a warm friendship with Archer. Arnie is a private detective in
Reno, Nevada Reno ( ) is a city in the northwest section of the U.S. state of Nevada, along the Nevada-California border, about north from Lake Tahoe, known as "The Biggest Little City in the World". Known for its casino and tourism industry, Reno is the ...
, about 470 miles north of Los Angeles. Archer sometimes calls upon Artie for assistance with cases that lead to Nevada. Archer's investigations sometimes lead from California to Nevada, due in part to Nevada then having some of the most liberal marriage and divorce laws in the nation, and also due to Nevada then being one of the only states with legalized
casino gambling A casino is a facility for certain types of gambling. Casinos are often built near or combined with hotels, resorts, restaurants, retail shopping, cruise ships, and other tourist attractions. Some casinos are also known for hosting live entertai ...
and the associated
organized crime Organized crime (or organised crime) is a category of transnational, national, or local groupings of highly centralized enterprises run by criminals to engage in illegal activity, most commonly for profit. While organized crime is generally th ...
presence. Archer's name pays a double homage: first to
Dashiell Hammett Samuel Dashiell Hammett (; May 27, 1894 – January 10, 1961) was an American writer of hard-boiled detective novels and short stories. He was also a screenwriter and political activist. Among the enduring characters he created are Sam Spade ('' ...
("Miles Archer" was the name of
Sam Spade Sam Spade is a fictional character and the protagonist of Dashiell Hammett's 1930 novel '' The Maltese Falcon''. Spade also appeared in four lesser-known short stories by Hammett. ''The Maltese Falcon'', first published as a serial in the pulp ...
's murdered partner in '' The Maltese Falcon'' ), while
Lew Wallace Lewis Wallace (April 10, 1827February 15, 1905) was an American lawyer, Union general in the American Civil War, governor of the New Mexico Territory, politician, diplomat, and author from Indiana. Among his novels and biographies, Wallace is ...
was the author of the novel '' Ben Hur'' (1880).


Recognition

According to a
New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
article, "some critics ranked him acdonaldamong the best American novelists of his generation". William Goldman of the newspaper's Book Review section wrote that the Archer books were "the finest series of detective novels ever written by an American". Over his career, Macdonald was presented with several awards, primarily for his Lew Archer series. In 1964, the
Mystery Writers of America Mystery Writers of America (MWA) is an organization of mystery and crime writers, based in New York City. The organization was founded in 1945 by Clayton Rawson, Anthony Boucher, Lawrence Treat, and Brett Halliday. It presents the Edgar Award ...
awarded the author the Silver Dagger award for ''The Chill''. Ten years later, he received the Grand Master Award from the Mystery Writers of America, and in 1982 he received "The Eye", the Lifetime Achievement
Shamus Award The Shamus Award is awarded by the Private Eye Writers of America (PWA) for the best detective fiction ( P. I. = Private investigator) genre novels and short stories A short story is a piece of prose fiction that typically can be read in one si ...
from the Private Eye Writers of America. In 1982, he was awarded the Robert Kirsch Award (the
Los Angeles Times Book Prize Since 1980, the ''Los Angeles Times'' has awarded a set of annual book prizes. The Prizes currently have nine categories: biography, current interest, fiction, first fiction (the Art Seidenbaum Award added in 1991), history, mystery/thriller ( ...
) by the
Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...
for "an outstanding body of work by an author from the West or featuring the West."Mystery Writer Ross Macdonald, 67, Dies July 13, 1983
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Books


Novels

# ''
The Moving Target ''The Moving Target'' is a detective novel by writer Ross Macdonald, first published by Alfred A. Knopf in April 1949. The novel ''The Moving Target'' introduces the detective Lew Archer, who was eventually to figure in a further seventeen nove ...
'' (1949) # '' The Drowning Pool'' (1950) # ''
The Way Some People Die ''The Way Some People Die'' is a detective mystery published, under the author's then pseudonym of John Ross Macdonald, by Alfred A. Knopf in 1951. It is Ross Macdonald's third book to feature his private eye Lew Archer. The plot centres on the ac ...
'' (1951) # ''
The Ivory Grin The Ivory Grin is Ross Macdonald's fourth Lew Archer detective novel, published in April 1952. Like most of Macdonald's, the plot is complicated and takes place mostly in out of the way Californian locations. The novel Macdonald's working title ...
'' (1952; aka ''Marked for Murder'') # '' Find a Victim'' (1954) # ''
The Barbarous Coast The Barbarous Coast is a 1956 detective novel by Canadian-American author Ross Macdonald, the sixth to feature private investigator Lew Archer and his eleventh novel overall. It was published by Alfred A. Knopf in hardcover, and by Bantam Books a ...
'' (1956) # ''
The Doomsters ''The Doomsters'' is a 1958 mystery novel by American writer Ross Macdonald, the seventh book in his Lew Archer series. Plot summary Archer is hired by escaped mental patient Carl Hallman to investigate the deaths of his wealthy and influential ...
'' (1958) # ''
The Galton Case ''The Galton Case'' is the eighth novel in the Lew Archer series by Ross Macdonald. It was published in the US in 1959 by Knopf and in 1960 by Cassel & Co in the UK. The book has been widely translated, although the title has been changed in so ...
'' (1959) # ''
The Wycherly Woman The Wycherly Woman is a detective novel by Ross Macdonald. The ninth to feature Lew Archer, it was published by Alfred A. Knopf in 1961. Earlier that year a condensed version had appeared in ''Cosmopolitan'' under the title "Take My Daughter Hom ...
'' (1961) # ''
The Zebra-Striped Hearse ''The Zebra-Striped Hearse'' is a detective mystery written in 1962 by American author Ross Macdonald, the tenth book featuring his private eye, Lew Archer. The Coen Brothers wrote an as-yet-unproduced screenplay based on the novel for Joel Silver ...
'' (1962) # '' The Chill'' (1964) # ''The Far Side of the Dollar'' (1965) # '' Black Money'' (1966) # ''The Instant Enemy'' (1968) # ''The Goodbye Look'' (1969) # ''The Underground Man'' (1971) # ''
Sleeping Beauty ''Sleeping Beauty'' (french: La belle au bois dormant, or ''The Beauty in the Sleeping Forest''; german: Dornröschen, or ''Little Briar Rose''), also titled in English as ''The Sleeping Beauty in the Woods'', is a fairy tale about a princess cu ...
'' (1973) # ''The Blue Hammer'' (1976)


Short stories

* "Find the Woman" (June 1946, EQMM) * "The Bearded Lady" (American Magazine, October 1948) * "The Imaginary Blonde" (February 1953, Manhunt; AKA Gone Girl) * "The Guilty Ones" (May 1953, Manhunt; AKA The Sinister Habit) * "The Beat-Up Sister" (October 1953, Manhunt; AKA The Suicide) * "Guilt-Edged Blonde" (January 1954, Manhunt) * "Wild Goose Chase" (Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, July 1954) * "Midnight Blue" (October 1960, Ed McBain's Mystery Magazine) * "The Sleeping Dog" (April 1965, Argosy) :in three collections: '' The Name Is Archer'', ''Lew Archer, Private Investigator'', and ''Strangers in Town''


Adaptations


Film

The character has been adapted for visual media several times: Two feature films starring
Paul Newman Paul Leonard Newman (January 26, 1925 – September 26, 2008) was an American actor, film director, race car driver, philanthropist, and entrepreneur. He was the recipient of numerous awards, including an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, three ...
as "Lew ''Harper''": *''
Harper Harper may refer to: Names * Harper (name), a surname and given name Places ;in Canada * Harper Islands, Nunavut *Harper, Prince Edward Island ;In the United States *Harper, former name of Costa Mesa, California in Orange County * Harper, Il ...
'' (1966, directed by
Jack Smight John Ronald Smight (March 9, 1925 – September 1, 2003) was an American theatre and film director. His film credits include ''Harper'' (1966), '' No Way to Treat a Lady'' (1968), ''Airport 1975'' (1974), '' Midway'' (1976), and ''Fast Break'' ...
) derived from the novel ''
The Moving Target ''The Moving Target'' is a detective novel by writer Ross Macdonald, first published by Alfred A. Knopf in April 1949. The novel ''The Moving Target'' introduces the detective Lew Archer, who was eventually to figure in a further seventeen nove ...
'' (1949) *'' The Drowning Pool'' (1975, directed by
Stuart Rosenberg Stuart Rosenberg (August 11, 1927 – March 15, 2007) was an American film and television director whose motion pictures include '' Cool Hand Luke'' (1967), ''Voyage of the Damned'' (1976), ''The Amityville Horror'' (1979), and ''The Pope of Gree ...
) derived from the novel of the same title *''The Underground Man'' (1974, directed by Paul Wendkos) a television movie starring
Peter Graves Peter Graves (born Peter Duesler Aurness; March 18, 1926 – March 14, 2010) was an American actor. He was best known for his role as Jim Phelps in the CBS television series '' Mission: Impossible'' from 1967 to 1973 (original) and from 1988 to ...
.
Random House Films Random House Studio is a production company responsible for adapting books published by Penguin Random House to film and TV. The company, originally owned by Penguin Random House, was transferred to Bertelsmann sister company Fremantle North Am ...
made a deal in October 2011 to create a movie franchise of Ross Macdonald's detective Lew Archer with
Silver Pictures Silver Pictures is an American film production company founded by Hollywood producer Joel Silver in 1980. The Silver Pictures logo, also called The Chip, is modeled on a block pattern that Frank Lloyd Wright designed for the exteriors of the St ...
and
Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. D ...
Rights holder Stephen White and Random House Studio president Peter Gethers would be executive producers on the movies. This movie series would start adapting with the eighth book in the series, ''The Galton Case''. From Silver Pictures, Andrew Rona and Alex Heineman will be executive producers with Joel Silver producing.


TV series

''
Archer Archery is the sport, practice, or skill of using a bow to shoot arrows.Paterson ''Encyclopaedia of Archery'' p. 17 The word comes from the Latin ''arcus'', meaning bow. Historically, archery has been used for hunting and combat. In mo ...
'', a 1975
NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...
TV series (NBC) starring
Brian Keith Brian Keith (born Robert Alba Keith, November 14, 1921 – June 24, 1997) was an American film, television, and stage actor who in his six-decade career gained recognition for his work in films such as the Disney family film '' The Parent T ...
based on the character. It was cancelled after six episodes: *"The Turkish Connection", aired 30 January 1975 *"The Arsonist", aired 6 February 1975 *"The Body Beautiful", aired 13 February 1975 *"Shades of Blue", aired 20 February 1975 *"The Vanished Man", aired 6 March 1975 *"Blood Money", aired 13 March 1975 ''Le Loup de la côte Ouest'' (2002, Hugo Santiago from the short story "Guilt-Edged Blonde") starring James Faulkner as Lew ''Millar''. (Alternate Title: The Wolf of the West Coast)


Radio

* "Sleeping Beauty", aired 1 January 1996 on
NPR National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other ...
starring
Harris Yulin Harris Yulin (born November 5, 1937) is an American actor who has appeared in over a hundred film and television series roles, such as '' Scarface'' (1983), ''Ghostbusters II'' (1989), '' Clear and Present Danger'' (1994), '' Looking for Richard' ...
as Archer * "The Zebra Striped Hearse", produced by
KCRW KCRW (89.9 MHz FM) is a National Public Radio member station broadcasting from the campus of Santa Monica College in Santa Monica, California, where the station is licensed. KCRW airs original news and music programming in addition to programm ...
starring Harris Yulin as Archer


References


External links


Lew Archer on ''ThrillingDetective.com''Lew Archer series
at Good Reads.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Archer, Lew Fictional private investigators Characters in American novels of the 20th century