HOW I BECAME AN IDIOT by Francisque Sarcey (Alphonse Allais)
Translated and with an introduction & annotations by Doug Skinner
Absurdist Texts & Documents – Interim Edition No. 00
“Francisque Sarcey (1827-1899) was, for much of his career, the most powerful theatrical critic in Paris. He was the perfect model of the blunt bourgeois, championing common sense, anti-intellectualism, and traditional values. He favored light, commercial fare, and railed against Ibsen and Jarry.
He was, predictably, a prime target for young artists. Alphonse Allais took the ridicule to new heights: from 1886 to 1893, he wrote a regular column for Le Chat Noir, which he simply signed as Francisque Sarcey. The pseudo-Sarcey became a grotesque caricature of the smug middle class, a sort of proto-Ubu: an obese, gluttonous, lecherous, hypocritical dolt, prattling on about his constipation and hemorrhoids, in loosely-knit sentences studded with clichés.”—Doug Skinner
HOW I BECAME AN IDIOT includes four of Allais’s nastiest columns,
Limited Edition of 60 copies. perfect-bound. $12.50
Don’t be an idiot, order your copy right here.
