Neons

In this brilliant tale of violent sexuality, set forth in stark, hypnotic prose, Denis Belloc presents a narrative of the gay underworld in 1960s Paris. As a young child, Denis witnesses his father’s death in a sideshow boxing match and is left with nothing but faded photographs. Numbed by his mother’s neglect and her new husband’s abusive treatment, he turns to Paris’s teeming street life and to the sordid corners of the city’s public restrooms. He is absorbed quickly into a world of physical and emotional prostitution, and finds temporary stability only with a few lovers and friends. Belloc’s detached style is devoid of self-pity, and creates a savage, involving tension that is unrelenting and uninhibited.

William Rodarmor is a veteran French literary translator, writer, and editor. His translation of Tamata and the Alliance, by Bernard Moitessier, won the 1996 Lewis Galantiere Award from the American Translators Association. His recent translations include The Book of Time trilogy, by Guillaume Prevost, Diasporas, by Stephane Dufoix (Univ. of Calif. Press, 2008), and Julien Parme, by Florian Zeller (Other Press, 2008). He lives in Berkeley, California.