"La surprise de l’automne", writes Le Devoir critic Michel Bélair. Indeed, it is. Tomorrow sees publication of Meurtre à Westmount, a translation of David Montrose's The Crime on Cote des Neiges, marking the first time the author's work has been available in French. Credit goes to translator Sophie Cardinal-Corriveau who discovered Montrose through the 2010 Ricochet Books reissue. She knows talent when she sees it, as does Éditions Hurtubise editor André Gagnon, who writes in his note de l'éditeur, "j'ai pensé qu'il serait si j'ose dire criminel de ne pas offrir au lectorat francophone québécois cette irrésistible radiographie de la vie montréalaise des années d'après-querre, une histoire aussi sombre sue grinçante, pimentée d'action et arrosée de quelques bonnes pintes de Dow."
Yvon Roy contributed the cover illustration to this very handsome edition. A translation of my Ricochet Preface also features.
M Bélair describes Montrose as a writer of talent, comparing him favourably to Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler.
He'll get no argument from me.
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Congrats on the ripple effect. Great cover too.
ReplyDeleteMany thanks, Ralph. I like to think that Murder Over Dorval is next.
DeleteThere is nothing more annoying that someone writing in English who includes a quote in a different language (and a long one at that) and doesn't bother to translate it. I always figure it's one of two things, either the writer mistakenly assumes that all his or her readers know more than one language, or the writer is trying to show how cool he or she is . . . ooh, I know French . . .
ReplyDeleteOh, I don’t know, Stark23, there have got to be all sorts of more annoying things. Just this morning I had my work interrupted twice by telephone solicitors.
DeleteI can’t speak for the others, but this annoying writer doesn’t assume that all his readers know more than one language. A majority, perhaps? Of course. whether that language is French is another matter, but this being a Canadian blog dedicated to Canadian literature, I will assume that most have a passing knowledge. “La surprise de l’automne” can’t be that hard. As for the other, longer quote… well, there’s always Google Translate. You’re not going to want me to explain the reference to Dow, are you?
Yes, I know French, but in this country that’s commonplace. Truth be told, my knowledge of the language is shamefully weak - and that’s anything but cool.
If you can't read the book (edition) he is reviewing, then why worry about it?
DeleteI can read just enough French to muddle my way through—just don't ask me to speak it.
ReplyDeleteMy high school years in a nutshell, Kelly.
DeleteSo many people I want to gift this to...
ReplyDeleteI feel the same, Beau. Now, if I can only convince someone to reissue La Boule rouge, the 1938 translation of Frank L. Packard's The Purple Ball. (Why the colour change?)
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