2 + 2 = 5
by Alphonse Allais
Translated from the French by Doug Skinner
FIRST ENGLISH TRANSLATION
Publication: 3/9/21
GOT INSPIRATION?
Get inspired with over 100 pages of ingenious inventions ….
“…a magnificent work. Precise, absurdist, hilarious…”
Rhys Hughes
BRIGHT IDEAS
“…a magnificent work. Precise, absurdist, hilarious.”
—Rhys Hughes, author of The Smell of Telescopes
The 41st volume in our seminal Absurdist Texts & Documents series has arrived: PATENTS PENDING by Derek Pell and Doug Skinner, with an Afterword by Alphonse Allais. An illustrated compendium of ingenious inventions so ahead of their time they may never be available to the public – not in this world, nor the next. Discover pataphysical gizmos such as the OUIJA BILLBOARD, HELIUM BOMB, IMPOSSIBLE PICTURE FRAME, TROMPE L’OEIL MAGIC KIT, and many others. For now, these inspired concepts are but speculative prototypes – strange dreams haunting the drawing board of destiny – but thanks to this book you may study and savor them, and imagine a future far brighter than the present.
PATENTS PENDING
Derek Pell & Doug Skinner
with an Afterword by Alphonse Allais
Absurdist Texts & Documents No. 41
paperback; illustrated, 112 pp., $14
ISBN-13 : 978-1735615936
ARMCHAIR TRAVEL
“You must travel… I can’t travel… I’ll travel”
We are all armchair travelers now. The question is: Where do we go?
If you’re looking for answers, let 28 imaginative writers & artists from around the globe take you places you’ve never been. Find your getaway in BLACK SCAT REVIEW 21 — The Travel Issue.
FEATURING: Alphonse Allais, Robert James Cross, Farewell Debut, S. C. Delaney, John Oliver Hodges, Rhys Hughes, Harold Jaffe, E.E. King, Olchar E. Lindsann, Charles J. March III, Carmelo Militano, Opal Louis Nations, Peter Payack, Persefone, Roger Pheuquewell, Agnès Potier, Collin J. Rae, Jason E. Rolfe, Paul Rosheim, Charles de Rosières, Doug Skinner, Kristine Snodgrass, Ben Stoltzfus, Corinne Taunay, Ed Taylor, Michel Vachey, Tom Whalen, D. Harlan Wilson.
UFOs (Unidentified Flying Odes)
John Pitaro has written an illuminating review of our SELECTED POEMS OF EDWARD D. WOOD, JR.
(Absurdist Texts & Documents #26).
It appears in the current issue of SENSITIVE SKIN magazine.
Here’s a snippet:
“Within this mix of emotional upheaval and splintered symbolism, Wood closes the chapbook with a particularly notable piece, one indicating his inclusion in both the literary underground and the LGBTQ community as well as the sorrowful reality of unsuccessful arts careers. It is dubbed “Howl” (page 25) and opens with a sharp, satiric awareness of Ginsberg:
I saw the best flicks of my generation destroyed/by critics/ranting hysterical mutants/
Dragging directors in drag through the mud like/blood-thirsty bullies
Here, Wood deems himself “the angel-headed genius in the orange neon dusk of Hollywood”, and observes his audience both laughing at and cheering him in the cinema before
They staggered off into the sunset strip/
Leapt off the Hollywood sign into the bliss of the curvaceous cult-womb/
That wrapped them forever in its loin-lit angoric embrace “
CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL REVIEW
CLICK HERE to buy the book and weep with laughter. Inspired satire, guaranteed.
Read My Lips . . .
Lawrence Hamilton has selected spicy excerpts from an anonymous English translation of Denis Diderot‘s satiric libertine novel, Les Bijoux Indiscrets (The Indiscreet Toys, 1749). Our edition, titled From Their Lips to His Ear, is # 6 in the Pocket Erotica series— little, 4 x 6-inch editions, lovingly designed for collectors, yet priced inexpensively.
Denis Diderot was a highly celebrated 18th century French philosopher & editor of the groundbreaking Encyclopédie. In 1748, in need of money, he wrote this scandalous and amusing libertine allegory whose hero, a sultan, is in possession of a magic ring. When aimed at female genitals, the ring prompts these private parts to speak — revealing a woman’s deepest sexual desires, experience
s, and indiscretions. In this precursor to The Vagina Monologues, the women are portrayed as powerful beings through their liberated ideas and sexuality.
“…filled with the strings of sexual metaphors (both explicit and concealing) … a linguistic tour de force, a rhetorical experiment in verbalizing the obscene, and a representational puzzle, signaled by that deliberate act of veiling and unveiling.”
FROM THEIR LIPS TO HIS EAR
Denis Diderot
Pocket Erotica No. 6
71 pp., perfect-bound; $10
ISBN 978-1-7356159-1-2
CLICK HERE to order on Amazon
To order directly from us via PayPal,
please email blackscatbooks (AT) icloud (DOT) com
Hogarth’s Cottage
“…what makes an artist great is having the courage to provoke and challenge.” —The New York Times
CLICK HERE for more titles in the Pocket Erotica series.
Happy New Year!
A smart start to a pataphysical new year.
Time to celebrate imaginary solutions. — Linda Klieger Stillman
This volume contains all the knowledge you’ll ever need to have a successful life of the mind. Profusely illustrated, featuring entries by an international roster of distinguished experts from the arts, sciences, university and academia.
“An encyclopedia ought to make good the failure to execute such a project hitherto, and should encompass not only the fields already covered by the academies, but each and every branch of human knowledge.” —Diderot
“Today everyone wants to know everything – and preferably in alphabetical order.” —François Caradec
Le mot encyclopédie a été utilisé en français pour la première fois par Rabelais, mais ce n’est que lorsque Norman Conquest en a édité une qu’il a pris une dimension sublime.”—R. Queneau
Distinguished contributors from around the world include: Adrienne Auvray, Mark Axelrod, Tom Barrett, Norman Conquest, Caroline Crépiat, René Descartes, Peter Gambaccini, Eckhard Gerdes, Charles Holdefer, Rhys Hughes, Tractor Inspector, Alfred Jarry, M. Kasper, Richard Kostelanetz, Amy Kurman, Librairie Larousse, Michael Leigh, Olchar E. Lindsann, Opal Louis Nations, Daren Elsa Nibelly, Dr. Novalis, Pata-No , Richard Peabody, Mercie Pedro, Derek Pell, Charlotte Porter, Frank Pulaski, Jason E. Rolfe, Sourav Roy, Dr. I. L. Sandomir, Paulette Single, Doug Skinner, Maddy Smith, Linda Klieger Stillman, Corinne Taunay, Text Fixer, Kimberly Vodicka, Tom Whalen, Femke van der Wijk, Carla Wilson.
GOT GALL?
“…I only know that Jason E. Rolfe has written something new, that I have read it twice, that I have grinned and laughed all the way through it.”
–Mark Fuller Dillon
Jason E. Rolfe‘s mesmerizing new chapbook, THE PUPPET-PLAY OF DOCTOR GALL, is a shadowy existential drama — an absurdist murder-mystery set in Vienna in 1820, with a cast of curious characters: Franz Joseph Gall, The Stranger, Ernst Sieber, Tomas Hocheder, Madam Denebecq, and Count Sedlnitzky.
MORE FUN…
….than a barrel of Britannicas! — and a lot lighter, too.
Le Scat Noir Encyclopédie et Dictionnaire de la Pataphysique, des arts et du savoir humain, par une société d’hommes et de femmes de lettres contains all the knowledge you’ll ever need to have a successful life of the mind. Profusely illustrated, featuring entries by an international roster of distinguished experts from the arts, sciences, university and academia. It is also the first encyclopedia with cover text in French and entries in English. CLICK HERE to order your copy on Amazon.
“An encyclopedia ought to make good the failure to execute such a project hitherto, and should encompass not only the fields already covered by the academies, but each and every branch of human knowledge.” —Diderot
“Today everyone wants to know everything – and preferably in alphabetical order.” —François Caradec
Le mot encyclopédie a été utilisé en français pour la première fois par Rabelais, mais ce n’est que lorsque Norman Conquest en a édité une qu’il a pris une dimension sublime.”—R. Queneau
Distinguished contributors from around the world include: Adrienne Auvray, Mark Axelrod, Tom Barrett, Norman Conquest, Caroline Crépiat, René Descartes, Peter Gambaccini, Eckhard Gerdes, Charles Holdefer, Rhys Hughes, Tractor Inspector, Alfred Jarry, M. Kasper, Richard Kostelanetz, Amy Kurman, Librairie Larousse, Michael Leigh, Olchar E. Lindsann, Opal Louis Nations, Daren Elsa Nibelly, Dr. Novalis, Pata-No , Richard Peabody, Mercie Pedro, Derek Pell, Charlotte Porter, Frank Pulaski, Jason E. Rolfe, Sourav Roy, Dr. I. L. Sandomir, Paulette Single, Doug Skinner, Maddy Smith, Linda Klieger Stillman, Corinne Taunay, Text Fixer, Kimberly Vodicka, Tom Whalen, Femke van der Wijk, Carla Wilson.
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TOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS
Just in time for Xmas — all the world’s knowledge in a single stocking stuffer!
Le Scat Noir Encyclopédie et Dictionnaire de la Pataphsique, des arts et du savoir humain, par une société d’hommes et de femmes de lettres (volume deux) has arrived. This sublime paperback encyclopedia packs everything you need for a successful life of the mind into a single volume. Over 100 pages! This profusely illustrated edition is a must-have for collectors of arcane facts, bizarre biographies, astounding science, impossible inventions, and cryptic definitions. You’ll find everything under the sun from Absentee to Zyborg.
Featuring over 40 distinguished experts from around the globe, including: Adrienne Auvray, Mark Axelrod, Tom Barrett, Norman Conquest, Caroline Crépiat, René Descartes, Peter Gambaccini, Eckhard Gerdes, Charles Holdefer, Rhys Hughes, Tractor Inspector, Alfred Jarry, M. Kasper, Richard Kostelanetz, Amy Kurman, Librairie Larousse, Michael Leigh, Olchar E. Lindsann, Musée Patamécanique, Opal Louis Nations, Daren Elsa Nibelly, Dr. Novalis, Pata-No , Richard Peabody, Mercie Pedro, Derek Pell, Charlotte Porter, Frank Pulaski, Jason E. Rolfe, Sourav Roy, Dr. I. L. Sandomir, Paulette Single, Doug Skinner, Maddy Smith, Linda Klieger Stillman, Corinne Taunay, Text Fixer, Kimberly Vodicka, Tom Whalen, Femke van der Wijk, Carla Wilson.
Order now and we’ll include this lovely back cover…
