He calls it a "daydream appropriate to a totalitarian age."
In spite of Orwell's reservations, his essay provides a fairly comprehensive examination of Raymond's writing. For example, Orwell notes that the language, plot, and moral attitudes in the novel so carefully copied its predecessors in the school of hard-boiled crime fiction that many in Great Britain thought it a reprint of an American import. Orwell also pointed out what a departure the novel was from the traditions of English sensational fiction, in which there had always been "a sharp distinction between right and wrong and a general agreement that virtue must triumph in the last chapter." While Orwell deplored the corruption of British sensibilities that the popularity of the novels suggested, he unwittingly uncovered a shift that crime fiction made after World War II, a shift that No Orchids for Miss Blandish prefigured. Certainly, the novels of Raymond have a contemporary feel that most other crime fiction written during his most productive period lack. Orwell's insights provide the reasons for retrieving Raymond's fiction from its current neglect.
René Brabazon Raymond was born in London, England, on 24 December 1906. His father, Colonel Francis Raymond, was a veterinary surgeon.
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