We’ll cheerfully drink to that, whilst launching this new book by France’s 
greatest humorist, Alphonse Allais.
Just in time for the holidays, too, the first publication in English of the master’s collection, Vive la vie! — stories culled from the pages of Le Chat Noir, packed with madcap (and bawdy) tales of love, adultery, the supernatural, military life, and—yes—fake news. These texts are quintessentially Allaisian, spiked with absurd digressions, parenthetical asides, footnotes, puns, jokes, military jargon, Parisian slang, neologisms, dog Latin, literary quotations, and other unmentionable forms of wordplay.
“EXPLOSIONS OF LAUGHTER ARE BETTER THAN DYNAMITE. LONG LIVE LIFE, DAMN IT!”
—ALPHONSE ALLAIS
This special Black Scat edition features four additional short stories not included in the original French volume, as well as a lively introduction, illustrations, and fascinating notes on the text by Doug Skinner.
Explosions of laughter guaranteed.
Now available worldwide on Amazon. CLICK HERE to order your copies.
LONG LIVE LIFE!
by Alphonse Allais
Translated from the French by Doug Skinner
Trade paperback; 184 pp., $14
Francisque Sarcey was the most influential drama critic in 1890s Paris — and the most conservative. He famously dismissed Alfred Jarry‘s 
Looking 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).
blackscatbooks.com 