Two / Wicked Angels by Eric Jourdan

Binghamton, NY: Southern Tier, 2006

An English translation of Eric Jourdan's 1955 novel Les Mauvais Anges was released in 2006 by Southern Tier Editions / Harrington Park Press. It is the story of the love between two cousins, Pierre and Gerard. Divided into two parts, each character in turn tells the story of their intense relationship which is about love as much as it is about trying to become the other person. It is truly a story of obsessive love. Some reviewers have had difficulty with the sadomasochistic aspects of the story, so the reader should be prepared for this. 

Mr. Armbrecht, in his introduction to the text, offers an in-depth analysis of censorship of literature in France and about the censorship of this novel in particular after it's initial publication in 1955. The censoring of this text was about much more than just its homosexual content. What troubles me about the introduction, and frankly the information offered on the cover of the book is that it purposefully obscures the fact that this is not the first English translation of this novel. In fact, Pyramid Books released the first English translation by Richard Howard in 1963 under the title Two. 

New York: Pyramid Books, 1963

Two is a fairly well-known pulp title and is featured in a number of recent publications about gay pulps, so it is difficult to believe that it was simply overlooked. Mr. Armbrecht does note in his introduction that Jourdan has written nine novels and none of them have been translated into English except Les Mauvais Anges. However, he stops short of saying exactly when that translation happened. The back cover of this new translation also includes this: "A classic French gay novel, banned for thirty years -- now lovingly translated into English" The casual reader is left with the idea that this is the first translation of this novel. As well, the introduction discusses that the republication of the original French was done from the manuscript and was not a reprint of the original 1955 text. At no point, however, does he state whether what he is offering is an English translation of the manuscript or the original text. I'm not suggesting that the new translation isn't worth reading, because I think that it is and that it offers an important new look at this wonderful novel. However, I think that the first English translation, Two, also deserves to be acknowledged. The two translations are obviously different, in many ways reflecting the two distinct times in which they were written. Each offers the reader a unique telling of this amazing story.

Bibliographies & Ratings: Young (2047, *)

This post originally appeared in slightly different form on FritzPeters.info, January 23, 2010.