What do you think?
Rate this book
Lokomotivføreren og andre fortællinger
De korte, deliriske prosafortællinger i "Lokomotivføreren og andre fortællinger" veksler mellem surrealistiske mareridt, snurrig metafiktion og elaborerede og absurde fjollerier, der bindes sammen af en fornemmelse af at være faret vild; af at være på randen af udmattelse; af aldrig at nå frem til det, man søger. En bog fyldt med eventyr, skuffelser, gråt bureaukrati og oversete aspekter af virkeligheden.
I ”En fornem litterær karrieres forlis” fortæller Jean Ferry om en forfatter, der ønsker at skrive ”en tredive romaner med det meget præcise formål et logisk sted i teksten at indføje nogle bestemte sætninger som jeg vældig godt kan lide.” I stedet (”det vil være meget hurtigere end at skrive romanerne, som næppe heller, tror jeg, ville have den store interesse”) nøjes han med at nedskrive sætningerne og lade de omgivende historier udspille sig i læserens fantasi.
Måske kan det forstås som en poetik for de ultrakorte, absurde fortællinger, der udgør Ferrys eneste bog, før han forlod litteraturen til fordel for filmen.
I hvert fald leger han i Lokomotivføreren og andre fortællinger (selv)ironisk med læserens forventninger til, hvad en historie er, og til, hvordan man fortæller den, som i monologen ”Karfunklerne”, der fortælles af en mand, der har glemt, hvad karfunkler egentlig er. Og når han skriver eventyrfortællinger fyldt med eksotiske lokaliteter, farverige karakterer, dampskibe og øde øer, vender han vrangen ud på genren, gør eventyrerne slukørede og modfaldne, fylder rejsen med skuffelser.
Og alligevel er teksterne sært fascinerende og paradoksale: Vi møder hemmelige selskaber, der er så hemmelige, at man ikke med sikkerhed kan vide, om man selv er medlem eller ej; music hall-numre, der foregiver at underholde, mens rædslen lurer i kulissen; en mand, der aldrig er blevet født, fortæller sine barndomserindringer. Vi præsenteres for frit opfundne mareridtsmytologier om et tog, der har kørt i evigheder, og som man ikke kan forlade igen, og for rejseberetninger fra lande, hvor de indfødte flyver i ramponerede luftballoner og fisker efter fugle i himlen.
Bogen anbefales især til læsere af forfattere som Peter Adolphsen, Witold Gombrowicz, Jorge Luis Borges og Alfred Jarry, eller måske af Ferrys egne yndlingsforfattere: Arthur Conan Doyle, Raymound Roussell og Jules Verne.
I ”En fornem litterær karrieres forlis” fortæller Jean Ferry om en forfatter, der ønsker at skrive ”en tredive romaner med det meget præcise formål et logisk sted i teksten at indføje nogle bestemte sætninger som jeg vældig godt kan lide.” I stedet (”det vil være meget hurtigere end at skrive romanerne, som næppe heller, tror jeg, ville have den store interesse”) nøjes han med at nedskrive sætningerne og lade de omgivende historier udspille sig i læserens fantasi.
Måske kan det forstås som en poetik for de ultrakorte, absurde fortællinger, der udgør Ferrys eneste bog, før han forlod litteraturen til fordel for filmen.
I hvert fald leger han i Lokomotivføreren og andre fortællinger (selv)ironisk med læserens forventninger til, hvad en historie er, og til, hvordan man fortæller den, som i monologen ”Karfunklerne”, der fortælles af en mand, der har glemt, hvad karfunkler egentlig er. Og når han skriver eventyrfortællinger fyldt med eksotiske lokaliteter, farverige karakterer, dampskibe og øde øer, vender han vrangen ud på genren, gør eventyrerne slukørede og modfaldne, fylder rejsen med skuffelser.
Og alligevel er teksterne sært fascinerende og paradoksale: Vi møder hemmelige selskaber, der er så hemmelige, at man ikke med sikkerhed kan vide, om man selv er medlem eller ej; music hall-numre, der foregiver at underholde, mens rædslen lurer i kulissen; en mand, der aldrig er blevet født, fortæller sine barndomserindringer. Vi præsenteres for frit opfundne mareridtsmytologier om et tog, der har kørt i evigheder, og som man ikke kan forlade igen, og for rejseberetninger fra lande, hvor de indfødte flyver i ramponerede luftballoner og fisker efter fugle i himlen.
Bogen anbefales især til læsere af forfattere som Peter Adolphsen, Witold Gombrowicz, Jorge Luis Borges og Alfred Jarry, eller måske af Ferrys egne yndlingsforfattere: Arthur Conan Doyle, Raymound Roussell og Jules Verne.
148 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1950
9 people are currently reading
456 people want to read
About the author
Jean Ferry
19 books8 followersJean Ferry, de son vrai nom Jean André Medous et devenu, en 1910, Jean-André Lévy, né le 16 juin 1906 à Capens (Haute-Garonne), mort le 5 septembre 1974 à Créteil1, est un scénariste et écrivain français, exégète de Raymond Roussel, neveu de l'éditeur et écrivain José Corti. Il fut satrape du Collège de 'Pataphysique et « invité d'honneur » de l'Oulipo en 1972.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews
May 29, 2017
Impulse buy while seeking gifts for others a week ago: the Strand actually stocking new Wakefield releases is an excellent surprise and definitely to be encouraged. And so I grazed on this slim volume of surrealist or pataphysical stories off and on over my holidays.
I was familiar with Ferry's writing (besides his Harry Kumel screenplays) mostly via "Letter to an Unknown Person" (here, "Letter to a Stranger") in the Dedalus Surrealist prose fiction anthology. That story is effectively representative of certain Ferry tendencies here -- a brisk concision, tendency to exoticize, a fundamental ambiguity around the actual context -- but far from the highlight. Instead, the ambiguous unease comes through much more effectively in the title story, seemingly of a train voyage through limbo, while "Homage to Baedecker" captures the strangeness of a foreign place much more memorably and specifically (though through a very different means, a parodic, lugubrious nostalgia for the vanishing past). "The Society Tiger", on the other hand, is a kind of mysterious story of dread, concerning a hated and unexpected music hall act that the narrator finds inescapable. Actually, this last, in its initial anticipation, put me in mind of the tone of a much later Thomas Ligetti horror story of unbearable theater, "Gas Station Carnivals". And the longest of the four bonus stories not included in the 1950 original, "Bourgenew & Co", comes off via an entirely different mode of excellence, as a kind of sarcastic mountaineering adventure, punctuated with commentary on commercialism and a surreal derailment.
Ferry is probably, as others have already noted, destined to remain in obscurity. There's a certain modesty about his voice and scope of intent: these are stories, or sometimes only fragmented essays or annecdotes, that lie low, keep to themselves, avoid drawing too much attention to themselves. Though innovative in a certain way, several are somewhat unnecessary stop-start self-revisions that call into question the reliability of written account. These are stories that avoid the necessity of writing a probably more engaging piece, and such was done much more compellingly earlier by Borges, and much more rigorously later by David Foster Wallace. Compared to these, Ferry never seems to fully commit himself to his concepts.
However, that same voice and modesty is also part of Ferry's simple appeal, the pleasantness of reading him even when he's being disconcerting, or evasive, or entirely sarcastic (a frequent, unifying mode here as well). It's a voice that refuses to eschew its conversational logic, so we never fall into the overwhelming dislocation of automatic writing or other more outre devices of Ferry's surrealist compatriots. Which, as a reader of a lot of surrealist writing of all modes, is not necessarily a bad thing. Ferry only flirts with traditionalism enough to keep the reader with him. A middle road: nothing as potentially irritating as Peret's more random stories here, then, but also nothing as perfectly odd as Carrington's best mythologies. The resulting moderation is effectively readable, but risks not being nearly as memorable as surrealism extremes. Still much more fun than actually reading Breton, though, either way. To be enjoyed, if probably not galvanized by.
I was familiar with Ferry's writing (besides his Harry Kumel screenplays) mostly via "Letter to an Unknown Person" (here, "Letter to a Stranger") in the Dedalus Surrealist prose fiction anthology. That story is effectively representative of certain Ferry tendencies here -- a brisk concision, tendency to exoticize, a fundamental ambiguity around the actual context -- but far from the highlight. Instead, the ambiguous unease comes through much more effectively in the title story, seemingly of a train voyage through limbo, while "Homage to Baedecker" captures the strangeness of a foreign place much more memorably and specifically (though through a very different means, a parodic, lugubrious nostalgia for the vanishing past). "The Society Tiger", on the other hand, is a kind of mysterious story of dread, concerning a hated and unexpected music hall act that the narrator finds inescapable. Actually, this last, in its initial anticipation, put me in mind of the tone of a much later Thomas Ligetti horror story of unbearable theater, "Gas Station Carnivals". And the longest of the four bonus stories not included in the 1950 original, "Bourgenew & Co", comes off via an entirely different mode of excellence, as a kind of sarcastic mountaineering adventure, punctuated with commentary on commercialism and a surreal derailment.
Ferry is probably, as others have already noted, destined to remain in obscurity. There's a certain modesty about his voice and scope of intent: these are stories, or sometimes only fragmented essays or annecdotes, that lie low, keep to themselves, avoid drawing too much attention to themselves. Though innovative in a certain way, several are somewhat unnecessary stop-start self-revisions that call into question the reliability of written account. These are stories that avoid the necessity of writing a probably more engaging piece, and such was done much more compellingly earlier by Borges, and much more rigorously later by David Foster Wallace. Compared to these, Ferry never seems to fully commit himself to his concepts.
However, that same voice and modesty is also part of Ferry's simple appeal, the pleasantness of reading him even when he's being disconcerting, or evasive, or entirely sarcastic (a frequent, unifying mode here as well). It's a voice that refuses to eschew its conversational logic, so we never fall into the overwhelming dislocation of automatic writing or other more outre devices of Ferry's surrealist compatriots. Which, as a reader of a lot of surrealist writing of all modes, is not necessarily a bad thing. Ferry only flirts with traditionalism enough to keep the reader with him. A middle road: nothing as potentially irritating as Peret's more random stories here, then, but also nothing as perfectly odd as Carrington's best mythologies. The resulting moderation is effectively readable, but risks not being nearly as memorable as surrealism extremes. Still much more fun than actually reading Breton, though, either way. To be enjoyed, if probably not galvanized by.
December 30, 2020
It’s nice to end 2020 returning to my earlier obsessions of surrealism, dada, pataphysics and the oulipo. Ferry sits in the middle of all of them, creating strange and pithy vignettes that range from unsettling to funny, disturbing to just incredibly strange. They’re beautifully written and frequently have this odd ability to work their way under your skin when you’re not noticing. They’re also a lot more accessible than many writers in this field often are
The introduction is particularly good, refreshingly jargon free and pleasingly happy to call out Ferry on some of his... shall we say... more hoary views of other races. It’s also fascinating for seeing him in context, as they say he’s a Zelig of the French counterculture of the 20th century and weaves through surrealism as writing and particularly in cinema, quietly involved in some of the most spectacular works ever made
The introduction is particularly good, refreshingly jargon free and pleasingly happy to call out Ferry on some of his... shall we say... more hoary views of other races. It’s also fascinating for seeing him in context, as they say he’s a Zelig of the French counterculture of the 20th century and weaves through surrealism as writing and particularly in cinema, quietly involved in some of the most spectacular works ever made
January 13, 2020
It’s difficult to know how to classify this book. Even the “and Other Tales” from the title provides little help. I would call it a short story collection, but I’m not sure that “short story” really applies to the works contained within. They are more like story fragments, ephemeral vignettes, or surrealistic asides. There are 25 separate works contained in 141 pages – but 40 or so of those pages are either blank or contain illustrations. Added to that, this is a little book – it’s basically a 5” x 7” paperback, which means it’s completely dwarfed next to standard trade books. So, just know going in that there is very little in the way of word-count here.
And yet, this is a book that is brimful of creativity, imagination, absurdities and just plain weirdness. One entry (story, vignette, something) is kind of like Lovecraft's The Rats in the Walls, except on a boat. And with Chinese people in the place of rats.
It also plays around a great deal with the way a story can be told – one piece focuses on a writer who plans to write “thirty-odd novels” with sole purpose of inserting a few sentences he is “especially fond of”. But, as opposed to writing the novels, he simply recounts the sentences themselves, and allows the stories to exist by implication in the spaces between the lines. The “spaces between” what is told recurs in the book – a man, in a fevered state writes the beginning and end of a story, only to lose the train of thought and have the final two sentences – and the entire middle section – elude him for the rest of his life. In yet another piece, a monologue about carbuncles is narrated by a man who has forgotten what a carbuncle actually is. Ferry is not just playing around with the way a story can be told – he’s also playing around with the way a story can be conceived: Ferry, or at least Ferry-as-narrator, at one point states
The other thing that stands out in this book is the process Ferry goes through of creating false mythologies. The eponymous piece in this collection is a great example of this – a train that’s been moving “for ages”, where no one can get off while it’s in motion, with its own set of unwritten rules, where passengers simply appear, with no understanding of how they got there. Another focuses on a land where people fly great balloons and fish for birds in the sky, with all resulting mariner mythology (and terminology, and folklore, and history) filtered through an aerial lens (Robinson Crusair).
All of this is – oh so tenuously – tied together by a sense of being lost, of being exhausted, of the understanding that to get to where one wants to go, or to get what one is striving for, is only to be disappointed.
In short, an incredible collection, which has languished in obscurity for much too long. Thank you to Wakefield Press for exhuming it and hopefully bringing it to the attention of readers and lovers of weird, surrealistic texts.
And yet, this is a book that is brimful of creativity, imagination, absurdities and just plain weirdness. One entry (story, vignette, something) is kind of like Lovecraft's The Rats in the Walls, except on a boat. And with Chinese people in the place of rats.
But really, that's life. Forty years of being respected by shipowners, and next thing you know, you're transporting Chinese people without knowing it.In another, a castaway, after ascertaining that the island that he has been stranded on us in fact deserted, finds a deep cavern and sleeps "the kind of sleep I'd always wanted to but life had never let me" only to be rescued a few minutes later, much to his chagrin. In yet another, a narrator keeps his thoughts of suicide in an aquarium ("they have flat little heads, whitish and triangular, like certain phonograph needles, needles of a model I believe has been forgotten") where he feeds them "sorrows, pulled teeth, wounds[...], worries" etc.
It also plays around a great deal with the way a story can be told – one piece focuses on a writer who plans to write “thirty-odd novels” with sole purpose of inserting a few sentences he is “especially fond of”. But, as opposed to writing the novels, he simply recounts the sentences themselves, and allows the stories to exist by implication in the spaces between the lines. The “spaces between” what is told recurs in the book – a man, in a fevered state writes the beginning and end of a story, only to lose the train of thought and have the final two sentences – and the entire middle section – elude him for the rest of his life. In yet another piece, a monologue about carbuncles is narrated by a man who has forgotten what a carbuncle actually is. Ferry is not just playing around with the way a story can be told – he’s also playing around with the way a story can be conceived: Ferry, or at least Ferry-as-narrator, at one point states
[...]but it's not up to me, I'm not the one who laid out this story, that's not what happensin which he absolves himself of the responsibility of the words he’s written. And, in a way, it’s fitting – there is this fevered haze that lays across all of these works, and one can easily see Ferry, trance-like, auto-writing these pieces in a delirium.
The other thing that stands out in this book is the process Ferry goes through of creating false mythologies. The eponymous piece in this collection is a great example of this – a train that’s been moving “for ages”, where no one can get off while it’s in motion, with its own set of unwritten rules, where passengers simply appear, with no understanding of how they got there. Another focuses on a land where people fly great balloons and fish for birds in the sky, with all resulting mariner mythology (and terminology, and folklore, and history) filtered through an aerial lens (Robinson Crusair).
All of this is – oh so tenuously – tied together by a sense of being lost, of being exhausted, of the understanding that to get to where one wants to go, or to get what one is striving for, is only to be disappointed.
In short, an incredible collection, which has languished in obscurity for much too long. Thank you to Wakefield Press for exhuming it and hopefully bringing it to the attention of readers and lovers of weird, surrealistic texts.
September 1, 2013
The most obscure of the obscure, and will probably stay obscure, but not to the fault of the great pubishing house Wakefield Press. Hardcore Surrealist narratives by Jean Ferry, a name that maybe familiar if one follows the world of the Collége de Pataphysique and Surrealist texts. This collection of short stories was admired by Andre Breton and was originally a limited edition of 100 copies. And now we can read this rarity and marvel to Ferry's mix of humor and dread.
Not hard to believe that Ferry wrote numerous books on Raymond Roussel in French, because one can see the influence in his own fictional writings. These stories are very slight, but also very important with respect to the culture that it came from. Which is the avant-garde French literary world, that also leaks into French cinema as well. Ferry wrote scripts for both Luis Bunuel and Henri-Georges Clouzot, so I think he was a man at the right place, with the right people and at the right time. The stories themselves are not essential, but having and reading this is actually a very important part of the puzzle. 20th Century French literature is a large spider with its webs going towards different directions and areas. Here is one map one should own and read.
Not hard to believe that Ferry wrote numerous books on Raymond Roussel in French, because one can see the influence in his own fictional writings. These stories are very slight, but also very important with respect to the culture that it came from. Which is the avant-garde French literary world, that also leaks into French cinema as well. Ferry wrote scripts for both Luis Bunuel and Henri-Georges Clouzot, so I think he was a man at the right place, with the right people and at the right time. The stories themselves are not essential, but having and reading this is actually a very important part of the puzzle. 20th Century French literature is a large spider with its webs going towards different directions and areas. Here is one map one should own and read.
April 15, 2014
Worth the price of the book is a fantastic introductory essay from the translator about the author, placing Ferry as a key contributor in the French surrealist movement and, later, as an influential scriptwriter/script-doctor for a number of classic French art-house films. The actual stories that followed the introduction were a bit of a let-down. Of about 18 stories, about half of them felt worthwhile to me and, of those, maybe 4 or 5 were really good - the last two stories especially. In one, a British mountain climber, facing disaster, ends up dangling from a rope in a Scottish family's living room. In the other, a poet's job interview allows Ferry to make some funny observations about the reality of making a living through art. The lesser stories had the feel of surrealist anecdotes that never really went anywhere and weren't really interesting or strange enough to stand on their own. The book itself is beautiful - a solid paperback, illustrated with collages and etchings throughout, including a couple of really nice full page etchings on the inside covers depicting the interior of a swanked out train car followed by an impressive pile of train wreck.
May 30, 2022
No sabía que esperar de este libro, y sin embargo, ¡lo que encontré en el me dejó fascinado a cada paso durante su lectura!
El libro es una colección de relatos que van de lo absurdo a lo simbólico con cierta influencia del famoso decadentismo francés. Como sea, varios de los relatos están salpicados con breves toques de comedia que consiguen desorientarte un poco, ya que honestamente, no sabes como reaccionar ante ellos, dada la pauta general de lo que estás leyendo. Algunos relatos remiten a Kafka, otros son como leer a Blake, así que en realidad, es una lectura de lo más variada.
En lo personal, no había leído antes al autor, pero quedé bastante complacido con el balance general de los textos incluidos, así que veré si puedo encontrar un poco más de su trabajo. Por otro lado, la edición que leí, en pasta dura, con formato de cuadernillo francés, con grabados ilustrando cada relato, es muy hermosa y muy atractiva visualmente, por lo que constituye un libro-objeto muy bonito también.
¡Vale la pena conseguirlo!
El libro es una colección de relatos que van de lo absurdo a lo simbólico con cierta influencia del famoso decadentismo francés. Como sea, varios de los relatos están salpicados con breves toques de comedia que consiguen desorientarte un poco, ya que honestamente, no sabes como reaccionar ante ellos, dada la pauta general de lo que estás leyendo. Algunos relatos remiten a Kafka, otros son como leer a Blake, así que en realidad, es una lectura de lo más variada.
En lo personal, no había leído antes al autor, pero quedé bastante complacido con el balance general de los textos incluidos, así que veré si puedo encontrar un poco más de su trabajo. Por otro lado, la edición que leí, en pasta dura, con formato de cuadernillo francés, con grabados ilustrando cada relato, es muy hermosa y muy atractiva visualmente, por lo que constituye un libro-objeto muy bonito también.
¡Vale la pena conseguirlo!
June 10, 2020
So great. I would try to read just one or two stories but, just like when I open a favorite snack of mine, I couldn't stop until I'd thoroughly gorged myself on it's exquisite sweets.
November 1, 2025
Jean Ferry no fue así como mi gran descubrimiento. Siendo justos no fue mucho de mi agrado, pero tiene tres relatos en esta colección que me parecen más que fantásticos. En especial "El tigre mundano", un cuento que es un trancazo bien dado en la psique. En un espectáculo, un tigre es presentado interpretando a un hombre, vestido como tal y caminando en dos patas junto con una chica que es su pareja. El tigre interpreta a la perfección todo lo que hace una persona que va al teatro, pero el narrador es bien consciente de que ese juego camina en la línea del desastre. Es un relato que nos habla sobre todos esos impulsos salvajes, casi primitivos, que están contenidos y ocultos bajo nuestras convenciones sociales.
Me impresionó también "La casa de Bourgenew" que comienza con la historia de sobrevivencia de un alpinista en las montañas y su enfrentamiento ante la tentación definitiva: una acogedora cocina familiar donde la esposa prepara sopa.
"El maquinista", el relato que da titulo al libro me recordó mucho a "El guardagujas" de Juan José Arreola, pero dentro del tren.
Jean Ferry es un escritor representante del surrealismo, de hecho trabajó al lado de de Luis Buñuel en varios guiones. Los relatos de Ferry tienen la intención de ser retóricos sobre la conducta y la realidad interior humana por medio de situaciones o personajes absurdos, pero simbólicamente reconocibles.
Me impresionó también "La casa de Bourgenew" que comienza con la historia de sobrevivencia de un alpinista en las montañas y su enfrentamiento ante la tentación definitiva: una acogedora cocina familiar donde la esposa prepara sopa.
"El maquinista", el relato que da titulo al libro me recordó mucho a "El guardagujas" de Juan José Arreola, pero dentro del tren.
Jean Ferry es un escritor representante del surrealismo, de hecho trabajó al lado de de Luis Buñuel en varios guiones. Los relatos de Ferry tienen la intención de ser retóricos sobre la conducta y la realidad interior humana por medio de situaciones o personajes absurdos, pero simbólicamente reconocibles.
December 30, 2023
Curiosa recopilación de cuentos fantasioso y surrealistas. Jean Ferry trabajó como adaptador y guionista en el mundo del cine teniendo de compañeros a gente como Buñuel. También frecuentó los circulos del movimiento surrealista en París y con esos mimbres sus cuentos tenían que transitar entre lo onírico y kafkiano como era de esperar.
Los relatos son micro-relatos o pequeñas estampas donde la fantasía y lo irreal sobrevuela la trama y destacará algunos como: El maquinista presenta un tren inimaginable que no se detiene en ninguna estación. En La casa de Bourgenew un alpinista desciende a la cocina de una familia atónita. Homenaje a Baedeker es un bello relato donde se describe el país de los pescadores de pájaros, que realizan sus faenas desde globos aerostáticos.
Los relatos son micro-relatos o pequeñas estampas donde la fantasía y lo irreal sobrevuela la trama y destacará algunos como: El maquinista presenta un tren inimaginable que no se detiene en ninguna estación. En La casa de Bourgenew un alpinista desciende a la cocina de una familia atónita. Homenaje a Baedeker es un bello relato donde se describe el país de los pescadores de pájaros, que realizan sus faenas desde globos aerostáticos.
April 11, 2020
Sin mucha esperanza me encontré con varios relatos que resultan significativos: "advertencia", "peces suicidas" e "Inconvenientes de la moral de la infancia" son algunos de ellos. Con un estilo propio del surrealismo y una escritura sumamente acotada, este autor nos da muestras de una literatura de lo onírico, si la respuesta es quién o cómo se escriben los sueños, yo sugeriría leer a Jean Ferry
August 5, 2016
Ferry was involved in French surrealist (Breton was a champion of his), Pataphysical and screenwriting circles, and this short book collects his fiction, all of which are surreal vignettes that run the gamut from brilliant little gems of resigned humor, absurdity and vivid imagery, to so-so sketches than are more of notes to an idea of a cool vignette than an actual cool vignette (ie, Borges-when-Borges-is-not-so-good.).
Of the gems there's Ferry's funny intro which imagines escalating levels of ever-greater levels of obscurity for his as-yet-unpublished manuscript, the lurid images of The Society Tiger, Homage to Baedeker which drolly imagines a rustic community of "bird-anglers" who are just barely keeping alive their tradition of bird-hunting in the sky via fishing (birding?) with hooks from poorly-maintained hot-air balloons, Bourgenow & Co. which is an almost-conventional story of what-is-the-narrator-actually-experiencing-in-an-extreme-situtation (in this case, a glacier climb), an essay on sleep, and my favorite, A Nice Spot for a Stroll, which hilariously imagines Genghis Khan arguing with his horse about whether to continue their conquests.
Other stories vary in quality (the nadir being the unexamined colonial racism in Aboard the Valdivia), but fortunately, all are short, so you pass through the so-so ones quickly. The preface by Edward Gauvin is very informative about the connections Ferry had to the various movements and publications he dipped in and out of. So if you have a taste for surrealism, it's worth seeking this out, just know that it's a mixed bag.
Of the gems there's Ferry's funny intro which imagines escalating levels of ever-greater levels of obscurity for his as-yet-unpublished manuscript, the lurid images of The Society Tiger, Homage to Baedeker which drolly imagines a rustic community of "bird-anglers" who are just barely keeping alive their tradition of bird-hunting in the sky via fishing (birding?) with hooks from poorly-maintained hot-air balloons, Bourgenow & Co. which is an almost-conventional story of what-is-the-narrator-actually-experiencing-in-an-extreme-situtation (in this case, a glacier climb), an essay on sleep, and my favorite, A Nice Spot for a Stroll, which hilariously imagines Genghis Khan arguing with his horse about whether to continue their conquests.
Other stories vary in quality (the nadir being the unexamined colonial racism in Aboard the Valdivia), but fortunately, all are short, so you pass through the so-so ones quickly. The preface by Edward Gauvin is very informative about the connections Ferry had to the various movements and publications he dipped in and out of. So if you have a taste for surrealism, it's worth seeking this out, just know that it's a mixed bag.
February 23, 2024
One of the stories that appears later in this book, titled "Failure of a Fine Career in Letters", features a narrator that talks about writing novels purely for inserting some especially well crafted sentences, but that the rest of the process of writing a whole novel would be too tiresome so he just shares those sentences devoid of any context. I read that as Ferry's self-analysis of the very work I was reading - a collection of extremely short stories - more like vignettes or quick sketches - from a man who would not end up writing any further literary fiction.
It works because the stories are pretty brilliant, and he's able to build out these scenes without spilling much ink. Even though I'm not familiar with his work, I think this work (as well as the fascinating preface about the author from translator Edward Gauvin) makes it clear that Jean Ferry was a talented writer - mainly for the screen, where he was noted as a good dialogue writer which I believe be one of the most difficult skills to pin down.
These stories mostly revolve around absurd premises - such as the titular story about a Sisyphean train ride, an extreme case of writer's block resulting in a mental breakdown in "The Traveler with Luggage", and a pun poorly received in "The Inconvenience of Childhood Memories". But these stories don't seem to be asking underlying questions about the nature of existence the way that more robust absurdist fiction does, rather just commenting about how tiresome it all is. And that is something I can very much relate to.
It works because the stories are pretty brilliant, and he's able to build out these scenes without spilling much ink. Even though I'm not familiar with his work, I think this work (as well as the fascinating preface about the author from translator Edward Gauvin) makes it clear that Jean Ferry was a talented writer - mainly for the screen, where he was noted as a good dialogue writer which I believe be one of the most difficult skills to pin down.
These stories mostly revolve around absurd premises - such as the titular story about a Sisyphean train ride, an extreme case of writer's block resulting in a mental breakdown in "The Traveler with Luggage", and a pun poorly received in "The Inconvenience of Childhood Memories". But these stories don't seem to be asking underlying questions about the nature of existence the way that more robust absurdist fiction does, rather just commenting about how tiresome it all is. And that is something I can very much relate to.
April 28, 2015
I wouldn't suggest this to people seeking out surrealism but the label does fit comfortably if you can understand surrealism in a broader context of the term. There's none of the bloated intellectualism of Breton here, and certainly none of the garish clowning of Dali that, to me, rings so hollow. This is more on par with the smaller works of Svankmajer where rocks align to describe playful patterns, the primary purpose of beer is to decorate a mustache and the closer things trend toward the extremely normal, the more subversive their potential in skilled hands. It's this humble focus that makes these collected stories so pleasurable to read. The collages by Claude Ballaré are a perfect compliment with their simple and elegant forms. Pitched perhaps at a similar audience to Jarry's readers, both real and imagined, it's a great pleasure to read something that you can readily suggest to just about anyone - except those Dali fans. Dali made Harpo a harp out of barbed wire. Duh.
What's being told is also of interest but the magic here is in how they are told. The short pieces are linear and almost plain but they are illuminated by a glow that illuminates charming detail. I've read Walser as a point of comparison but I think Felisberto Hernandez or even Collodi's Pinocchio's compares more accurately. Roland Topor also came to mind.
It's a shame he didn't write more...he does it so well. One of the most simply entertaining things I've read in a long while.
What's being told is also of interest but the magic here is in how they are told. The short pieces are linear and almost plain but they are illuminated by a glow that illuminates charming detail. I've read Walser as a point of comparison but I think Felisberto Hernandez or even Collodi's Pinocchio's compares more accurately. Roland Topor also came to mind.
It's a shame he didn't write more...he does it so well. One of the most simply entertaining things I've read in a long while.
December 24, 2022
Loved it. An amazing collection of French surrealism from 1950. Short stories, predating the flash fiction craze that would come decades later. Fragmented, dream-like, absurd, and beautiful. Beautiful artwork accompanies each story as well, courtesy of Claude Ballare. Jean Ferry stated in his introduction that his intended audience was a sole individual in remote Africa, in the distant future, who survived wars, colonization, and endless tragedy, who discovers a Dictaphone from an ancient time, and hears these stories translated into his own language. "I write for that man." - Jean Ferry
July 23, 2014
A gem unjustly forgotten; 'pataphysics or not, these blindingly lonely, blushingly brilliant page turners are all over before you're ready, and all the more fragile for being so transient. A lusciously accomplished translation, I'm assuming, because the prose brims with celerity and precision. Really, this is a fantastic branch of whimsy, solitude, and invention.
December 21, 2021
The stories in this book read like dreams: You're thrown into a world or a train of thought, brilliantly described, and just before you can uncover any overt meaning behind it, you're ripped from that thought train, immediately finding yourself on a brand new one, just as fantastic and imaginative as the last.
January 18, 2015
Review to follow.
July 19, 2015
Delicious.
September 21, 2018
Very good
March 10, 2020
A touch of Kafka and a sprinkle of Jules Verne baked in the fires of Surrealism. Such concise little vignettes, some only a page long!
Want to read
August 27, 2022Encyclopedia acephalica
August 3, 2018
Los textos de Jean Ferry abrazan el surrealismo y coquetean con lo grotesco. Son hermosos, muy irónicos y totalmente desacomplejados. Su estilo (por belleza y cadencia hipnótica) me recuerdan a Emiliano González, mientras que sus historias y personajes (a cada cuál más extravagante) se hermanan con los de Boris Vian. Los textos, como en toda antología, son irregulares. Las elucubraciones y disertaciones filosóficas me han resultado abrumadoras, cansinas incluso (por desgracia son mayoría en la recopilación de textos). Sus aventuras y sus mundos ficticios, en cambio, se me antojan sublimes; ojalá todas las aventuras fuesen como el prólogo y todos los escenarios tuviesen la riqueza del país de los pescadores de pájaros. Y los carbúnculos, ¡oh maravillosos carbúnculos!
October 4, 2024
Relatos surrealistas, crónicas del absurdo y textos dispersos, dónde destacan: "El maquinista" sobre un tren que nunca se detiene, "El tigre mundano" un show que parece ser de otro planeta, pero que al finalizar instintivamente retorna a una condición inicial, y "La casa de los Bourgenew" en el que un alpinista desciende en una casa.
December 3, 2019
En fin svit i sig underhållande små betraktelser och för amatörer inom patafysiken en liten pärla till bok.
April 22, 2023
Me gustaron mucho:
- EN LAS FRONTERAS DE LA ESCAYOLA
- AL BORDE DEL LLANTO
-INCONVENIENTES DE LOS RECUERDOS DE LA INFANCIA
- EN LAS FRONTERAS DE LA ESCAYOLA
- AL BORDE DEL LLANTO
-INCONVENIENTES DE LOS RECUERDOS DE LA INFANCIA
March 17, 2025
Short dream-like vignettes. Nice, but not too special. The physical book is very nicely designed, though, with good images and layout, and a nice introduction to the author in the preface.
May 29, 2025
nogle absolutte perler imellem, enkelte ligegyldige og så en håndfuld der bare trækker i mine smilebånd
May 10, 2014
This is a fun little book -- I picked it up due to Jean Ferry's connections to the Surrealists, and I wasn't disappointed. This is a collection of brief, witty tales in a variety of styles, each illustrated by a clever b&w collage-type picture by Claude Ballaré. The stories are difficult to describe; they all feel infused with a sort of ennui, and fantastical occurences are met with indifference much of the time. The pieces are all short and to the point; some are just a page or two long. "The Conductor" is told from the point of view of a train conductor on a train that never stops. "The Garbagemen's Strike" tells of a pile of trash coming to life as a panhandler. "Childhood Memories" is a tale of the author's childhood, except each attempt is eventually shown to be false. My favorite was a story that wasn't in the original 1950 edition, "Bourgenew & Co.", from the point of view of a mountainclimber stranded on a disastrous climb, who suddenly finds himself in a kitchen, although he simply can't stay. It's a marvelous little piece. I wasn't sure whether to give this 3 or 4 stars, because it feels like it's somewhere in-between, but it is perhaps closer to 4 as I think about it more. Anyway, if you like short surrealistic tales, you'll certainly enjoy this collection. Well worth reading.
December 20, 2024
Thanks, but I've had Enoch!
Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews