Advice to a Secretary by Raymond Chandler
Andrew Gulli, the managing editor of the Strand Magazine, has a knack for finding hidden literary gems. Over the past few years, previously unpublished works by (among others) John Steinbeck, Ernest Hemingway, Shirley Jackson, Agatha Christie and Louisa May Alcott have graced its pages and delighted readers.
Gulli’s gone and done it again. This month’s issue features an essay by Raymond Chandler, “Advice to a Secretary” — the third such piece by the noir novelist to be introduced to the world within the Strand’s pages. But it wasn’t without hiccups, says Gulli. “We were going to run it last issue but we realized that there was a page missing, so we had to contact our friends at the Bod who found the lost page and sent it to us.”
“The Bod” refers to the Bodleian Library in Oxford, UK, where Gulli discovered the essay in a shoebox with several of Chandler’s papers, including another essay published by the Strand in October 2020 that could be seen as a companion piece, “Advice to an Employer.”
According to Chandler scholar Dr. Sarah Trott in her illuminating preface to the piece, both essays are “informal letters Raymond Chandler wrote to his personal secretary, Juanita Messick, who enjoyed a close friendship with the writer and his wife, Cissy.” Chandler’s playful and direct prose speaks volumes about their mutual respect and fondness.
HUMOR, INSTRUCTION AND PERSONAL PHILOSOPHY
Topics covered in “Advice to a Secretary” range from the humorous (“…if you get to work late, don’t apologize. Just give a simple explanation of why … You may have overslept. You may have been drunk. We are both just people.”) to the instructive (“If you do not fully understand … say so and demand an explanation. If the explanation you get does not clarify things for you, demand another explanation.”)
Chandler also muses on the employer-employee relationship: “I hate to have power over people; I love to have power over my own mind and do not have nearly enough of it.” And, “It is part of your job as a secretary to see that [your boss] does not go off half-cocked. If he is talking nonsense, tell him so.”
Along the way, Chandler espouses his approach to punctuation and grammar, revealing insights into his craft. The wrestling match between writers and editors is evident in such comments as “There is no such thing as perfect punctuation, because punctuation is an art and not a science.” (And the editors among you will note the stubborn insertion of a comma here, no doubt to “reproduce the cadences of the voice,” as Chandler puts it.)
Says Gulli, “Despite his reputation as the hard-drinking, brash master of the noir novel, Chandler could be playful, whimsical, and lighthearted.” The two essays are wonderful opportunities to take a peek behind this facade. Dr. Trott concurs. “…The real value here is that we are allowed to see the kind, funny, human side of a writer known for his intense privacy. For a moment we see the big-hearted softie under the tough-guy trench coat.”
“Advice to a Secretary” is contained in issue 63 of the Strand, which is now available now on newsstands and on the publication’s website.
