Sfar, Joann: L'ETERNEL
(Albin Michel, avril 2013, 455 pages)
Successful graphic-novelist and filmmaker Joann Sfar, author of the irresistible RABBI’S CAT brings
us his first novel, about the life and transformation of a sort of Nosferatu – as seen through the eyes of Woody
Allen and Albert Cohen.
1917, between Odessa and the banks of the Volga. Ionas, a Ukrainian Jewish violinist and dreamer, is
killed in combat. He comes back as a vampire. But drinking blood makes him feel horribly guilty, and he decides
to try to find his fiancée… who turns out to be married to his brother Cain, with whom she is expecting a child.
His naturally sweet disposition prevents him from taking revenge, and instead he tries to kill himself, over and
over.
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A century later, New York. Ionas has lost his memory and is just starting analysis with the psychiatrist
Rebecka Streisand. Thanks to her, he learns to overcome his feelings of guilt and to live in peace with his
demons. Ionas – the naive vampire who feeds without killing anyone, adopts a poodle and heads off by night
with his sleeping beauty – is an appealing character. Between his masterfully visual, cinematographic writing
style, his unique tone of voice and the themes he addresses, Joann Sfar’s inimitable style is immediately
recognizable. A truly one-of-a-kind vampire story that brings a breath of fresh air to the genre, immersing us in a
gothic tale that is wry, dreamy, erotic… and funny, too!
Selling points: A novel that jumps on the vampire bandwagon, but stands out thanks to the historical
context, Jewish folklore, complex characters and questions of identity... and still manages to make the charactersboth funny and endearing.
This first novel is soon to be adapted by the author as a series for Canal +.