From the for-what-it's-worth department: Francois Guerif of
Rivages/Noir in an interview some time back credited
Manchette with writing the review that launched James Ellroy
in France. The interview is with Brad Spurgeon and I'm
pasting a section below. But, first-class researcher that I
am, I no longer remember where it came from.
B.S.: Was it an immediate success? F.G.: At first the book
kind of upset readers. For about a month the book wasn't
talked about, didn't move. Then I had an incredible bit of
luck. I was friends with Jean-Patrick Manchette, who is still
today, the best writer of the 1970s in France and who created
what we call the neo-polar. Almost all the young writers
today look up to him. So he is the father of the neo-polar
and the best writer of his generation. And he stopped writing
in 1981. He was a mythic figure, who sort of went into
hiding. And I was speaking to Manchette and he said to me in
the course of the conversation, "I just read an incredible
book--Blood on the Moon. Do you have many more like that?" I
said, "I'm glad you like it, but no one's talking about it."
So when Liberation [a daily newspaper] learned this, they
asked Manchette to review the book. And he did. And the day
the review appeared, that was the kick-off. And it has never
ended. That was in 1987.
con lehane
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