“Novels of the Night” in Persian Translation

Frédéric Dard, Cette mort dont tu parlais (1957), 1393

With thanks to Didier Poiret

The general title “Novels of the night” (romans de la nuit) describes some 30 French noir novels, published by Frédéric Dard in the 1950’s and 1960’s in Paris, in the Fleuve Noir publisher’s “Special Police” series . Seven of them were republished recently (2014) under this title in an Omnibus volume: [http://widget.editis.com/omnibus/9782258107922/#page/1/mode/1up].

They offer a prime example of the import and adaptation in post-war France of themes and tropes from the American Noir genre. They have, in turn, exported their peculiarly French brand of complex, dialectic Americanophilia in many translations, in some 30 languages. One of the most celebrated of these novels, Le Bourreau pleure (The crying Henchman), which had won in 1957 the Grand Prix de Littérature policière, the highest French Award for Crime Fiction was translated in Iran in 1980 and republished there in 1984 and in 1992 (all in the translation by Zabi-Allah Mansouri). In the last couple of years, a renewed interest in the romans de la nuit has lead there to new translations. Readers familiar with these novels will recognise that most Iranian covers reproduce a significant, iconic element of the story (the Oldsmobile from Les Scélérats, the motorbike from Les Mariolles, the Christmas tree from Le Monte Charge).

The already translated novels are listed below, with their year of original publication and of Iranian translation (Persian Calendar). There might be more from the same publisher, or possibly others. Many thanks for any information.

Le Monte-charge