Sébastien Japrisot (The Art of Crime)

Influential author of highly unconventional crime fiction, screenwriter, and occasional film director, Sébastien Japrisot was one of those rare contemporary writers in France able to establish an international reputation for himself. Although Japrisot’s novels in particular continue to be read and studied across the world, this volume is the first ever academic study of Japrisot’s work in the fields of both literature and cinema. Through a combination of thematic and text-specific studies, this volume takes in, and examines the legacy of, Japrisot’s work from his youthful writings under his real name, Jean-Baptiste Rossi, to his crime fiction and screen writings of the 1960s and 1970s, concluding with his final novel Un long dimanche de fiançailles (A Very Long Engagement). It is both an essential introduction to Japrisot and a valuable academic assessment of his work’s importance in the field of contemporary French literature and film.