EDWARD GAUVIN

This two-parter about the secret vampire cabal that rules the world, and the resurrection of their dreaded ancestor, the ur-bloodsucker Nosferatu, in the jungles of India, takes us through ambition, heartbreak, betrayal, and much of human history, especially the 20th century. Written by Oliver Peru, with art by Stefano Martino, Nosferatu concludes with Para Bellum—prepare for war! Now available as a digital exclusive from Soleil at Comixology.

HE IS THE FIRST VAMPIRE.
After having disappeared for over half a century, he has awoken again to discover that his fellow vampires and his enemies only want one thing: to kill him.
But neither the light nor the darkness want Nosferatu, the Undead. He understands that his only weakness was to have once loved. He is Nosferatu, the monster who wanted to live like a man…
Eric, the vampire hunter, is on the tracks of Nosferatu, but he is not the only one to pursue him. Another creature is watching for him, and patiently weaves its web…

In Numero Cinq magazine, Jason Lucarelli pens an insightful appreciation of Naked, the latest from “Belgian Nicholson Baker”  Jean-Philippe Toussaint, and the final book in his Marie tetralogy:

The most mesmerizing aspect of Toussaint’s narrative logic is how he blurs the temporality between events so that major moments during the breakup recall earlier corresponding moments. His narratives are so intricate, so pleasingly recursive, that the shape they take, the choices Toussaint makes, is where readers will find reward.

The magazine also features an excerpt from the novel, out this month from Dalkey Archive.

So, I’ve never really worked on outright softcore before… till now! This book, the first in the Monika series, takes me back to a murky and mortifying late ‘90s adolescence during the glory days of Skinemax and the erotic thriller. Translator and clinical psychologist Thilde Barboni, with a dozen novels to her credit, turns to comics with Spanish pin-up artist Guillem March, best known here for his Catwoman covers, one of which drew some ire that resulted in its alteration. There’s some narrative gesturing at AI via sex dolls, but the book centers around sisterly relationships gone sour, the lifelong fallout from sexual abuse, political intrigue, and corruption Eyes Wide Shut-style.

This two-parter about the secret vampire cabal that rules the world, and the resurrection of their dreaded ancestor, the ur-bloodsucker Nosferatu, in the jungles of India, takes us through ambition, heartbreak, betrayal, and much of human history, especially the 20th century. Written by Oliver Peru, with art by Stefano Martino, Nosferatu kicks off with Si Vis Pacem—if you would have peace… now available as a digital exclusive from Soleil at Comixology.

After having disappeared for over half a century, he has awoken again to discover that his fellow vampires and his enemies only want one thing: to kill him.
But neither the light nor the darkness want Nosferatu, the Undead. He understands that his only weakness was to have once loved. He is Nosferatu, the monster who wanted to live like a man…

Tin House #68, the annual Summer Reading issue for 2016,  is now out! From the Open Bar, the Tin House blog, editor Rob Spillman writes:

In this issue we’re proud to bring you two fabulous translations: Dorthe Nors’s “By Sydvest Station,” translated from the Danish by Misha Hoekstra, and Jean-Phillipe Toussaint’s “The Dress of Honey,” translated from the French by Edward Gauvin. Alexis Smith’s debut novel, Glaciers, was an indie sensation, and here we feature an excerpt from her follow-up, Marrow Island. Smith is joined by other indie darlings, Deb Olin Unferth, Josh Weil, and Saša Stanišić, as well as esteemed poets Dorianne Laux and John Ashbery, who return to our pages. We’re also happy to welcome new-to-us poets Anna Journey and Sam Rivierre.

Toussaint’s piece is excerpted from his novel Naked, the fourth and final of his “Marie” tetralogy, due out in September from Dalkey Archive Press.

SelfMadeHero is pleased to announce the publication of AGATHA, the new graphic biography of Agatha Christie.

There’s no mystery about the continuing popularity of the world’s greatest crime writer, and now her life is being retold through a graphic novel.  Co-written by Anne Martinetti and Guillaume Lebeau, and illustrated by Alexandre Franc, this breezy, playful account of her life centres around her ‘disappearance’ in 1926 but also reveals her unexpected passion for flying, travelling, archaeology, and surfing.  An inventive, enjoyable celebration of this much-loved and free-spirited novelist in this 40^th anniversary year of her death.                                                  AGATHA is published on 5th May by SelfMadeHero (rrp £12.99, 120pp, colour)

Reviews are rolling in for Blutch’s Peplum, and they’re terrific!

At the Onion A.V. Club, comics guru Oliver Sava calls the book

a resounding success, with a bold, eye-catching trade dress and an oversized format that allows readers to savor every little detail in Blutch’s sumptuous artwork […]

Translator Edward Gauvin does exceptional work giving the text a lyricism that matches the emotional richness of Blutch’s artwork, and Jess Johnson’s earthy lettering makes the words an organic extension of the visuals. The texture in the art is especially evocative, and Blutch gives this world a tactile quality that keeps the tone grounded as the story ventures into surreal, hallucinogenic territory […]

Peplum is an object of both beauty and terror. The artistry on display in these pages is astounding, and hopefully it won’t be another three years until more of Blutch’s library makes its way overseas.

In Canada’s own Globe and Mail, Sean Rogers says

The 1997 sword-and-sandal epic Peplum, by the furiously inky artist known as Blutch, marks the first translation in the publisher’s catalogue – and thus serves as a gauntlet thrown down with imperious conviction. Breakneck in its pacing, allusive and rich in its classical cadences (as translated by Edward Gauvin)… [f]reely adapting passages from Shakespeare’s Caesar and Petronius’s Satyricon, Blutch draws cities like Grosz, atrocities like Goya and gardens like Matisse. Peplum’s broad strokes may thus seem familiar – the hero undergoes an odyssey where he is beset by pirates, bound by barbarians, ravaged by an Amazon and tempted away from his prize by a comely boy-servant – but the execution is all Blutch’s own, confounding and febrile, like some dream version of myth.

Douglas Rednour in The Library Journal awards Peplum a starred review:

Peplum is a visual tour de force of comics language. Blutch (aka Christian Hincker) tells a surreal adventure in the manner of Petronius’s Satyricon while using the emotional body language and panel styling of Will Eisner infused with the smooth, moving line work that powered Eric Drooker’s Flood, giving the tale a bulging musculature that would fit in well with the best films of the peplum genre. In doing so, Blutch (So Long, Silver Screen) employs the comic form to craft a story with affecting legitimacy and unexpected visual combinations that make every page a new adventure without precedent or convention.
Verdict Any reader looking for a high level of comic art will find a coliseum full of riches in Peplum.

Publisher’s Weekly says

Blutch’s art is truly exquisite, rendering battles, orgies, and conversations in dense, inky lines akin to Mattotti, but completely his own and completely haunting… The book requires rereading to grasp the scope of storytelling and linework, which is effortless enough to make the greatest American cartoonists jealous.

And in the March issue of World Literature Today, D. Eddy Emerson finds much to appreciate, ruminating thematically on form and function:

[the] dichotomy between the immediacy of the artwork and the more esoteric nature of the possible narrative mirror the two forms of love that underlie the story. The artwork is the real, tactile love that could well be lost when chasing the ideal of love, while the narratives and themes presented could just be a created fiction.

In the latest issue of Locus (March 2016), Faren Miller has these kind words for DSDS:

Serge Brussolo has been a well-regarded, bestselling French writer for decades, but short novel The Deep Sea Diver’s Syndrome is the first of his books to appear in English (translation by Edward Gauvin). Though it appeared in France in 1992, this surreal and powerfully original work shows how much we’ve been missing, and I hope further translations will soon follow […]

Through a vividly surreal blend of genres, The Deep Sea Diver’s Syndrome transcends familiar metaphors for the creative process, making it seem new again (with a sly tip of the hat to pulp fiction).

In the latest issue of Locus (March 2016), Faren Miller writes:

Serge Brussolo has been a well-regarded, bestselling French writer for decades, but short novel The Deep Sea Diver’s Syndrome is the first of his books to appear in English (translation by Edward Gauvin). Though it appeared in France in 1992, this surreal and powerfully original work shows how much we’ve been missing, and I hope further translations will soon follow […]

Through a vividly surreal blend of genres, The Deep Sea Diver’s Syndrome transcends familiar metaphors for the creative process, making it seem new again (with a sly tip of the hat to pulp fiction).

Words Without Borders’ annual comics issue featured an excerpt from L’Étrange by Jérôme Ruillier, a deliberately eerie story of displacement and migration, done in animals, rough lines, and primary colors. It is accompanied by a preface in which I explain why I decided to render the title literally as The Strange in English. My translation of an excerpt from Ruillier’s adaptation of Les Mohameds, a famous oral history of the first wave of North African immigrants to France, featured in the same magazine a few years ago.

At 11:15 AM in Ustler Atrium, I’ll be giving one of three keynote addresses at the University of Florida’s annual Conference on Comics and Graphics Novels. The theme of this 13th  year is Transnational Comics—Crossing Gutters, Transcending Boundaries.