A Very Profitable War

by Didier Daeninckx, Sarah Martin (Translator)

Rene Griffon, a hard-up private detective, is hired to unmask the marital infidelities of the wife of a World War I hero. Griffon's investigation plunges him into a post-war nightmare world of black marketeers and property speculators, uncovering more than he was ever meant to know.

Genres: Noir, Crime, Mystery, France, Novels, Fiction

192 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1984

About the author

Didier Daeninckx nació en 1949 en Saint-Denis. Tras trabajar como periodista en varias publicaciones locales y provinciales, en 1983 publicó «Meurtres pour mémoire», primera investigación del inspector Cadin. A ésta le siguieron numerosas novelas negras, entre las cuales se encuentran «La mort n’oublie personne», «Lumière noire» y «Mort au premier tour». Escritor comprometido, Didier Daeninckx está considerado un maestro del género en Francia.

Reviews

[Czarny Pies · Rating 1 out of 5]

"Le der des ders" est un polar raté. Daeninckx part avec un projet difficile et fait beaucoup d'erreurs en cour. Il voulait faire une critique de l'état bourgeois francais avec une histoire qui avait au cœur la mutinerie fomenté par des anarchistes à La Courtine en septembre 1917. Les mutins étaient des soldats russes qui combattaient en France à titre de volontaires. La répression par l'armée française a été sanglante. Aux yeux de Daeninckx l'incident a été une preuve de plus que la bourgeoisie française était cruel et injuste. Il a possiblement raison mais son roman est très mauvais.
Le polar est essentiellement un genre bourgeois. Dans un polar la prémisse de base est que la société est parfaite et que le crime est une imperfection. Le role de l'enquêteur est de démasquer le criminel et de restaurer la perfection de la société. Dans la vision du monde marxiste, maux de la société bourgeoise sont dus à la classe dirigeante et non à un criminel à l'intérieure de cette classe. Bref, la meilleure voie pour un écrivain communiste ou marxiste est de ne pas écrire des polars.
Le problème pour l'auteur marxiste du polar est que si la société est mauvaise l'enquêteur qui veut trouver la personne responsable du geste répréhensible est une menace pour la société. Pour restaurer la perfection de la société il devient nécessaire de supprimer l'enquêteur . Écrire un bon polar avec cette recette est très difficile.
Daeninckx exacerbe les choses avec un éclecticisme absurde. Il décide de raconter le conflit entre les ouvriers et la bourgeoisie pendant les années 1920 avec un polar noir un genre qui vient du cinéma américain des années 1940. Son enquêteur-narrateur parle avec la voix de Mickey Spillane. Pour évoquer l'ambiance de l'époque René possède une voiture américaine (une Packard) et les personnages passent beaucoup de temps dans les clubs de Jazz de Paris.
On peut peut-être admirer l'audace de Daeninckx mais "Le der des ders" est un échec total.

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

I paid 2€ for this in a used bookstore, and that seems about right…

[Tony · Rating 4 out of 5]

This post-war noir is notable in that it is set post-WWI Paris, as opposed to post-WWII America. That said, it follows the classic detective novel in which a smart-alec PI is hired for what seems like a straightforward blackmail investigation, and ends up embroiled in something way bigger than him thanks to his overcuriosity. Daeninckx does a great job detailing a France reeling from the loss of a generation of young men, and seeing the first hints of American cultural influence. The PI is notable for his big American car, his American liquor and clothing as he runs around Paris trying to put the pieces together. One gets the sense it's a roundabout critique on contemporary cultural globalism. If you like this, you might want to check out Philip Kerr's March Violets, set in 1936 Berlin.

[Andrea Bauer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Exceptional book that has it all - characters, plot, setting, period politics that resonate today. I would never have guessed it wasn’t written during the time period of the story if I didn’t know it going in. The amount of detail and the quality of detail was excellent. Enough so that you had a total feel for the people and places, not so much that it slowed the story down.

I think the translating may have been a little dicey. Some of the sentences were strange in one way or another. But this didn’t detract from the experience of reading it.

I have seen this book or this author described as controversial, and I can see why this would be true for this book at least. I can see several reasons actually!

[Nick · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is quite strange, in the literal sense. Set in France just after the end of World War 1, it is a noir detective story, but even more, it is a cultural odyssey to the aftermath of the "War to End all Wars" and the impacts on the entire population. From war profiteers to anarchists and squatters, from the introduction of one-way streets to the Americanisation of France (including their first Levis jeans), this is a window to a time of societal chaos which was unique then, but may not be so unusual these days.

[Kat · Rating 3 out of 5]

This noir novel by France's most renowned political crime novelist (according to the book jacket) is set just after World War I and is fascinating in almost every detail. It's not the sort of thing I usually read, but I wasn't sorry I'd ventured. From war profiteering to squatters, from the introduction of one-way streets to the introduction of Levis, this is a cultural history that keeps you turning the pages to see how the crime will be sorted.

The only one thing kept me from giving it four stars: the revulsion of the narrator to people who were disabled. It was clearly meant to be an anti-war sentiment--the men became disabled in combat during a war the protagonist feels should never have been fought, and he has a strong objection to the way such people continue to be used by the government as a kind of propaganda meant to foment patriotism. But anyone with physical disabilities would flinch at the way the novel devalues those without the use of all four limbs.

[Rally Soong · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good noir- post Great War France with a very French character- a tough no nonsense but sentimental private eye with big payments for his American Packard Twin Six car. Translated well- give you the flavor of a French movie subtitles - but in his head! You feel the vibe of the post war Paris with the clashes of old and new...corrupt and the less corrupt...a page turner as you get sucked into that era...

[Nevmc · Rating 4 out of 5]

This French noir takes place in Paris after WWI. So much of society is in chaos, unsettled. At times it was hard to follow all of the mentioned people, places but the twists and turns of the plot were exciting.

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

interesting intrigue and neat setting in the immediate aftermath of the great war. clumsy with some of the style, and the resolution of the plot left me with a shrug. good, but not great.