Topor: Stories and Drawings

by Roland Topor, Margaret Crosland (Translator), David Le Vay (Translator)

This is the first collection of stories and drawings by Roland Topor to appear in Great Britain. Macabre, witty and often horrific, the stories are told with a biting precision that is brilliantly complemented by the drawings.

'Roland Topor is a one-man explosion, a human firework display, bursting out in all directions; crackling and rocketing; entertaining and frightening; occasionally breathtaking with the unexpected; surprising with a freshness of invention that is always fascinating.' - Ronald Searle

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction

Hardcover

First published January 1, 1967

About the author

A French illustrator, painter, writer and filmmaker, known for the surreal nature of his work. He was of Polish Jewish origin and spent the early years of his life in Savoy where his family hid him from the Nazi peril.

Roland Topor wrote the novel The Tenant (Le Locataire chimérique, 1964), which was adapted to film by Roman Polanski in 1976. The Tenant is the story of a Parisian of Polish descent, who develops an obsession regarding what has happened to his apartment's previous tenant. It is a chilling exploration of alienation and identity, asking disturbing questions about how we define ourselves. The later novel Joko's Anniversary (1969), another fable about loss of identity, is a vicious satire on social conformity. Themes Topor returned to in his later novel Head-to-Toe Portrait of Suzanne (1978).

A new presentation of The Tenant by Roland Topor was released in October 2006. The book has Topor's original novel, a new introduction by Thomas Ligotti, a selection of short stories by Topor, a representation of Topor's artwork and an essay on the famous Roman Polanski film version. There is a working possibility of having Mr. Polanski write a new foreword to this edition.

In 2018, Atlas Press published Topor's Head-to-Toe Portrait of Suzanne, translated and introduced by Andrew Hodgson. It was the first of Topor's novels to enter English in nearly 50 years.

Reviews

[S.M. · Rating 4 out of 5]

A man develops a taste for his own flesh, an amputee grows desperate to please his boss, a fairy takes a more practical approach to granting wishes, a palm-reader devotes his life to acquiring a left hand with a longer life line than his own, and a writer frantically tries to escape his abusive Muse.

These are just a few examples of the 28 short (or short-short) stories and a selection of surreal drawings that make up this collection showcasing Topor's deft hand at absurd humor and morbid wit. If you enjoyed The Tenant or just black humor in general, you will likely find a lot to appreciate here.