She was the music heard faintly on the edge of sound.
Interpretation
This quote suggests that a person can evoke profound feelings and artistic inspiration, even in subtle ways.
Raymond Chandler's quote illustrates the idea that some individuals resonate deeply within us, much like a beautiful melody that lingers in the background. This 'music' represents the powerful emotional impact a person can have—often felt subtly or subtly missed—highlighting the influence and beauty that can be found in profound connections, even when they are not immediately apparent.
In practice
This quote can be used in a creative writing workshop to discuss the impact of subtle inspirations.
Undoubtedly the stories about them [hard-boiled detectives] had a fantastic element. Such things happened, but not so rapidly, nor to so close-knit a group of people, nor within so narrow a frame of logic. This was inevitable because the demand was for constant action; if you stopped to think you were lost. When in doubt, have a man come through a door with a gun in his hand.
There was a desert wind blowing that night. It was one of those hot dry Santa Anas that come down through the mountain passes and curl your hair and make your nerves jump and your skin itch. On nights like that every booze party ends in a fight. Meek little wives feel the edge of the carving knife and study their husbands' necks. Anything can happen. You can even get a full glass of beer at a cocktail lounge.
Organized crime is the dirty side of the sharp dollar.
When in doubt, have a man come through the door with a gun in his hand.
The flood of print has turned reading into a process of gulping rather than savoring.
If my books had been any worse, I should not have been invited to Hollywood, and if they had been any better, I should not have come.
Not since the Lord himself showed his stuff to Ezekiel in the valley of dry bones had anyone brought such grace and skill to the reconstruction of animals from disarticulated skeletons. Charles R. Knight, most celebrated of artists in the reanimation of fossils, painted all the canonical figures of dinosaurs that fire our fear and imagination to this day.
When you start to think of the arts as not this thing that is going to get you somewhere in terms of becoming an artist or becoming famous or whatever it is that people do, but rather a way of making being in the world not just bearable, but fascinating, then it starts to get interesting again.
I have a sweet tooth for song and music. This is my Polish sin.
I suppose I'm saying that defiance is actually part of the lyric job
Writing for me is cutting out the fat and getting to the meaning.
Good wine is a good familiar creature if it be well used.
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