Sture Dahlström's Absurdist Novel Finally in French

The French publisher Le Serpent à Plumes has released the first French translation of Swedish beat-generation writer Sture Dahlström's novel "Je pense souvent à Louis-Ferdinand Céline." Dahlström (1922–2001) was a jazz guitarist and critic who worked as a barber, electrician, postman, and arms factory employee before opening a music store in Ystad. The novel follows a jazz musician named Spjut who, upon arriving in Scania at the Liberation, hides the accused collaborator Céline in his double bass to help him escape to Sweden. The story is noted for its absurdist plot, rapid pace, and musical and literary references to Ellington, Basie, Lester Young, Hemingway, Joyce, and Faulkner. The translation is by M. Desbureaux. The book also includes three other short stories.