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Vernon Sullivan #3
Et on tuera tous les affreux
Se réveiller tout nu dans une chambre de clinique, où l’on veut vous forcer à faire l’amour avec une très belle fille… L’aventure n’est pas banale. Surtout quand on s’appelle Rocky, que l’on est la coqueluche des demoiselles et qu’on voudrait se garder vierge jusqu’à vingt ans.
Un homme assassiné dans une cabine téléphonique, des photos d’opérations chirurgicales abominables, des courses poursuites, des coups de poing, et, au désespoir de Rocky, des filles partout : tel est le cocktail mis au point par Boris Vian (alias Vernon Sullivan) dans ce polar mené à un train d’enfer, tour à tour angoissant et hilarant.
A la clef, la clinique où le diabolique Dr Schutz sélectionne des reproducteurs humains et bricole des embryons, prototypes quelquefois ratés d’une race «supérieure». Cinquante ans après la première publication, on est conduit à penser que l’anticipation n’était pas si fantaisiste…
Un homme assassiné dans une cabine téléphonique, des photos d’opérations chirurgicales abominables, des courses poursuites, des coups de poing, et, au désespoir de Rocky, des filles partout : tel est le cocktail mis au point par Boris Vian (alias Vernon Sullivan) dans ce polar mené à un train d’enfer, tour à tour angoissant et hilarant.
A la clef, la clinique où le diabolique Dr Schutz sélectionne des reproducteurs humains et bricole des embryons, prototypes quelquefois ratés d’une race «supérieure». Cinquante ans après la première publication, on est conduit à penser que l’anticipation n’était pas si fantaisiste…
222 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1948
54 people are currently reading
1396 people want to read
About the author
Boris Vian
358 books1,741 followersBoris Vian was a French polymath: writer, poet, musician, singer, translator, critic, actor, inventor and engineer. He is best remembered for novels such as L’Écume des jours and L'Arrache-cœur (translated into English as Froth on the Daydream and Heartsnatcher, respectively). He is also known for highly controversial "criminal" fiction released under the pseudonym Vernon Sullivan and some of his songs (particularly the anti-war Le Déserteur). Vian was also fascinated with jazz: he served as liaison for, among others, Duke Ellington and Miles Davis in Paris, wrote for several French jazz-reviews (Le Jazz Hot, Paris Jazz) and published numerous articles dealing with jazz both in the United States and in France.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 172 reviews
August 16, 2022
L’ISOLA DEL DOTTOR SCHUTZ
Un altro romanzo a firma Vernon Sullivan, lo pseudonimo che Boris Vian adottava quando voleva “fare l’americano”, quando sceglieva d’essere ‘forte’, nudo-e-crudo. E sperava di aggirare la censura francese.
Questa volta mi piace pensare si collochi a cavallo tra Myra Breckinridge e The Rocky Horror Picture Show.
Mr Los Angeles, cioè l’uomo eletto il più bello della città degli angeli, si chiama Rock (non Rocky, ma quasi), viene rapito.
Rock, che ha scelto la castità come sua personale strada verso la bellezza, la perfezione fisica, l’allenamento, si ritrova prigioniero di un tale dottor Schutz che vorrebbe costringerlo ad accoppiarsi con una bella signorina. Proprio lui che le donne le tiene lontane, se le scrolla di dosso, per non disperdere il seme e la concentrazione spirituale (e fisica).
Questo dottor Schutz è un sedicente scienziato che vorrebbe servirsi di Rock per creare la nuova razza umana esteticamente perfetta.
Se non che, Rock si sottrae alla forzata donazione del suo sperma, trona libero. E a quel punto, facendo coppia con un bizzarro (e cosa non è bizzarro in questa storia?!) agente segreto, ma non solo, man mano si aggiungono altri partner sempre alquanto pittoreschi, Rock si mette sulle tracce del dottor Schutz.
Raccontare una trama così, oltre che difficile, perché è rocambolesca delirante e apparentemente frivola, ha poco senso. Perché è chiaro che a Vernon Sullivan, alias Boris Vian, dietro il gioco letterario, preme dissacrare e spezzare una lancia contro la frenetica corsa alla perfezione del corpo, contro l’apparenza a scapito della sostanza, la superficie a danno della profondità, dello spessore. La maniacalità che spinge alla perfezione uccide e appiattisce la diversità, è un'altra forma di totalitarismo a scapito dell’individualità. Un’altra faccia del razzismo.
<
Boris Vian e il jazz.
Un altro romanzo a firma Vernon Sullivan, lo pseudonimo che Boris Vian adottava quando voleva “fare l’americano”, quando sceglieva d’essere ‘forte’, nudo-e-crudo. E sperava di aggirare la censura francese.
Questa volta mi piace pensare si collochi a cavallo tra Myra Breckinridge e The Rocky Horror Picture Show.
Mr Los Angeles, cioè l’uomo eletto il più bello della città degli angeli, si chiama Rock (non Rocky, ma quasi), viene rapito.
Rock, che ha scelto la castità come sua personale strada verso la bellezza, la perfezione fisica, l’allenamento, si ritrova prigioniero di un tale dottor Schutz che vorrebbe costringerlo ad accoppiarsi con una bella signorina. Proprio lui che le donne le tiene lontane, se le scrolla di dosso, per non disperdere il seme e la concentrazione spirituale (e fisica).
Questo dottor Schutz è un sedicente scienziato che vorrebbe servirsi di Rock per creare la nuova razza umana esteticamente perfetta.
Se non che, Rock si sottrae alla forzata donazione del suo sperma, trona libero. E a quel punto, facendo coppia con un bizzarro (e cosa non è bizzarro in questa storia?!) agente segreto, ma non solo, man mano si aggiungono altri partner sempre alquanto pittoreschi, Rock si mette sulle tracce del dottor Schutz.
Raccontare una trama così, oltre che difficile, perché è rocambolesca delirante e apparentemente frivola, ha poco senso. Perché è chiaro che a Vernon Sullivan, alias Boris Vian, dietro il gioco letterario, preme dissacrare e spezzare una lancia contro la frenetica corsa alla perfezione del corpo, contro l’apparenza a scapito della sostanza, la superficie a danno della profondità, dello spessore. La maniacalità che spinge alla perfezione uccide e appiattisce la diversità, è un'altra forma di totalitarismo a scapito dell’individualità. Un’altra faccia del razzismo.
<
Boris Vian e il jazz.
December 10, 2017
Escrita en 1948 para epatar al personal, sigue siendo a día de hoy igual de provocadora. Es imposible que te deje indiferente y algunas de las cosas de las que habla, desgraciadamente se están cumpliendo: como la obsesión por la belleza y la uniformidad de los cánones estéticos.
May 7, 2018
Videorecensione: https://youtu.be/NLI8SGWjtwE
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September 18, 2024- You know, Mr. Vian, I had to give up reading your book after not even 80 pages..
- It's okay, my friend. I guess you had some strong reasons.
- Yes. At one point, my cat started meowing terribly, and usually he only does that when he thinks I'm wasting my time.
- Ah bon ? And why would your cat think that , if I may ask ?
- Well... you see, Mr. Vian, we all have sexual fantasies..But we try, as much as possible, not to make it a predominant subject of a book..
- Maybe you're right, my friend, but if I didn't do it when I was 15, I had to do it now, you know...
- I wouldn't want you to misunderstand me, Mr. Vian, but I didn't understand why one should be forced to have sex with a beautiful woman, as in your book. I mean..I could understand only if it was Angela Merkel. Apart from that, I kept hoping, throughout the whole reading to find the irony, cynicism, and parody that you used to me, but..nothing of all these..
- Listen, my friend..Try to understand me. I had to do it. This sex thing has obssesed me since my childhood..I had to transpose this, somehow..
- Ah, I understand. But still, I'd have liked this chapter to be just a starting point, and not a fixed, repeated idea, endlessly.
- Okay, my friend, I've got your point. But, honestly, don't you have sexual fantasies ?
- Oh, sure. I would like to force Marine Le Pen to sing me La Marseillaise loudly, while we have sex.
- It's okay, my friend. I guess you had some strong reasons.
- Yes. At one point, my cat started meowing terribly, and usually he only does that when he thinks I'm wasting my time.
- Ah bon ? And why would your cat think that , if I may ask ?
- Well... you see, Mr. Vian, we all have sexual fantasies..But we try, as much as possible, not to make it a predominant subject of a book..
- Maybe you're right, my friend, but if I didn't do it when I was 15, I had to do it now, you know...
- I wouldn't want you to misunderstand me, Mr. Vian, but I didn't understand why one should be forced to have sex with a beautiful woman, as in your book. I mean..I could understand only if it was Angela Merkel. Apart from that, I kept hoping, throughout the whole reading to find the irony, cynicism, and parody that you used to me, but..nothing of all these..
- Listen, my friend..Try to understand me. I had to do it. This sex thing has obssesed me since my childhood..I had to transpose this, somehow..
- Ah, I understand. But still, I'd have liked this chapter to be just a starting point, and not a fixed, repeated idea, endlessly.
- Okay, my friend, I've got your point. But, honestly, don't you have sexual fantasies ?
- Oh, sure. I would like to force Marine Le Pen to sing me La Marseillaise loudly, while we have sex.
January 17, 2020
Τέταρτο βιβλίο του Μπορίς Βιαν που διαβάζω, μετά το παντελώς βλαμμένο "Θα φτύσω στους τάφους σας", το πραγματικά πολύ καλό και ιδιαίτερο "Φθινόπωρο στο Πεκίνο" και το συμπαθητικό αλλά μάλλον μέτριο "Όλα τα πτώματα έχουν το ίδιο χρώμα", και δεν μπορώ να πω ότι ενθουσιάστηκα. Μάλλον τα βιβλία που έγραψε με το ψευδώνυμο Βέρνον Σάλιβαν δεν είναι (σχεδόν) καθόλου του γούστου μου, αν και τείνουν πολύ προς το παλπ και την παρωδία, κάτι που γενικά απολαμβάνω πολύ. Δεν ξέρω, κάτι στη γραφή και το όλο ύφος, κάτι στους χαρακτήρες και τις πλοκές των τριών παλπ βιβλίων δια χειρός... Σάλιβαν, δεν μου κάνει κλικ. Το ίδιο και εδώ, αν και οφείλω να παραδεχτώ ότι υπήρξαν στιγμές και σκηνές που μου άρεσαν, ενώ σίγουρα ο Βιαν ήταν αρκετά μπροστά και δεν κώλωνε να ξεφύγει από την πεπατημένη. Όμως το γενικό σύνολο μου φάνηκε ολίγον τι μέτριο, ενώ η ανάγνωση κράτησε αρκετά παραπάνω από τα συνηθισμένα μου στάνταρ με τέτοιου μεγέθους βιβλία, οπότε κάτι λέει και αυτό. Κάμποσες φορές έχανα το ενδιαφέρον μου για την όλη ιστορία, το άφηνα κάτω, χάζευα από δω και από κει, τέτοια πράγματα. Τέλος πάντων, δεν πέρασα και άσχημα εδώ που τα λέμε, όμως τέτοια βιβλία αν δεν τα απολαύσεις πραγματικά, τότε δεν "λένε". Πάντως έχω μέλλον με τον συγγραφέα, μιας και έχω προμηθευτεί κάμποσα βιβλία του, τα οποία έγραψε με το πραγματικό του όνομα, οπότε ίσως είναι διαφορετικού ύφους και διαφορετικής λογικής, και μπορεί να μου αρέσουν περισσότερο.
October 22, 2018
La broma más aguda que pueda hacérsele a la novela negra. En primer lugar, se somete al protagonista- que no es ni alcohólico ni un genio disfuncional- a una serie de sucesos totalmente inverosímiles, de los que no sale bien parado. En segundo lugar, si bien aquel es irresistible a las mujeres, nunca se encuentra como tal a una femme fatale, sino a un montón de personas deseosas de saciar su deseo sexual. En tercer lugar, nada, absolutamente nada de lo que ocurre tiene sentido. ¿Cómo es eso de que existe un doctor que crea seres humanos hermosos porque siente aversión a los feos y desea poblar el mundo de gente bella? ¿Cómo es posible que, en virtud de dicha investigación, rapten mujeres y hombres para probar el apetito sexual desenfrenado de dichas creaciones? ¿Qué pasa con los políticos que son creaciones de Schutz? Poco y nada pasa con esto, más que una orgía de risas y locuras. Esto puede ejemplificarse exponiendo las razones de Schutz para llevar a cabo sus experimentos:
"La gente suele ser muy fea- dijo Schutz. ¿No se ha dado cuenta de que no se puede caminar por la calle sin ver muchísima gente fea? Pues mire, a mí me encanta andar por la calle pero me horroriza la fealdad. Así que construí una calle, fabriqué gente bonita que paseara...Era lo más bonito que podía hacer. Había ganado muchísimo dinero cuidando a millonarios repletos de úlcera de estómago...Pero me cansé..., ya tenía bastante...Mi divisa es: que se mueran los feos... Divertido, ¿verdad?" (Pág. 172).
Más allá de la risa, me es imposible no leer a Vian en clave política, similar a como Walter Benjamin veía el surrealismo. Ciertamente, la literatura de Vian se articula, antes que nada, a partir de composiciones. En sus libros, múltiples elementos aparentemente disímiles entran en relación, cuestionando la comprensión habitual que tenemos de los mismos. Ahora bien, dicha comprensión no pretende ser modificada por otra mejor; por el contrario, pretende ser ridiculizada a partir de su obsolescencia y posterior desnaturalización dentro del universo de la narración que el escritor francés propone. En este caso, no dejé de preguntarme por la fabricación en masa de la belleza y los cuestionamientos del protagonista y Mike hacía el final, siendo que ambos son personas con un físico despampanante.
Otro asunto que causó interés en mí fue la relación entre los hombres y las mujeres dentro de la belleza: la cosificación del otro es llevada al punto en que todos somos mercancías intercambiables, cuyo único valor radica en los atributos diferentes de cada uno (color de cabello, ojos, curvas, etc). En ese sentido, la afirmación por los feos cobra un triste y preocupante sentido: si los feos son mercancías contrahechas, mal manufacturadas, ¿por qué no acabarlos? Ahora bien, Mike tan sólo atina, en su defensa de la fealdad como algo necesario, a reafirmar dicho principio sin cuestionarlo: ¿qué será de nosotros los guapos-afirma él- si la belleza se exotiza? Seguramente habría una caída de la belleza como principal factor a tener en cuenta para el sexo (único motor de las relaciones entre hombres y mujeres dentro de la novela). Esto último, permite ver que la locura de Vian no es, en realidad, algo tan distante de nuestra vida cotidiana: Que se mueran los feos termina por ser todo un manifiesto en contra de las relaciones tóxicas heterosexuales. Y es que, por desgracia, existe una inmensa mayoría de personas que viven sus vidas instrumentalizando al otro en virtud de satisfacer un deseo, como si fuesen mercancías. De allí que hubiese fastidiado a tantos críticos esta historia: los protagonistas convalidan la lógica opresiva, aparte que ni se inmutan con las implicaciones que la creación de seres humanos trae consigo. Si algo puede llegar a molestar en este libro, es que la denuncia quede hecha y nada pase...que nunca se resuelva y, por el contrario, se convalide como algo "bueno" (cuarto elemento transgresor de la novela negra).
Dato aparte: sorprende la cantidad de errores de digitación y traducción presentes en la novela. Es como si el texto se hubiese publicado sin un corrector de estilo tras la labor del traductor. Ojalá pudiesen arreglar estos errores, pues su frecuencia es abismal.
"La gente suele ser muy fea- dijo Schutz. ¿No se ha dado cuenta de que no se puede caminar por la calle sin ver muchísima gente fea? Pues mire, a mí me encanta andar por la calle pero me horroriza la fealdad. Así que construí una calle, fabriqué gente bonita que paseara...Era lo más bonito que podía hacer. Había ganado muchísimo dinero cuidando a millonarios repletos de úlcera de estómago...Pero me cansé..., ya tenía bastante...Mi divisa es: que se mueran los feos... Divertido, ¿verdad?" (Pág. 172).
Más allá de la risa, me es imposible no leer a Vian en clave política, similar a como Walter Benjamin veía el surrealismo. Ciertamente, la literatura de Vian se articula, antes que nada, a partir de composiciones. En sus libros, múltiples elementos aparentemente disímiles entran en relación, cuestionando la comprensión habitual que tenemos de los mismos. Ahora bien, dicha comprensión no pretende ser modificada por otra mejor; por el contrario, pretende ser ridiculizada a partir de su obsolescencia y posterior desnaturalización dentro del universo de la narración que el escritor francés propone. En este caso, no dejé de preguntarme por la fabricación en masa de la belleza y los cuestionamientos del protagonista y Mike hacía el final, siendo que ambos son personas con un físico despampanante.
Otro asunto que causó interés en mí fue la relación entre los hombres y las mujeres dentro de la belleza: la cosificación del otro es llevada al punto en que todos somos mercancías intercambiables, cuyo único valor radica en los atributos diferentes de cada uno (color de cabello, ojos, curvas, etc). En ese sentido, la afirmación por los feos cobra un triste y preocupante sentido: si los feos son mercancías contrahechas, mal manufacturadas, ¿por qué no acabarlos? Ahora bien, Mike tan sólo atina, en su defensa de la fealdad como algo necesario, a reafirmar dicho principio sin cuestionarlo: ¿qué será de nosotros los guapos-afirma él- si la belleza se exotiza? Seguramente habría una caída de la belleza como principal factor a tener en cuenta para el sexo (único motor de las relaciones entre hombres y mujeres dentro de la novela). Esto último, permite ver que la locura de Vian no es, en realidad, algo tan distante de nuestra vida cotidiana: Que se mueran los feos termina por ser todo un manifiesto en contra de las relaciones tóxicas heterosexuales. Y es que, por desgracia, existe una inmensa mayoría de personas que viven sus vidas instrumentalizando al otro en virtud de satisfacer un deseo, como si fuesen mercancías. De allí que hubiese fastidiado a tantos críticos esta historia: los protagonistas convalidan la lógica opresiva, aparte que ni se inmutan con las implicaciones que la creación de seres humanos trae consigo. Si algo puede llegar a molestar en este libro, es que la denuncia quede hecha y nada pase...que nunca se resuelva y, por el contrario, se convalide como algo "bueno" (cuarto elemento transgresor de la novela negra).
Dato aparte: sorprende la cantidad de errores de digitación y traducción presentes en la novela. Es como si el texto se hubiese publicado sin un corrector de estilo tras la labor del traductor. Ojalá pudiesen arreglar estos errores, pues su frecuencia es abismal.
October 17, 2020
Не знаю що там іншого написав Вернон Саліван, але ця книга точно підкреслює унікальний стиль Віана. Своїми сюжетними перипетіями більше схожа на Осінь в Пекіні, але динамічніша. Якщо врахувати рік написання, то тема євгеніки тут видається просто мегаактуальною, особливо з огляду на те, що вона переповнена постмодерністичною абсурдною сатирою.
June 17, 2017
Uma escrita a satirizar os maiores clichés de uma porção da literatura policial hard-boiled (principalmente aqueles autores que parecem mesmo ter "brutalidade" como nome do meio - Mickey Spillane, por exemplo), numa panóplia de aventuras para demonstrar uma ideia exemplar de ficção científica (que de ficção até parece ter pouco). Um livro estranho, mas muito divertido e movimentado, ou: como um autor "consagrado" utiliza um pseudónimo para fazer um exercício de escrita mais de género, copiando certas referências e fornecendo ainda algo mais do que uma mera "homenagem".
September 1, 2020
[2.5*]
Μια τραγωδία που μιλάει για τους άσχημους και τους όμορφους ανθρώπους. Χάνω όμως την ουσία και το νόημα του βιβλίου.
Μια τραγωδία που μιλάει για τους άσχημους και τους όμορφους ανθρώπους. Χάνω όμως την ουσία και το νόημα του βιβλίου.
April 16, 2024
Я довго вагалася яку оцінку поставити, бо з одного боку мені дійсно сподобалося, але з іншого боку поведінка героїв була такою примітивною.
Але цілком імовірно що саме так автор і задумував.
Книга має вайб нуарних детективів, антиутопій, бойовиків 80х-90х, але іноді дії героїв настільки примітивні, що аж абсурдні. І це було прекрасно, дії і думки героїв були настільки гіперболізованими, що аж абсурдними. Основна думка творю була така гіперболізована, що аж заперечила себе вкінці. Думаю, що все таки поставлю 5, бо мені сподобалося навіть більше за Серцедера
Але цілком імовірно що саме так автор і задумував.
Книга має вайб нуарних детективів, антиутопій, бойовиків 80х-90х, але іноді дії героїв настільки примітивні, що аж абсурдні. І це було прекрасно, дії і думки героїв були настільки гіперболізованими, що аж абсурдними. Основна думка творю була така гіперболізована, що аж заперечила себе вкінці. Думаю, що все таки поставлю 5, бо мені сподобалося навіть більше за Серцедера
May 3, 2020
Sarcasmo para agitar mentes puritanas y parodia del estilo "Pulp".
February 7, 2025
Аааа... Це такий сюр... Дуже затягуючий і карколомний... Мішанина гостросюжетного детективу, фантастики, еротики...
Під кінець книга викликала істеричний сміх...бо це настільки ж жахливо, як і геніально.
Геть інший Віан.
Я не була до такого готова.
Під кінець книга викликала істеричний сміх...бо це настільки ж жахливо, як і геніально.
Геть інший Віан.
Я не була до такого готова.
June 26, 2016
Boris Vian (1920 - 1959) has been on to read for some time. I hope that with this book I made a poor choice of starting points.
Vian has a great bio - jazz musician, bon vivant, friend to Sartre and company, He was a novelist, a playwright, and the translator of Raymond Chandler. When his own novels sold poorly, he turned his publisher's request for another translation into his first Vernon Sullivan novel. He wrote four of these imaginary translations of an American noir author. (The hoax was revealed shortly after the publication of the first book.)
Great descriptions of this book, the third in the series, can be found on the back cover of the current edition. Luc Sante calls it "...America as a Left Bank fever dream.” Paul Knobloch, the translator, describes is as "...a pornographic Hardy Boys novel set on the Island of Dr. Moreau." These are both lines I wish I had come up with, but then again, I would have had to have liked the book.
The narrator is nineteen-year-old Rock Bailey, an ex-Mr. Los Angeles who is saving his virginity till his twentieth birthday. He moves with a fast crowd of Hollywood types and journalists who hang out at bars all night. His physical perfection attracts a mysterious doctor who is genetically engineering a cadre of beautiful specimens who will take over the world. The hero maintains a kind of "gee whiz" attitude to the escalating sex, violence, and science fiction style action. I don't think the book could have been published as anything other than pornography in the U.S. when it written (1948), and it still reads like the kind of dirty book I might have stumbled onto as an adolescent in the 1960's.
The introduction makes some claims for the prophetic relevance of Vian’s themes of photogenic politicians and genetic engineering. Really? As a screwball phantasmagoria of mid twentieth century America it is entertaining for a while, but I was tired of it half way through.
Vian has a great bio - jazz musician, bon vivant, friend to Sartre and company, He was a novelist, a playwright, and the translator of Raymond Chandler. When his own novels sold poorly, he turned his publisher's request for another translation into his first Vernon Sullivan novel. He wrote four of these imaginary translations of an American noir author. (The hoax was revealed shortly after the publication of the first book.)
Great descriptions of this book, the third in the series, can be found on the back cover of the current edition. Luc Sante calls it "...America as a Left Bank fever dream.” Paul Knobloch, the translator, describes is as "...a pornographic Hardy Boys novel set on the Island of Dr. Moreau." These are both lines I wish I had come up with, but then again, I would have had to have liked the book.
The narrator is nineteen-year-old Rock Bailey, an ex-Mr. Los Angeles who is saving his virginity till his twentieth birthday. He moves with a fast crowd of Hollywood types and journalists who hang out at bars all night. His physical perfection attracts a mysterious doctor who is genetically engineering a cadre of beautiful specimens who will take over the world. The hero maintains a kind of "gee whiz" attitude to the escalating sex, violence, and science fiction style action. I don't think the book could have been published as anything other than pornography in the U.S. when it written (1948), and it still reads like the kind of dirty book I might have stumbled onto as an adolescent in the 1960's.
The introduction makes some claims for the prophetic relevance of Vian’s themes of photogenic politicians and genetic engineering. Really? As a screwball phantasmagoria of mid twentieth century America it is entertaining for a while, but I was tired of it half way through.
March 12, 2013
Disappointingly bad. A magnificently handsome young man gets involved in a plot by a mad scientist to clone only beautiful people on some faraway island. Along the way our guy, who wanted to keep his virginity, is forced to have sex with lavishly beautiful women. The book reaches its finale when the hero gets to take part in an FBI rescue mission to infiltrate the secret island base, which is also infested with equally beautiful and continuously naked youngsters who fornicate 24/7.
Sounds like the wet dream of some pubescent boy? I tried looking for extra layers, traces of irony or parody. But there weren't, so it's just that.
Sounds like the wet dream of some pubescent boy? I tried looking for extra layers, traces of irony or parody. But there weren't, so it's just that.
June 21, 2022
idee= gudd, moral= gudd, emsetzung=…mh bof
November 28, 2025
Не можу сказати що це був всеохопний захват, але мені сподобалося.
І ще раз переконалася, що пародії, абсурд і гротеск- то моє
Така собі філігранна пародія на детективи, бойовики з нотками сарказму та іронії - і це написано в 1948 році😲
Але настільки актуально, що мені рік написання видав лише дисковий телефон)
І ще раз переконалася, що пародії, абсурд і гротеск- то моє
Така собі філігранна пародія на детективи, бойовики з нотками сарказму та іронії - і це написано в 1948 році😲
Але настільки актуально, що мені рік написання видав лише дисковий телефон)
August 11, 2023
3,25 ⭐️ :) such a different type of book
May 20, 2012
The genius of Boris Vian never tires. He lived five lives in one - and one of his great identities is Vernon Sullivan. Vian's love of pulp literature is an outlet of his terror fantasies of what America is at the time of the writing of this novel - late 1940's. This book reads like a Hardy Boys young adult novel with sex and mixed in the soup great pulp science fiction touches. A remarkable entertaining read. Oh and i published it!
January 26, 2021
Mitos yayınlarından çıkmış kitabı okudum. Çeviri iyi olsaydı daha zevkli bir okuma olabilirdi.
July 19, 2024
Дуже епатажно як на 1948 рік, але тим не менш цікаво. Така собі іронічна утопія про світ ідеальних людей.
October 22, 2024
Не так все страшно, як мене лякали.
Щось мене так попереджали, що Віан аж такий специфічний, а мені в принципі норм😅
Якби ця книга була сторінок 400, а не 200, то я б скоріш за все плювалась, а так тут читання трохи більше двох годин, тож в принципі можна провести вечір, але я не знаю чи варто. Або читайте з кимось, щоб було кому кричати.
Взагалі враження, що я подивилась якийсь артгаусний фільм. От буває таке — наче і картинка приваблива, і якісь цікаві режисерські чи операторські рішення, і від окремих моментів не відірватись. Але фільм завершується і ти сидиш просто «а шоб шо я витратила на це кілька годин свого життя?». От так і з цією книгою. Вона в принципі легко читається, тут багато специфічного, але гумору, є фантастичні елементи, є сатира, є екшн.
Але якщо ви пройдете повз — нічого не втратите.
🐉 Книжкова Драконка
Щось мене так попереджали, що Віан аж такий специфічний, а мені в принципі норм😅
Якби ця книга була сторінок 400, а не 200, то я б скоріш за все плювалась, а так тут читання трохи більше двох годин, тож в принципі можна провести вечір, але я не знаю чи варто. Або читайте з кимось, щоб було кому кричати.
Взагалі враження, що я подивилась якийсь артгаусний фільм. От буває таке — наче і картинка приваблива, і якісь цікаві режисерські чи операторські рішення, і від окремих моментів не відірватись. Але фільм завершується і ти сидиш просто «а шоб шо я витратила на це кілька годин свого життя?». От так і з цією книгою. Вона в принципі легко читається, тут багато специфічного, але гумору, є фантастичні елементи, є сатира, є екшн.
Але якщо ви пройдете повз — нічого не втратите.
🐉 Книжкова Драконка
February 3, 2019
A pesar de haber odiado personalmente al protagonista por su elevado egocentrismo que exponía a gritos cuando tenía la oportunidad, "Que se mueran los feos" cuenta con una trama que envuelven al lector, como también da a pensar sobre lo que, seguramente, pasa constantemente en la mente de muchas personas hoy en día: que vengan los atractivos y al diablo con los innatos físicamente; que la belleza física importe más que cualquier otra cosa. (De hecho, y por lo que tengo entendido, ésta obra es una crítica a la sociedad elitista de París durante la posguerra)
No me gustó para nada que, de golpe, el nombre de los personajes, las distintas bandas que se mencionan y las situaciones en las que Rookie se metía se hayan presentado tan secamente; inclusive me vi en la necesidad de retroceder la lectura porque tenía que volver unas páginas para aclarar quién era quién.
Además, hay un perro que habla, que agradable.
No me gustó para nada que, de golpe, el nombre de los personajes, las distintas bandas que se mencionan y las situaciones en las que Rookie se metía se hayan presentado tan secamente; inclusive me vi en la necesidad de retroceder la lectura porque tenía que volver unas páginas para aclarar quién era quién.
Además, hay un perro que habla, que agradable.
July 31, 2017
de plus en plus délirant au fil des pages, un style très proche d'une bande dessinée avec beaucoup de gags aussi drôles qu'inattendus ! C'est comme lire une aventure de Tintin en plus loufoque et dévergondé, avec le langage Vian en plus !
August 3, 2022
Rock Bailey, un auténtico Chad. Y su padre, el Boris, el original machitroll. A diferencia de los que pululan ahora, estos son deveras graciosos. Me he divertido mucho, a pesar de todo lo estúpido y caótico de esta historia de gente en cueros.
August 6, 2012
Ve Bütün Çirkinler Öldürülecek
Çeviri yüzünden odaklanmada sorun yaşadım. Başlar iyiydi ama ortalarda biraz sıkıldım sonu ise gerçekten iyiydi, gülerek kapattım kitabı.
Çeviri yüzünden odaklanmada sorun yaşadım. Başlar iyiydi ama ortalarda biraz sıkıldım sonu ise gerçekten iyiydi, gülerek kapattım kitabı.
May 11, 2022
Todavía no sé qué pienso de esta novela delirante, ni si mi opinión es definitiva. Lo que sé es que, tras haberla arrancado, me la devoré casi de un bocado.
April 12, 2023
Не те, чого я чекала від віана 🫣 але це було епічно
June 27, 2023
Wtf??!?
May 2, 2024
волога секс мрія бориса віана на 208 сторінок
January 12, 2019
review of
Boris Vian's To Hell With The Ugly
by tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE - January 11-12, 2019
I've read mention of the writing of Boris Vian for more than 4 decades. I recall him being a writer that the Surrealists liked. That wd usually be enuf to get me to read his work. &, yet.. This is the 1st bk by him I've read. &, YES!, it was great! It's a good imitation of American hard-boiled crime fiction imaginatively mixed w/ utter absurdism. I loved it.
The book design is by Tom Recchion. I met him thru my friend Peter Zahorecz in 1989 when we went to the west coast of the US for the Without Borders anarchist gathering & then meandered south to LA. The publisher, Tosh Berman, is a 'friend' on Goodreads, someone who shares similar literary tastes to my own.
"When my publisher, Tosh Berman, asked me to describe it for him, I said, "Imagine a pornographic Hardy Boys novel set on the Island of Dr. Moreau to a bebop soundtrack." I think that's a pretty good tagline" - p I
I often become engrossed in a film from the beginning, from the title sequence. Same thing for a bk: the 1st paragraph can be a pretty good indication of the quality or lack thereof of what follows. Of course, authors are conscious of this & write accordingly:
"Taking a smack on the head is nothing. Even being drugged twice during the course of the same evening is something a guy can live with. But stepping outside for a bit of fresh air and then all of a suddent coming to in your birthday suit in a room with a naked woman, well I'd say that's when things started to get weird. As for what happened next..." - p 1
The main character, who narrated the above, is a 19 year old body-builder who's made a vow to himself to not have sex until he turns 20. A part of the humor of the bk is all about the preposterous obstacles in the way of his keeping his vow.
""Let's dance some more," she proposes, just as Lem Hamilton starts playing a new number.
""No thanks," I say. "You're going to end up leading me into depravity, and my training doesn't permit that sort of thing. I'd be happy, nevertheless, to buy you a drink."
""So your training permits you to drink?" she shoots back, just like that.
""Of course." It's Douglas who confirms this. He hasn't missed a word of our conversation. "Listen, Sunday. Don't try to seduce ol' Rocky here. He's unwavering, and all the girls that chase after him just end up running into a brick wall.["]" - p 6
""Who brought me here?" I ask. "Where are we? I want to know what this business is all about and just what it's supposed to mean. What would you say if someone doped you up and dragged you off to some room you'd never seen before? If they left you there, stark naked, and then sent in some guy whose intentions were all too obvious?"" - pp 11-12
It just gets better & better.
""Who's Wolf Petrossian?" I ask. "I've never heard of the guy."
""Strange cat," murmurs Kilian. "He had his hands into everything... One of the only guys I've ever heard of who was pulling down dough by actually exploiting a convent."
""Jesus Christ! How'd he manage that?" I say.
""Under the pretext of making a cartoon about the life of Saint Martin," says Gary. "And he had all the nuns working as go-betweens.["]" - p 22
Every hard-boiled crime fiction novel has to have a fight.
"I'm rolling around the floor like a bowling pin because one of them has tackled me by the legs... And what ensues is one of the toughest little fisticuffs I've ever seen in my life.
"That is if I could have actually seen it!" - p 59
To Hell With The Ugly was originally published in 1948. It seems to me that Vian's humorous take on sexuality was a bit precocious w/in the genre.
"This Mary Jackson is a nymphomaniac. Plain and simple. She finally leaves my legs alone and settles back into the seat where she wraps her arm around my neck. Jesus Christ Almighty! Seems that I'm always taken advantage of when I am in no position to defend myself.
"I've taken all I can: my head is covered with bruises, my back is killing me, my hands are tied, and this nut job is toying with me and getting her kicks subjecting me to a plethora of Merovingian perversions in the neighborhood of my zygomatic arch. All in a car heading to one Markus Schutz's estate. Dr. Markus Schutz. A man who abducts people in order to make them sleep together! And who has at his residence operating rooms where photos are taken..." - p 65
Never let it be sd that Vian doesn't push the plot right on along so some hand-grenades enter the picture.
"The guy from the first watchtower is trying to break free from the rubble. Judging from what we can hear, he's a bit injured from the fall, but being the selfish bastards we are this provokes absolutely no feeling of sympathy in us." - pp 74-76
Rocky & his companions meet their 1st artificially constructed human.
""What's your name?" asks Mike.
""You can call me what you like," he says. "Generally, they call me by my model number."" - p 79
""I'd like to," says Jef Devay (I prefer to call him by this name). "But I'll have to accompany you. I should, according to the rules, sound the alarm. But I am a misfit, and sometimes I don't follow the rules. If that were not the case, you'd already be dead, more or less."" - p 80
""That's enough," said Gary, cutting him off. "How do we get out of here?"
""Oh!" says Jef, suddenly all sophisticated, "it would be ridiculous and disagreeable to leave Dr. Schutz's model health establishment before visiting the incubation chambers and the laboratory for the acceleration of emryos. That way I could explain to you exactly and in detail how this accident happened to me, which I'm sure would be most fascinating for you."" - p 92
Yes, Jef Devay is a defective model. The series R are much better (r r) but, oh well.
""We'd better get out of here now," he says. "Dr. Schutz will be none too happy to see that you've killed a series R subject."" - p 91
"Fine, I'll say it! I was so frightened by that hideous monster that I wet my pants like a three year old, O.K.?" - p 92
As if Rocky's pissing himself isn't bad enuf, Jef has a complaint too.
""Hell," says Jef, disappointed. "You think this is fun, spending my life in a loony bin and pretending to like it? For once I finally get some visitors. The least you could do is pretend that you're interested. Listen. I've got something else to show you. I didn't really want to because I personally consider it a rather exhausting spectacle, but there's one more girl upstairs who's probably... Well, I won't ruin the surpise."" - p 96
There's just one misadventure after another.
""I accompanied her home," says Douglas, suddenly vehement. "I bought her dinner, took her to a movie, the whole shebang. The evening cost me forty-seven dollars. So I go up for a drink. I thought everything was cool, so I took off my clothes and she got all pissed off. I tried to kiss her and she smashed me in the face with an ashtray. She took off and slammed the door behind her, with my pants in her hands. She said I was welcome to sleep in her bed if that was what I wanted, but that she'd rather sleep alone than with a pervert, especially a pervert with a mug like mine. So I've got no more pants and I can't go home because my keys were inside. I spent the night here."" - pp 102-103
I suspect that the next bit is an inside joke that I don't get.
"I sat down next to Aubert George, who tells me about how he started off in life wanting to be an actor. The only play he was ever in ran for a grand total of one month and he had but ten or twelve lines. He played some guy who walks into a bookstore, asks for a book, and leaves. He told me the play was just bullshit (I'm quoting him word for word) but that everyone got a kick out of it." - p 113
Maybe the play alluded to is one of Vian's. Apparently that's not the case. "Vian also started writing plays, the first of which, L'Équarrissage pour tous (Slaughter for Everyone), was staged the year it was written, 1950." ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boris_Vian ) In other words, Vian didn't write any plays until after this novel was written. Maybe he's alluding to a play he liked, maybe to one he didn't like. Maybe neither. Dunno.
If you don't have a sense of himor just open this bk to any page & rub it on yourself 3,408 times.
"I don't count the number of strides we're taking, but it must be somewhere between three thousand four hundred and seven and three thousand four hundred and nine when we emerge on the plain." - p 118
Boris Vian's To Hell With The Ugly
by tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE - January 11-12, 2019
I've read mention of the writing of Boris Vian for more than 4 decades. I recall him being a writer that the Surrealists liked. That wd usually be enuf to get me to read his work. &, yet.. This is the 1st bk by him I've read. &, YES!, it was great! It's a good imitation of American hard-boiled crime fiction imaginatively mixed w/ utter absurdism. I loved it.
The book design is by Tom Recchion. I met him thru my friend Peter Zahorecz in 1989 when we went to the west coast of the US for the Without Borders anarchist gathering & then meandered south to LA. The publisher, Tosh Berman, is a 'friend' on Goodreads, someone who shares similar literary tastes to my own.
"When my publisher, Tosh Berman, asked me to describe it for him, I said, "Imagine a pornographic Hardy Boys novel set on the Island of Dr. Moreau to a bebop soundtrack." I think that's a pretty good tagline" - p I
I often become engrossed in a film from the beginning, from the title sequence. Same thing for a bk: the 1st paragraph can be a pretty good indication of the quality or lack thereof of what follows. Of course, authors are conscious of this & write accordingly:
"Taking a smack on the head is nothing. Even being drugged twice during the course of the same evening is something a guy can live with. But stepping outside for a bit of fresh air and then all of a suddent coming to in your birthday suit in a room with a naked woman, well I'd say that's when things started to get weird. As for what happened next..." - p 1
The main character, who narrated the above, is a 19 year old body-builder who's made a vow to himself to not have sex until he turns 20. A part of the humor of the bk is all about the preposterous obstacles in the way of his keeping his vow.
""Let's dance some more," she proposes, just as Lem Hamilton starts playing a new number.
""No thanks," I say. "You're going to end up leading me into depravity, and my training doesn't permit that sort of thing. I'd be happy, nevertheless, to buy you a drink."
""So your training permits you to drink?" she shoots back, just like that.
""Of course." It's Douglas who confirms this. He hasn't missed a word of our conversation. "Listen, Sunday. Don't try to seduce ol' Rocky here. He's unwavering, and all the girls that chase after him just end up running into a brick wall.["]" - p 6
""Who brought me here?" I ask. "Where are we? I want to know what this business is all about and just what it's supposed to mean. What would you say if someone doped you up and dragged you off to some room you'd never seen before? If they left you there, stark naked, and then sent in some guy whose intentions were all too obvious?"" - pp 11-12
It just gets better & better.
""Who's Wolf Petrossian?" I ask. "I've never heard of the guy."
""Strange cat," murmurs Kilian. "He had his hands into everything... One of the only guys I've ever heard of who was pulling down dough by actually exploiting a convent."
""Jesus Christ! How'd he manage that?" I say.
""Under the pretext of making a cartoon about the life of Saint Martin," says Gary. "And he had all the nuns working as go-betweens.["]" - p 22
Every hard-boiled crime fiction novel has to have a fight.
"I'm rolling around the floor like a bowling pin because one of them has tackled me by the legs... And what ensues is one of the toughest little fisticuffs I've ever seen in my life.
"That is if I could have actually seen it!" - p 59
To Hell With The Ugly was originally published in 1948. It seems to me that Vian's humorous take on sexuality was a bit precocious w/in the genre.
"This Mary Jackson is a nymphomaniac. Plain and simple. She finally leaves my legs alone and settles back into the seat where she wraps her arm around my neck. Jesus Christ Almighty! Seems that I'm always taken advantage of when I am in no position to defend myself.
"I've taken all I can: my head is covered with bruises, my back is killing me, my hands are tied, and this nut job is toying with me and getting her kicks subjecting me to a plethora of Merovingian perversions in the neighborhood of my zygomatic arch. All in a car heading to one Markus Schutz's estate. Dr. Markus Schutz. A man who abducts people in order to make them sleep together! And who has at his residence operating rooms where photos are taken..." - p 65
Never let it be sd that Vian doesn't push the plot right on along so some hand-grenades enter the picture.
"The guy from the first watchtower is trying to break free from the rubble. Judging from what we can hear, he's a bit injured from the fall, but being the selfish bastards we are this provokes absolutely no feeling of sympathy in us." - pp 74-76
Rocky & his companions meet their 1st artificially constructed human.
""What's your name?" asks Mike.
""You can call me what you like," he says. "Generally, they call me by my model number."" - p 79
""I'd like to," says Jef Devay (I prefer to call him by this name). "But I'll have to accompany you. I should, according to the rules, sound the alarm. But I am a misfit, and sometimes I don't follow the rules. If that were not the case, you'd already be dead, more or less."" - p 80
""That's enough," said Gary, cutting him off. "How do we get out of here?"
""Oh!" says Jef, suddenly all sophisticated, "it would be ridiculous and disagreeable to leave Dr. Schutz's model health establishment before visiting the incubation chambers and the laboratory for the acceleration of emryos. That way I could explain to you exactly and in detail how this accident happened to me, which I'm sure would be most fascinating for you."" - p 92
Yes, Jef Devay is a defective model. The series R are much better (r r) but, oh well.
""We'd better get out of here now," he says. "Dr. Schutz will be none too happy to see that you've killed a series R subject."" - p 91
"Fine, I'll say it! I was so frightened by that hideous monster that I wet my pants like a three year old, O.K.?" - p 92
As if Rocky's pissing himself isn't bad enuf, Jef has a complaint too.
""Hell," says Jef, disappointed. "You think this is fun, spending my life in a loony bin and pretending to like it? For once I finally get some visitors. The least you could do is pretend that you're interested. Listen. I've got something else to show you. I didn't really want to because I personally consider it a rather exhausting spectacle, but there's one more girl upstairs who's probably... Well, I won't ruin the surpise."" - p 96
There's just one misadventure after another.
""I accompanied her home," says Douglas, suddenly vehement. "I bought her dinner, took her to a movie, the whole shebang. The evening cost me forty-seven dollars. So I go up for a drink. I thought everything was cool, so I took off my clothes and she got all pissed off. I tried to kiss her and she smashed me in the face with an ashtray. She took off and slammed the door behind her, with my pants in her hands. She said I was welcome to sleep in her bed if that was what I wanted, but that she'd rather sleep alone than with a pervert, especially a pervert with a mug like mine. So I've got no more pants and I can't go home because my keys were inside. I spent the night here."" - pp 102-103
I suspect that the next bit is an inside joke that I don't get.
"I sat down next to Aubert George, who tells me about how he started off in life wanting to be an actor. The only play he was ever in ran for a grand total of one month and he had but ten or twelve lines. He played some guy who walks into a bookstore, asks for a book, and leaves. He told me the play was just bullshit (I'm quoting him word for word) but that everyone got a kick out of it." - p 113
Maybe the play alluded to is one of Vian's. Apparently that's not the case. "Vian also started writing plays, the first of which, L'Équarrissage pour tous (Slaughter for Everyone), was staged the year it was written, 1950." ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boris_Vian ) In other words, Vian didn't write any plays until after this novel was written. Maybe he's alluding to a play he liked, maybe to one he didn't like. Maybe neither. Dunno.
If you don't have a sense of himor just open this bk to any page & rub it on yourself 3,408 times.
"I don't count the number of strides we're taking, but it must be somewhere between three thousand four hundred and seven and three thousand four hundred and nine when we emerge on the plain." - p 118
Displaying 1 - 30 of 172 reviews