Category: absurdism

STAND AND SALUTE!

What happens when you combine patriotism and ‘pataphysics (the science of imaginary solutions)? That’s right, you get a big BANG and fireworks — all packed inside the new
LE SCAT NOIR.  

The July issue features incendiary works by Alain Arias-Misson, Paulo Brito, Norman Conquest, Mitchell Eva, Eckhard Gerdes, Harold Jaffe, Alfred Jarry, Richard Kostelanetz, Terri Lloyd, Frank Pulaski, Jason E. Rolfe, Paul Rosheim, Mercie Pedro e Silva, and Doug Skinner. 

#225 marks the first interactive edition with “live” links and an EXCLUSIVE screen-video of Alfred Jarry’s resurrection!  

As always, it’s free to read online or download to your device, so stand and salute! Then  CLICK HERE.

CHEER UP — IT’S FREE!

The June Gloom issue of LE SCAT NOIR is now available for download. We won’t bother mentioning that  it’s free because  you  already know that. #224 features an international roster of artists and writers, including Alphonse Allais, Adrienne Auvray, Mark Axelrod, Paulo Brito, Norman Conquest, Farewell Debut, Félix Fénéon, Pippa Anais Gaubert, Eckhard Gerdes, Thomas Gresham, Adao Iturrusgarai, Jim Johnson, Rick Krieger, Terri Lloyd, Jim McMenamin, Andy O’Clancy, Frank Pulaski, Jason E. Rolfe, Paul Rosheim, Marina Rubin, Doug Skinner, and Rebecka Skog.

Ceci n’est pas Magritte

Move over Mona Lisa, the subject of René Magritte’s classic painting Le fils de l’homme (1964) has been transformed into an iconic  Everyman — forced to confront the forces of contemporary life.

Portuguese artist Paulo Brito reanimates the  mysterious figure in a series of satirical  collages you won’t soon forget.

The future of Dada is here!

SONS OF MAN
by Paulo Brito
with a preface by mercie pedro e silva
Absurdist Texts & Documents No. 33
Illustrated, full color; perfect-bound; $15
$5 digital edition

CLICK HERE TO ORDER

THE IDIOT GETS A RAVE

“Every time I write about Doug Skinner’s translations of Alphonse Allais – the new one is I Am Sarcey  – I say that Allais’s humor columns and so on ought to be period pieces, historical ephemera, but are better than that, are good.  Still funny; still fun.  This is my only idea about Allais, apparently.  If anything this is even more the case with I Am Sarcey – more ephemeral yet not, but even more so.’

—Wuthering Expectations

CLICK HERE to read the complete review.

And then CLICK HERE and enjoy the book for yourself.

Sarcey and His Muse

Black Scat author and translator Doug Skinner recently informed us about a book of poems he’s reading  by Raoul Ponchon. One  poem in particular struck his fancy as it’s  about the conservative French drama critic  Francisque Sarcey (1827-1899).  The poem — “Our Uncle’s Aunt” — mocks Sarcey,  saying his reviews were influenced by his elderly aunt. Lucien Boucher‘s illustration .is reproduced here.

Sarcey was the frequent  butt of jokes  by artists and writers  in the pages of the bohemian journal Le Chat Noir. But it was  the brilliant humorist Alphonse Allais who took the mockery to  extremes  and single-handedly transformed the critic into an Ubuesque piñata in a series of columns published under Sarcey’s name. This sustained journalistic prank has been  preserved in  I AM SARCEY by Alphonse Allais — compiled and translated by Doug Skinner.

 

This is one of the funniest books we’ve ever published — and that’s saying a lot. If you’re looking for a hilarious example of black humor, don’t miss it.

CLICK HERE TO ORDER ON AMAZON

It’s here!



The book Black Scat was born to publish!


Francisque Sarcey was the most influential drama critic in 1890s Paris — and the most conservative. He famously dismissed Alfred Jarry‘s Ubu Roi as “a filthy fraud that deserves nothing but the silence of contempt.” The brilliant humorist Alphonse Allais transformed Sarcey into an Ubuesque piñata in a series of columns published under Sarcey’s name in the newspaper Le Chat Noir.

The pseudo-Sarcey became a prattling idiot, bragging about his appetite and complaining about his impotence, a memorable comic character who often eclipsed the original. This sustained journalistic prank — compiled and translated by Doug Skinner — is destined to become a classic of black humor.

Add this gem to your collection and celebrate April Fools all year long.

I AM SARCEY
Alphonse Allais
Translated from the French by Doug Skinner
Includes an  introduction and complete notes on the text
$12.95 / trade paperback, 218 pp.,
BUY NOW

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CLICK HERE to view all the titles in our Alphonse Allais Collection.

And here’s a GIFT, the April Fools Issue of LE SCAT NOIR.
PREVIEW AND DOWNLOAD HERE

Think Spring!

idiotLooking ahead (no pun intended) to April, it’s going to be a Scatastic  month. Back in 2013, we issued a little limited edition chapbook titled HOW I BECAME AN IDIOT by Francisque Sarcey. It was actually written by the brilliant French humorist Alphonse Allais, who signed Sarcey’s name to a series of columns that appeared in the bohemian journal Le Chat Noir. Sarcey, a well-known drama critic, became the butt of jokes among the literati for his stodgy, conservative views (e.g., he blasted Alfred Jarry‘s absurdist classic UBU ROI).

Our limited edition sold out quickly, but it was just a sampler. Now Doug Skinner has compiled and translated all the columns in a delicious 200+ paged trade paperback edition: I AM SARCEY.

full-cover

These texts reveal Allais at his wicked best and the book is a must-have for fans of hilarious black humor. This volume marks the seventh title in our Alphonse Allais Collection, and our resident Allais scholar, Doug Skinner, provides a sublime introduction and notes on each text.

Only an idiot would pass up I AM SARCEY when it rolls off the press on April 1st.

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Also on tap is a special (redesigned) April Fools Issue of LE SCAT NOIR. You can download a copy on our web site (BlackScatBooks.net) on April 1st for FREE.

No joke!

Mark your calendars.

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It’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s…insane!

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These plays, plays by Axelrod, Mark, the other Axelrod, not the one who worked for Obama, Obamaless, the other Axelrod, his plays, are. And are the plays of Axelrod, no
t the one who worked for Obama, Obamaless, and are the plays of Axelrod, Axelrodian.  Yes, in all manner of speaking, speaking high or low, they are and you, the Reader, Reader of Axelrod, not the one who worked for Obama, Obamaless, the other Axelrod, should read these plays with relish. For without relish, they would not be as absurd.
—Samuel Beckett


Can Superman avoid deportation?

Will Van Gogh survive an IRS audit?

Does Donald Trump talk to himself?

Has the world gone mad?

This outrageous and timely collection confronts our contemporary nightmares with devastating wit and insight. In the provocative title play, Superman stands trial as an illegal alien. In “A Colloquy of Birds,” Axelrod takes aim at a flock of notorious Republican women — the “politically effete.” And just when you thought it was safe to applaud, experience the maniacal monologues of Chairman Trump.

Here are eight rousing absurdist dramas destined to be modern classics.

SUPERMAN IN AMERICA & OTHER ABSURD PLAYS
by Mark Axelrod
Trade paperback, 354 pp.,  $16

CLICK HERE TO ORDER ON AMAZON

 

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Get it while it’s hot…

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The February issue has just launched and you can read it for free at THIS LINK.

LE SCAT NOIR #220 features works by an international cast of misfits:  Christopher Barnes, Paulo Brito, Eckhard Gerdes, Thomas Gresham, Colin James, Michael Leigh, Terri Lloyd, Samantha Memi, Frank Pulaski, Jason E. Rolfe, Merve Semsar, Doug Skinner, and  Franciszka Themerson.