Les Chefs-d’œuvre du roman d’aventures

Detection Series in France in the 1920’s

February 4, 2015AHRC, Bilipo, Blog, Book covers, CRIME VIZA.E.W. Mason, Bécan, Brulls, Ferenczi, Gallimard, Hammett, Le Masque, le Petit roman policier, Les Chefs-d'œuvre du roman d'aventures, Les Chefs-d'œuvre du roman feuilleton, Simenon, Williamsdjeannerod View all 3 comments

In France, the 1920’s saw a decisive evolution in the critical recognition of the crime genre (with, notably, the 1929 publication of Régis Messac’s thesis on the detective novel) and in the organisation of the publishing industry towards the promotion of crime fiction. The most notable series created at the time was certainly the perennial “Le Masque”. It was by no means the only significant one. Neither was it the first. Here are a few landmarks

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The Beauty of Crime Fiction Collections

December 24, 2014CRIME VIZBoileau-Narcejac, Collections, E. Wallace, Les Chefs-d'œuvre du roman d'aventures, Librairie Gallimard, Pierre Lemaitre, Pierre Véry, Stanislas-André Steeman, William Irish, Zig Zags of TreacheryInternational Crime Fiction Research Group Leave a comment

Collection Les Chefs-d’œuvre du roman d’aventures (Librairie Gallimard, 1928- 1934)

This prestigious “collection” (Publisher Series) predates the influential Série Noire, launched after W.W.2 with the same publisher, the Librairie Gallimard in Paris. International bestsellers of the crime genre, comprising Classics of mystery and detection novel (Austin Freeman) ,thrillers (E. Wallace) and authors representative of the “golden age” of crime fiction (Van Dine) were published here together with illustrious French heirs to the 19^th Century’s Serials (Le Rouge). This is also were the first French translations of Hammett’s Glass Key and the Dain Curse were published. Continue reading →