Mark,
Glad to learn that you enjoyed your trip into Gallic noir. As
you point it, I could not extend the "good" list too much, by
lack of English translations. However, if you ask my opinion,
Dantec became a schizophrenic writer during the last 5-6
years, and, you're right, Babylon Babies (1999 in French) is
SF . Unless you are attracted by literary oddities, my
friendly advice is to stay away from the book. Too long, too
much, too paranoid... and finally not much left after reading
it
-but it had its supporters. It's a pity because Dantec was a
gifted writer, and his first novels are still worth to be
read, but I do not think they were translated: "La sir讥
rouge" (The Red Mermaid), 1993 - "Les racines du mal" (The
Roots of Evil), 1995. the second one was a big success; he
already mixed genres: noir and a bit of cyberpunk SF, but it
was balanced and interesting. Both were published by S鲩e
Noire. He did even much worst than Babylon Babies, in a kind
of essay/preaching/political book in two volumes wherein he
attacks everything and their opposite in a pompous
"metaphysical " tone. Just forget those two books published
by Gallimard in 2000 and 2001, 600 pages each... Then was
"Villa Vortex "(2003): the receipt of the two essays applied
to what Dantec calls a novel, written with a confusing
babbling, often incomprehensible, and with no real structure.
He lives in Quebec since 1999.
E.Borgers HARD-BOILED MYSTERIES http://www.geocities.com/Athens/6384
POLAR NOIR http://www.geocities.com/polarnoir
DJ-Anonyme@webtv.net
>
> Anyway, while looking for something else, I stumbled
across the news
> that Semiotext(e) has published Babylon Babies by
Maurice Dantec. It
> looks more sci-fi than crime, but both the words
hardboiled and noir are
> used in the description. Has anyone read it? How is
it?
>
> There's also a link to an interview with Dantec at
the site:
> www.semiotexte.com/authors/dantec.html
>
> Mark
>
>
>
>
>
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