EDWARD GAUVIN

I recently had the pleasure of translating Du vide plein les yeux, the third novel by the young Parisian crime writer Jérémie Guez. Guez was born in Paris in 1988, and has already been hailed as the rising star of contemporary French noir. His two previous novels Balancé dans les cordes and Paris la unit were awarded the 2013 SNCF du Polar and 2012 Plume Libre prizes, respectively.

Eyes Full of Empty, as I’ve titled it, is the third novel in Guez’s Parisian trilogy, but the books don’t share a single protagonist. You can read more about it here, at the publisher’s site. Unnamed Books is a terrific new LA press devoted to “unlikely protagonists, undiscovered territories and courageous voices.”

Translating this noir was a fascinating exercise in contemporary slang. Guez knows Paris and his people inside and out. Like much of private eye fiction, this novel offers a cross-section of society, from high life to low, with astute observations about race and class.