James Ellroy has been awarded the French Order of Arts and Letters by French Culture minister Frederic Mitterand. According Le Point, Mitterand venerated Ellroy as a ‘master of dark dreams and counter history, truly one of the great names of modern literature’. In turn, Ellroy paid homage to French literary culture, citing Stendhal, Proust, Camus, Sartre, Beauvoir and Genet as writers without whom he could not have written as he does.
Mitterand’s broad assessment of Ellroy is scarcely mind-blowing, but never was the phrase ‘master of dark dreams’ better applied. As Time once put it, ‘Ellroy rips into American culture like a chainsaw in an abattoir’, which perhaps explains why his books are so popular in France. Ellroy’s naked examination of the private nightmare of public policy, which was the subject matter of his seminal Underworld USA trilogy, is reminiscent of the corruption scandals that perennially beset French public life.
Comments
Join the debate for just $5 for 3 months
Be part of the conversation with other Spectator readers by getting your first three months for $5.
UNLOCK ACCESS Just $5 for 3 monthsAlready a subscriber? Log in