Reading Group Book Review (see below): Wash this Blood Clean from my Hand by Fred Vargas A modern French crime thriller was Sue’s choice for our October meeting, with Wash this Blood clean from my Hand by Fred Vargas. Fred Vargas is the pseudonym of French historian, archaeologist and writer Frederique Audoin-Rouzeau, and her series of romans policiers featuring Commissaire Adamsberg has won three International Dagger Awards. Originally published under the title Sous les vents de Neptune, it was the translator, Sian Reynolds, who gave it its English title, a quotation from Macbeth: Will all great Neptune’s ocean / Wash this blood clean from my hand? Vargas is known for drawing on mythology and the fantastic in her crime novels; her detectives struggle against the darker elements of humanity, just as heroes from legend fought against the forces of supernatural evil. She says: ‘I think art emerged as a sort of medicine to deal with the fact that we are afraid, alone, small and weak in a dangerous world….. So we invent a second reality, similar but not identical to ours, into which we escape to confront these perils.’ In Wash this Blood, Adamsberg and his band of officers seek to unravel the mystery of a series of unsolved murders linked by the use of a trident as the murder weapon. There is some deft characterisation of a disparate group of police officers who despite personal frictions, remain fundamentally loyal to each other. Vargas has created a quirky, flawed hero; his frailties, though not particularly endearing, are in marked contrast to the suavity of Raymond Chandler’s hard-boiled American counterpart whom we had previously encountered in The Big Sleep. As with many crime thrillers we recognised that this one had been created with one eye on a television adaptation, hence its cinematic qualities. In fact, Wash this Blood has already been televised in France but still awaits wider distribution. The book’s translator, Sian Reynolds, kindly replied to an enquiry, and so we spent some time discussing the quality of the translation and any difficulties she might have encountered in creating an English version. Her technique is to study the original closely in order to immerse herself in the essence of the story, conveying this as faithfully as possible by accurate translation of each word and phrase. Dialogue is one of the most demanding aspects of this task, particularly slang and idiomatic profanity – and in this case the use of Quebecois French. The result is successful, delivering an acceptable read and a persuasive flavour of the original. Those of the Group who are connoisseurs of the genre found it an engaging, even thrilling, read. Some will definitely be learning more in the future about the intriguing cases pursued by Commissaire Adamsberg.
Posted on: Mon, 04 Nov 2013 12:34:30 +0000
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