Most people probably know of Jeff Clark from his popular book designs, but I'm reading his book The Little Door Slides Back (Sun & Moon, 1997), and it's pretty great and startling in its oddness.
Much of it reads as outtakes or half-plagiarized passages from Poe or late 19th century French novels. There's also a great rewrite of Michaux's "Some Information About 59 Years of Existence," as "Some Information About 23 Years of Existence," the second part (1971) which lends the book its title:
Terror in the birthing room: the little door slides back -
First mews were of pissulence, not want.
In the depot Deliriope.
Throughout the book there are wonderful little nuisance words like "pissulence" that sound archaic or "translatese." I recommend this book. Two thumbs up.
Has anybody written anything insightful about this book? I'd like to read what others have proclaimed about it.
I really liked that book too, though I read it some years ago. Thanks for reminding me of it---think I will actually get a copy.
ReplyDeleteJeff's magazine Faucheuse is worth seeking out too.
ReplyDeleteI had the idea Cal Bedient reviewed TLDSB but all I can find now are his remarks on Music and Suicide.
PDF of Faucheuse 3:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.quemadura.net/p63.html
garrett caples wrote a great thing on it in an old issue of Lingo
ReplyDelete