I Spit on Your Graves (French: J'irai cracher sur vos tombes) is a 1946 crime novel by the French writer Boris Vian, published under the pseudonym Vernon Sullivan. The story is set in the United States and revolves around a sexual and racial conflict.

I Spit on Your Graves
First edition
AuthorVernon Sullivan (Boris Vian)
Original titleJ'irai cracher sur vos tombes
TranslatorBoris Vian
Milton Rosenthal
LanguageFrench
PublisherÉditions du Scorpion
Publication date
1946
Publication placeFrance
Published in English
1948
Pages190

Reception

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Chris Petit of The Guardian reviewed the book in 2001, and called it "dreamily convincing", elaborating: "A main inspiration would have been the slew of Hollywood movies that opened in Paris after the liberation, identified by the French as films noirs. I Spit... is straight noir, but also a work of liberated imagination after four years of Nazi occupation: heady, abandoned, fevered and lubricious. A fusion of prime US pulp and French sado-eroticism[.]"[1]

Adaptation

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The book was adapted into a film with the same title directed by Michel Gast. Vian had already publicly denounced the adaptation while it was in production, but attended the premiere on 23 June 1959. A few minutes into the screening, he stood up and began to shout out his dissatisfaction with the film, and while doing so he collapsed and died of a sudden cardiac arrest on the way to the hospital.[2]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Petit, Chris (2001-08-04). "Big in thrillers". The Guardian. Retrieved 2012-03-01.
  2. ^ Boggio, Philippe (1993). Boris Vian (in French). Paris: Flammarion. ISBN 2-08-066734-3.
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