Judging from the brisk sails [sic] of Captain Cap by Alphonse Allais, the good captain is developing a rabid cult following—some of whom are daring to wear Captain Cap campaign buttons in broad daylight. The book’s intrepid translator Doug Skinner has compiled The Iconography of Captain Cap over on the Ullage Group blog—complete with rare images.
Don’t miss the boat.
[TRUMPETS BLARING; BANNERS WAVING; BABIES SHRIEKING; READERS CHEERING; etc.]
Black Scat proudly announces the publication of Captain Cap by Alphonse Allais—the first of three volumes in a series of “captails” translated from the French by grand maestro Doug Skinner—who also illustrated the edition and produced its sublime cover.
Vol. I (“Captain Cap Before the Electorate”) covers the captain’s notorious political career—including an unexpurgated appendix of his favorite cocktails**.
That this work by Allais has never before appeared in English makes this a literary event worthy of balloons, noise-makers, champagne, and an inebriated marching band.
And to celebrate the Captain’s launch we’re christening this limited edition by offering a FREE Captain Cap campaign button to the first twelve connoisseurs who order a copy.
UPDATE (2/15): All the buttons are gone, alas.
Now if you’ve read this far and are wondering who Captain Cap was, here’s a brief excerpt from the translator’s introduction:
We would be remiss did we not mention that the first title in our Absurdist Texts & Documents series was Masks by Alphonse Allais, for its author embodies the spirit which inspires this small press.
Captain Cap is limited to 125 copies, so we suggest you order quickly before it’s too late.
CLICK HERE AND CAST YOUR VOTE FOR CAPTAIN CAP
And have a drink on him!
___________________
**Be sure and try the recipe for Corpse Reviver (pg. 53)
ADVANCE RAVES (BY ANTICIPATION) for COLD IN THE BRAIN:
“Nobody can add to the absurdity… nobody can imitate it successfully, nobody can hope to produce its fellow; it is perfect.”
—Mark Twain
“Not since Nabokov’s Pale Fire has there been…well, this.” —R. Queneau
“Gives bad poetry a bad name.”—Derek Pell
Cold in the Brain
Poems by Pedro Carolino
With annotations by Paul Forristal
Absurdist Texts & Documents No. 10
$10.00
5¼” x 8¼”, Perfect-Bound. Illustrated. 32 pp.
Limited to 69 copies.
Poetry / Unintentional Humor
SOLD OUT
This lovely 18th century woodcut is but one of several illustrations included in Pedro Carolino‘s collection of poems, Cold in the Brain—just published in our Absurdist Texts & Documents series.
At first glance one might suspect that the image has been tampered with—(the subject appears to be wearing a headset)—but this is not the case. The illustration is simply that of a young, drooling poet in the throes of inspiration—wearing earmuffs to undoubtedly muffle distracting sounds while he listens to the voice of his muse.
Had the artist intended to create a headset, then we’d be admiring the work of a visionary artist far ahead of his time. Parenthetically, had Carolino been a poet “ahead of his time” (as opposed to a head of his time, which he probably was) we’d have chosen illustrations from the 20th century.
Pedro Carolino was a 19th century Portuguese poet and translator, best remembered (if at all) for his Portuguese-English phrase book, English as She Is Spoke (often falsely attributed to José da Fonseca). The book is a classic of unintentional humour since its author could not speak English. According to Wikipedia Carolino used a French-English dictionary “to translate an earlier Portuguese-French phrase book, O Novo guia da conversação em francês e português, written by José da Fonseca.” Without permission, Carolino added Fonseca’s name to the book in an attempt to cash in on that author’s successful work. As for Carolino’s poetry, it would never have seen publication but for an earthquake in Lisbon, during which a casket containing the manuscript was unearthed.
Paul Forristal is the former Jean Poquelin Distinguished Visiting Professor
of Carolino Studies at San Diego State University. He is the author of Ronan, the definitive biography of the Brazilian-born Equatoguinean football defender Ronan Carolino Falcão, which has been translated into four languages, including Portuguese, Spanish, and Equatoguinean Spanish. Paul is currently at work on a guidebook for Carolino Canyon, a 40-acre day-use facility nestled in the juniper-pinion forests near Albuquerque. He lives in the Illinois Valley of southern Oregon.
Black Scat’s deluxe, annotated edition of COLD IN THE BRAIN is limited
to 69 copies.
If not, here’s a taste from A CAMI SAMPLER.
Translated from the French by John Crombie
You can order the limited edition book right here.
BON APPETIT!
We proudly present a New Year’s treat—#9 in our Absurdist Texts & Documents series: A CAMI SAMPLER, translated from the French by John Crombie in Paris. The collection includes 10 zany, Dadaesque microdramas by Pierre Henri Cami, plus nine pages of his rare drawings. This is the first collection of Cami’s mini plays to be published in the U.S.
“Though blissfully ignored for most of his life by the
English-speaking public, Cami (Pierre Henri) remained
for four full decades one of France’s most prolific,
and acclaimed, comic authors. Hailed by his idol and
admirer Charlie Chaplin as ‘the greatest humorist in the
world,’ Cami was somewhat willfully omitted by André
Breton from his Anthologie de l’Humour Noir—no doubt
on account of his huge popular success—but admired
by other Surrealists. Between 1910, when he founded
Le Petit Corbillard Illustré, the ‘humorous organ of the
corporation of undertakers,’ and his death in 1958,
Cami published well over forty volumes of minidramas
and comic novels—notably The Memoirs of God-the-
Father, The Adventures of Loufock-Holmes, The Son of
the Three Musketeers, and the travels of his perhaps most
famous creation, Monsieur Rikiki and the Rikiki family—
as well as countless songs, strip cartoons, screenplays
and even operettas. Many of these he also illustrated.
But Cami was best known for his ‘dramatic fantasies,’
written mostly for La Vie Drôle, the humorous column
published weekly by Le Journal, where he had stepped,
somewhat belatedly, into the shoes of that column’s
immortal co-founder, Alphonse Allais. Self-styled
microdramas of everyday life, of legend, of history
(and even of geography), of true (and false) romance,
and more often than not of volupté, these screwball
skits look backward to the music hall and Alfred Jarry,
sideways to the Marx Brothers and forward to, in
England, the Goons and, in France, to the Theatre
of the Absurd.”
Edition limited to 100 copies.
THIS BOOK IS OUT OF PRINT
So begins one of the twisted tales in Samantha Memi‘s first collection of short fiction— KATE MOSS & OTHER HEROINES. OUT OF PRINT
Publisher’s Note: Read Elizabeth Archer’s interview with Samantha Memi in Black Scat Review #1.
This limited edition is out of print.
Isidore Isou, the James Dean of Lettrism.
Les périls de la science
We’re giddy over our lineup of new titles for 2013. Among the offerings…
• Adventures in Pataphysics—an anonymous classic of “imaginary solutions,” profusely illustrated in a deluxe limited edition. You can reserve a copy now by sending an email to blackscat@outlook.com No payment necessary, simply indicate that you’d like us to set one aside for you. The book is guaranteed to sell out quickly.
• Also in the wings, Captain Cap (Volume One) by the great Alphonse Allais. Faithfully translated from the French by Doug Skinner, this is the first in an exclusive, multi-volume series. This is the only English translation—a literary landmark—and a must-have for fans of the master absurdist.
• To start 2013 off with a grand guffaw, we’re serving up A Cami Sampler on New Year’s Day. Consider this a spicy dessert by a slightly mad French chef: ten cockeyed microdramas by Pierre Henri Cami, including 9-pages of his rare drawings. Translated by Paris-based Cami-connoisseur John Crombie, this collection is a scrumptious treat by a writer Charlie Chaplin hailed as “the greatest humorist in the world.”
And that’s just the tip of the smorgasbord, as Black Scat is also publishing works by Pedro Carolino, Florence Bocherel, Farewell Debut, Alain Arias-Misson and others. Plus new issues of Black Scat Review.
Solution imaginaire: Décodage sourire de Mona Lisa (from Adventures in ‘Pataphysics)
Happy New Year, All!
blackscatbooks.com 