October 7, 2007

Boris Vian, Foam of the Daze


Brad, the editor of the great Neglected Books site [neglectedbooks.com], posted an annotated list of 20 out-of-print books I made in June of 2000. He added links to all the book titles. I'm going to post images of the books discussed (if I still have them). The permanent link for the list is here.

4. L'Ecume des Jours by Boris Vian (1920 - 1959). English translations:

-- Mood Indigo
(Grove 1968, tran. John Sturrock)
-- Froth on the Daydream (Quartet 1967, trans. Stanley Chapman)
-- Foam of the Daze (Tam Tam Books 2004, trans. Brian Harper)

Tosh Berman of Tam Tam Books is publishing new translations of Vian's books. Here's a link to Foam of the Daze.

Two covers of Froth on the Daydream from Wikipedia (I don't own these editions):


Grove's edition (Front photo credited to Shaumiane Production -- get in touch if you know what that means, because Google isn't helping):




While I'm at it, here are scans of more of Vian's books in English translation.

Tom Recchion (who has a new album out on Birdman) designs Tam Tam's covers:




No designer or illustrator listed for this cover:

Two plays published by Grove:



Illustration by Peter Miles on the below book from Quartet:

2 comments:

  1. If I thought "Heartsnatcher" was one of the best books ever, grew a bit weary of "Foam of the Daze" and don't want to read another wager-related genre exercise like "I spit on your graves", what Vian book should I read next?

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  2. Vicky K. loved "Autumn in Peking"

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