Summer 1946. While spending a family vacation by the sea, Boris Vian begins writing a noir novel, a genre that was very much in vogue at the time, which he fills with sex, violence and rage. In two weeks, he completed the manuscript featuring Lee Anderson, a young half-breed who avenges the death of his black brother lynched by whites in a segregated America. When it was published in the autumn by the Scorpion Publishing House, "J'irai cracher sur vos tombes" (I'll Spit on Your Graves), by Vernon Sullivan, for which Vian claimed sole responsibility as a translator, became a bestseller. Initially conceived as a vengeful hoax, the work quickly became a cumbersome object for its author. Indeed, in 1947, the novel was found at a crime scene. The press, not fooled by the real identity of the author, went wild against him.