The Wait is Over!

October 15, 2013October 18, 2013Leave a comment

“It is upon this one comedy that Balzac can lay any claims as a dramatic artist.”
—The New York Times

The literary event of the season has arrived—Mark Axelrod’s sublime translation of this obscure (but highly influential) comedy by Honoré de Balzac.

Originally presented under the title Mercodet or The Good Businessman, this play in three acts was perhaps the inspiration for the unseen character in Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett.

102 years before Godot ‘s debut, Mercodet opened at the Theatre du Gymnase-Dramatique in Paris on August 24, 1851. Curiously enough, it featured a character named “Godeau” who never appears.

A comic coincidence? One of life’s little absurdities? Translator Mark Axelrod was determined to find out.

He met and corresponded with Beckett. And in Waiting for Godeau we present a rare, unpublished letter from Beckett in which the burning question is answered.

Or is it?

You be the judge.

Waiting for Godeau
by Honoré de Balzac
Translated from the French by Mark Axelrod

Absurdist Texts & Documents – No. 22
138 pp. Edition limited to 250 copies
$25.00

CLICK HERE TO ORDER

Words for Today via Alphonse Allais

October 12, 2013October 12, 2013Leave a comment

Allais was going to Breuil with Gandillot, who had a trunk. Allais only had a shirt. “You can put it in my trunk,” says Gandillot. “What?” says Allais. “And I, do I ask you to put your trunk in my shirt?

—Jules Renard

You’ll find more wit and wisdom in CAPTAIN CAP: HIS ADVENTURES, HIS IDEAS, HIS DRINKS by Alphonse Allais, translated from the French with an introduction & illustrations by Doug Skinner.

ORDER ON AMAZON

Play Dough

October 10, 2013Leave a comment

From Italy with love comes Peppo Bianchessi‘s CONTEMPORARY ART FOR RICH KIDS—a richly illustrated activity book. It’s a whirlwind tour of contemporary art and lucre, designed for those born with horns, forked tongues, and silver spoons in their mouths. It’s crammed to the till with fun and games, and guaranteed to be profitable—at least for the author. The flaming full color will dazzle your eyeballs. A surprise on every page!

CLICK HERE TO ORDER

The Chameleon Child

October 9, 2013Leave a comment

chameleon

from CAPTAIN CAP: HIS ADVENTURES, HIS IDEAS, HIS DRINKS by Alphonse Allais, translated from the French by Doug Skinner.

CLICK HERE TO ORDER

The Grand Madcap Edition of CAPTAIN CAP has Launched!

October 8, 2013October 8, 2013Leave a comment

We’ve jumped the gun and released our mammoth deluxe trade paperback edition of Alphonse Allais’s CAPTAIN CAP: HIS ADVENTURES, HIS IDEAS, HIS DRINKS—translated by Doug Skinner. This is the complete & unabridged edition of the original 1902 French classic. 370 pages, including eight uncollected “Captain Cap” stories, plus a “Cappendix” of rare historical pictures.

The book is profusely illustrated with witty drawings by Doug Skinner, in addition to his extensive notes on the translation and swashbuckling introduction.

If you missed any of the limited edition capsized Captain Cap chapbooks in our Absurdist Texts & Documents series, you can get the whole kit and caboodle now, plus oodles more.

ORDER YOUR COPY ON AMAZON

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ALPHONSE ALLAIS (1854-1905) was a peerless French humorist, celebrated posthumously by the Surrealists for his elegant style and disturbing imagination. In addition to composing absurdist texts for newspapers such as Le Chat Noir and Le Journal, he experimented with holorhymes, invented conceptual art, and created the earliest known example of a silent musical composition: Funeral March for the Obsequies of a Deaf Man (1884). Truly ahead of his time (as well as ours), Allais is needed now more than ever. His mischievous work remains fresh, funny, and always surprising.

DOUG SKINNER has written numerous scores for theater and dance, particularly for actor/clown Bill Irwin (The Regard of Flight). His articles, cartoons, and translations have appeared in The Fortean Times, Fate, The Anomalist, Nickelodeon, Weirdo, Black Scat Review, and other periodicals. His translation of Isidore Isou’s Considerations on the Death and Burial of Tristan Tzara was published by Black Scat Books.

***

ARE YOU IN THE UK? CLICK HERE TO ORDER

ARE YOU IN FRANCE? CLICK HERE TO ORDER

ARE YOU IN GERMANY? CLICK HERE TO ORDER

In the wings, some special things (third edition)…

October 4, 2013October 8, 2013Leave a comment

Scat addicts (of which I’m one) will get their fix and kicks in the coming months. What would winter be without a stack of Scat on the bedside table? Bleak indeed. So cheer up & gear up… good reading is on the way.

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On October 15th we’re releasing a limited edition of the play that may have influenced Samuel Beckett’s WAITING FOR GODOT. This deluxe edition of Balzac‘s 3-act comedy WAITING FOR GODEAU (Original title Mercodet) is translated from the French by Mark Axelrod. This launch is bound to make waves so circle the date in red.

In November, we’re publishing two Black Scat Classic Interim Editions.
First, a portfolio of cool nudes by the Austrian painter Monika Mori (known internationally as “Moo”). These dazzling abstract forms are at once playful, moody & seductive. Don’t miss MOO NUDES—a lush, erotic celebration of the female body.

Also in November, the legendary Opal Nations returns with some wicked (and we do mean wicked) visual black humor: EMBRYO WORLD. It’s sure to piss off the Right-to-Lifers and thrill the rest of us.

December, we raise the curtain on the Théâtre de l’Absurde—a limited edition of a hilarious little Patchenesque drama: ‘S A BIRD by Eckhard Gerdes. No spitting in the balcony.

Finally, for fans of Alphonse Allais, our sublime trade edition is AVAILABLE HERE.

There’s no government, but at least there’s still Art…

October 1, 2013October 2, 2013Leave a comment

Pamper them with oils, swaddle them in the spoils of war. Watercolors, pastels, collage, découpage, gouache and the glory of riches. Feed their pointy little heads with the visions of well-heeled contemporary masters. Shower them with glitter from the gods. Smother them in dark museums and galleries. Clobber the slobbering blobs with sculpted urns, lash them with brushes dripping illusions. Give them the gift of fab, fame and fortune! Bestow upon them this Fun and Profitable Activity Book by one of Italy’s greatest living artists—Peppo Bianchessi.

RICH KIDS

CONTEMPORARY ART FOR RICH KIDS is a full color, illustrated guide to modern rat and the wonders of creation’s maze. Let the kiddies ogle, spit, guffaw and squirm as they learn and play. Remember: rich kids represent the future of the planet. These little amorphodytes are our future landlords & banksters; they are budding mobsters, jihadis, politicians, investors, meth-heads and speculators. They were born to remake the world spin in their own greedy image.

Spoil them now while there’s still time. Give them something to do. Or read it yourself. It’s the breakfast of Duchampions.

CLICK HERE TO ORDER this luxurious little book of dreams.
A Black $cat Scholastic Classic.

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ABOUT THE ARTIST:

Peppo Bianchessi is a multimedia artist from Italy. He is a “mittel-European”, a funny intellectual strongly influenced by Japanese culture. In Italy, Multimedia Artists have been around since the Renaissance and, before Apple Computers and multi-tasking, they were simply called Renaissance Men. When he was 20, Peppo went to the Venice Art Biennale for the first time. He was surprised to see that some of the so-called “young artists” were over 50. Recently he returned to Venice and discovered some teenagers were considered “young artists.” Peppo is now 45 years old and has never been a young artist. And it’s probably too early to consider him an Old Master, but he’s working on it. That is, to become old, not a Master. On many occasions he has tried to be a contemporary artist, but his timing was always wrong. Thus, he has accepted his real vocation: undermining the education of children (and adults) through funny and provocative books.