Short stories. Selections. English

The fool : and other moral tales / Anne Serre ; translated from the French by Mark Hutchinson.

First New Directions edition.

New York : New Directions Publishing, [2019]

©2019

158 pages ; 19 cm.

BEIN New Directions 1856: Paperbound. Numberline on title page verso indicates first printing: "10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1."

"Fairy-tale atmospheres and complex narratives are a hallmark of the fiction of Anne Serre, represented here by three radically heterodox novellas. The Fool "may have stepped out of a tarot pack: I came across this little figure rather late in life. Not being familiar with playing cards, still less with the tarot, I was a bit uncomfortable when I first set eyes on him. I believe in magic figures and distrust them-a figure observing you can turn the world upside down." The Narrator concerns a sort of writer-hero: "Outcasts who can't even tell a story are what you might call dropouts, lunatics, misfits. With them the narrator is in his element, but has one huge advantage: he can tell a story." The Wishing Table-a moral tale concerning a family happily polyamorous-is the most overtly a fable of these three works, the most naughty, and the briefest, but thin as a razor is thin. A dream logic rules each of these wildly unpredictable, sensual, and surreal novellas: these may be romps, but they are nevertheless deeply moral and entirely unforgettable ones"-- Provided by publisher.

English

November 07, 2019