This book explores the intersection of translation studies, crime fiction and world literature. National allegories, and the crime novels in which they emerge, foundationally plural texts that promote critical rewriting as opposed to sites for fixing meaning. It was originally published as a special issue of The Translator.

Alistair Rolls is Associate Professor of French Studies at the University of Newcastle, Australia, where he publishes on crime fiction and twentieth-century literature.

John West-Sooby is Professor of French Studies at the University of Adelaide, Australia. His interests include nineteenth- and twentieth-century French literature, and the history of early French exploration of Australia.

Marie-Laure Vuaille-Barcan is Senior Lecturer at the University of Newcastle, Australia; her expertise lies in both the practice and theory of translation, especially as these pertain to crime fiction in France.

Introduction: Translating national allegories: the case of crime fiction 1. National allegories born(e) in translation: the Catalan case 2. Howdunnit? The French translation of Australian cultural identity in Philip McLaren's crime novel Scream Black Murder / Tueur d'aborigènes 3.'La dolce vita' meets 'the nature of evil': the paratextual positioning of Italian crime fiction in English Translation 4. Language and the national allegory: translating Peter Temple's The Broken Shore and Truth into French 5. Empty Sydney or Sydney emptied: Peter Corris's national allegory translated 6. Strategies for strangeness: crime fiction, translation and the mediation of 'national' cultures 7. Translating Peter Temple's An Iron Rose into French: Pierre Bondil shares his translation practice with Marie-Laure Vuaille-Barcan and Alistair Rolls 8. On being translated: John West-Sooby speaks to Peter Temple