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Lucifer Unemployed
Nine stories are told with futuristic rhythms and despair, inverting the conventions of religion, politics, and culture, and highlighting the anarchic conditions of Europe in the 1920's
These nine stories, originally published in Poland in 1927, will introduce American readers to the fresh, biting political and social fictive manipulations of Wat, who died in 1967. Marked by prose that is dense, even labyrinthine, as well as somewhat overblown in its archness, the collection serves as a crucible where the line between reality and fantasy is repeatedly obliterated. Wat fancies a Catholic Church whose priests and pope of Jewish descent persecute the anti-Semites/anti-Catholics; the latter group, headed by John Ford of the automobile dynasty, have converted to Judaism. Elsewhere, in the wake of WW I, a new island surfaces in the Indian Ocean and becomes a home for dethroned monarchs; these rulers of civilization degenerate into barbarians. A man searches for a street that never existed, and a member of a theater audience impulsively joins the play. An unemployed devil, who finds he is superfluous in the inferno of atheistic modern times, becomes a film artist: Charlie Chaplin.
--Publishers Weekly
These nine stories, originally published in Poland in 1927, will introduce American readers to the fresh, biting political and social fictive manipulations of Wat, who died in 1967. Marked by prose that is dense, even labyrinthine, as well as somewhat overblown in its archness, the collection serves as a crucible where the line between reality and fantasy is repeatedly obliterated. Wat fancies a Catholic Church whose priests and pope of Jewish descent persecute the anti-Semites/anti-Catholics; the latter group, headed by John Ford of the automobile dynasty, have converted to Judaism. Elsewhere, in the wake of WW I, a new island surfaces in the Indian Ocean and becomes a home for dethroned monarchs; these rulers of civilization degenerate into barbarians. A man searches for a street that never existed, and a member of a theater audience impulsively joins the play. An unemployed devil, who finds he is superfluous in the inferno of atheistic modern times, becomes a film artist: Charlie Chaplin.
--Publishers Weekly
123 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1927
8 people are currently reading
207 people want to read
About the author
Aleksander Wat
38 books10 followersAleksander Wat, (born Aleksander Chwat to a Jewish father and a Polish mother) was a Polish poet, writer and art theoretician, one of the precursors of Polish futurism movement in early 1920s.
In 1919 he was among the young poets to proclaim the advent of new, futuristic poetry. The following year he published the first set of his poems, which gained much popularity among the supporters of the new trends in literature of the epoch. Until 1922 he was one of the creators of the Nowa Sztuka ("New Art") monthly, and then Almanachy Nowej Sztuki and Miesięcznik literacki. Initially a Communist, until 1931 he was also one of the main journalists of the Marxist Tygodnik literacki.
In 1919 he was among the young poets to proclaim the advent of new, futuristic poetry. The following year he published the first set of his poems, which gained much popularity among the supporters of the new trends in literature of the epoch. Until 1922 he was one of the creators of the Nowa Sztuka ("New Art") monthly, and then Almanachy Nowej Sztuki and Miesięcznik literacki. Initially a Communist, until 1931 he was also one of the main journalists of the Marxist Tygodnik literacki.
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
December 22, 2014
This is a wonderful collection of satirical short stories with surreal elements. What makes them so wonderful, besides the quality of the writing (and Vallee’s translation), is that logic is the prime mover of Wat’s surreal vision. No matter what the protagonists do, there is a logic to it. This tension — along with Wat’s intelligence, storytelling, lists, imagination, and irreverent humor — makes the collection work.
One form that Wat uses especially well is the imagined future. In this he is like Karel Čapek. There’s also a lot about love and passion (and the lack thereof). This small book encompasses just about everything (the title piece does this itself). Wat employs compression and digression both. Similarly, his language goes from spare to (comically) baroque.
The only problem with this book is its design. The font is both narrow and sans serif, and the leading is insufficient. It looks like a self-published book, but was published by Northwestern University Press. This book cries out for an e-book version so that older folks like me can read it with some ease.
One form that Wat uses especially well is the imagined future. In this he is like Karel Čapek. There’s also a lot about love and passion (and the lack thereof). This small book encompasses just about everything (the title piece does this itself). Wat employs compression and digression both. Similarly, his language goes from spare to (comically) baroque.
The only problem with this book is its design. The font is both narrow and sans serif, and the leading is insufficient. It looks like a self-published book, but was published by Northwestern University Press. This book cries out for an e-book version so that older folks like me can read it with some ease.
December 25, 2024
Prawdopodobnie nie jestem obiektywna, bo przywiązałam się emocjonalnie do tej książki.
Te teksty są tak dobre, to bardzo dziwny futuryzm... zadający pytania (po to by skonfronotwać się z "podstawowymi ideami ludzkości", ale też samym sobą i swoim własnym cierpieniem).
Wat jest w tych nowelach niezwykle złośliwy, ma cięty język i chce kwestionować (wszystko, w ogóle).
Widzę tu autora, jego ból, jego złość i niechęć do współczesności i cywilizacji.
To straszne, że Lucyfer jest bezrobotny.
Kiedy Nietzsche głosi śmierć Boga, Wat głosi odejście Diabła (po to by zło opanowało świat jako bezpostaciowa siła)
Te teksty są tak dobre, to bardzo dziwny futuryzm... zadający pytania (po to by skonfronotwać się z "podstawowymi ideami ludzkości", ale też samym sobą i swoim własnym cierpieniem).
Wat jest w tych nowelach niezwykle złośliwy, ma cięty język i chce kwestionować (wszystko, w ogóle).
Widzę tu autora, jego ból, jego złość i niechęć do współczesności i cywilizacji.
To straszne, że Lucyfer jest bezrobotny.
Kiedy Nietzsche głosi śmierć Boga, Wat głosi odejście Diabła (po to by zło opanowało świat jako bezpostaciowa siła)
May 5, 2015
What the devil does a devil do when society has grown more diabolical than him (or her, to use unbiased language)?
From the foreword, by Czeslaw Milosz:
In Europe the 1920s ran their course with great avant-garde experimentation in poetry and prose. The First World War had struck at the very foundations of European tradition; but for many, including the young Polish poet Aleksander Wat, these were "happy ruins," and they grew drunk on the freedom of destroying traditional forms.
From the foreword, by Czeslaw Milosz:
In Europe the 1920s ran their course with great avant-garde experimentation in poetry and prose. The First World War had struck at the very foundations of European tradition; but for many, including the young Polish poet Aleksander Wat, these were "happy ruins," and they grew drunk on the freedom of destroying traditional forms.
July 22, 2023
Beautiful prose. This is so much more clever than anything post modernist. Though the constant role reversal becomes expected after a three or so stories, the writing is so heart-wrenching that it may be overlooked. This book was revolutionary for its time and echoes parallels with ours, 100 years after its publication.
February 6, 2024
Mama Anieli
December 17, 2025
«Charlie Chaplin»
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 8, 2017
"Sono satana. Satana disoccupato. [...] Il mondo è plus diabolique que le diable mème. E a dire il vero, non sta proprio neanche in questi termini. E' un cocktail infernale, in cui persino Dio non sa riconoscere quanto ci sia dei suoi elementi e quanto dei miei." (pp. 81, 82)
December 21, 2025
3.5 - opowiadanie Bezrobotny lucyfer, po drugiej lekturze 4.5
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May 5, 2016Really good, not totally enlightened, there was an awareness in the 1920s (in Central European writers, anyway) of the calamity that Capitalism and modern society was heralding.
Wat's writing is elegant, a prose poem.
Interesting that cinema becomes the last frontier for the Devil.
I hope to write more about this...
Wat's writing is elegant, a prose poem.
Interesting that cinema becomes the last frontier for the Devil.
I hope to write more about this...
July 23, 2008
you'd swear these short stories were written during the last decade... but they weren't. these are 1927 short stories. the title story begs the question: "what the hell does the devil do when the world just doesn't give a shit anymore?"
June 3, 2008
This is a consistently funny social satire that has the added bonus of being a vibrant reflection of the early 19th century society it was composed in.
November 10, 2016
Curious mix of satire, futurism and wit. Sometimes you don't actually get the point of everything but it makes for a fun reading and some sentences are simply sublime.
March 28, 2017
Reminded me of another polish author's work; Bruno Jasienski's I Burn Paris.
These stories couldn't have been written before WWI, they needed such an event to be able to exist, the technological advances, political upheaval,
disruption and chaos.
These stories couldn't have been written before WWI, they needed such an event to be able to exist, the technological advances, political upheaval,
disruption and chaos.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews