Book of Jokes: the video preview

[imomus]

I'm writing a long fiction called The Book of Jokes right now. Basically it's the story of the world's most dysfunctional family -- a family defined by some of the world's darkest jokes. It'll be published by La Volte in September 2008, initially in French. La Volte will license it to other publishers (if you're a publisher and interested in the rights for your country, contact Xavier Belrose). Here's a mock-up of what the English edition of the book might look like when it comes out next year:



I thought it might be interesting -- very much in the spirit of jokes, which are a kind of open source oral culture, but also in the spirit of 18th century subscription publishing -- to open up the composition process over the next months by doing a series of readings of excerpts of the book (unedited drafts, basically) on a new YouTube channel called bookofjokes. So here's the first reading, a couple of bits from Chapter One concerning our glass house, my father the trouser snake, and the death -- in a hunting accident -- of my uncle The Englishman:

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Disclaimer: This material is dark and filthy and sick and deranged. Any resemblance to persons living or dead is a total fucking joke, mate.

Comments

Re: en Français ?

[imomus.livejournal.com]

It'll be translated into French by a pro translator. That's way beyond my skills in the language!

As for whether it's "thought" in French, well, since La Volte have been in on this from the start -- they're the only publishers ever to have pursued me, and Xavier Belrose, the editor, has been in touch since his days at Serpente a Plumes, encouraging me to write something for one of the French houses he's been associated with -- it's certainly encadré in a French context. Also, culturally, I think it owes a lot to french traditions -- the medieval gross-out elements of Villon and Rabelais, the fables and clarté school of La Fontaine, the libertinage of De Sade and co, playful philosopher-pornographers like Diderot, transgressor-economist-anthropologists like Bataille and Leiris, eccentric dandies like Huysmans... It's really much more in a French tradition than an English one. Though of course Swift and Sterne loom large... So many heroes!

"Jokes" is a hard word to translate into French. Le Livre des Blagues? Des Plaisanteries? It's up to the translator, really.

Re: en Français ?

[(Anonymous)]

I see, in English with a strong french cultural subtext. I'll probably have to buy both editions then (I'm french but I like to read UK/US books in English when possible).
btw, I liked a lot of books from Le Serpent a Plumes (and their revue was excellent), so it really sounds promising.

Re: en Français ?

[kaipfeiffer.livejournal.com]

maybe also michaux could be a french reference? i think of "un certain plume", which is also quite a book of jokes.

Re: en Français ?

[imomus.livejournal.com]

I haven't read that.

Re: en Français ?

[kaipfeiffer.livejournal.com]

it's a series of short stories with monsieur plume enduring ever more absurd situations. one of my favorites is "plume au restaurant" in which he's eating something in a restaurant, and gets a remark by the waiter, that what he got on his plate isn't in the menue, and plume immediately feels guilty (although what he eats was served by this very suspicious waiter), and excuses himself. he then gets visited by the maître de cuisine, the owner of the reataurant, a police officer, up to some people from the secret service. all hold against him that his meal isn't in the menue, and his excuses get ever more nervous and absurd, while they threaten to beat him up if he doesn't "confess".