What do you think?
Rate this book
Falstaff: Apotheosis
A hilarious apologia for perhaps the most maligned of Shakespeare's minor characters, Falstaff: Apotheosis revisits Henry IV's beloved coward, seen here a most complicated fellow, or misunderstood at the very least: for all of the insults, is he not, after all, a master practitioner of the "heroism of humiliation" and progenitor of epic naps?
Falstaff’ s apotheosis was to have played dead on the battlefield, to have fooled the assassin without letting the spectators down, to have gotten back up without a single witness; and to have gone on living a year or two after that first droll sacrifice.
Here we are given full survey of his foibles and finer points by one of France's most intriguing authors, translated with apt fervor by Jacob Siefring.
Most recently in translation, Senges published Geometry in the Dust with Inside the Castle, also translated by Jacob Siefring, and with illustrations by Killoffer. Other notable translations include The Major Refutation: English version of Refutatio major, attributed to Antonio de Guevara (1480—1545) (2016, tr. Jacob Siefring) and Fragments of Lichtenberg (2017, tr. Gregory Flanders). He is the author of fifteen books and more than seventy plays for radio.
In addition to the previously mentioned book-length translations, Jacob Siefring’ s short translations have been featured in BOMB Magazine, Gorse Journal, The White Review, Hotel, and Music & Literature.
Falstaff’ s apotheosis was to have played dead on the battlefield, to have fooled the assassin without letting the spectators down, to have gotten back up without a single witness; and to have gone on living a year or two after that first droll sacrifice.
Here we are given full survey of his foibles and finer points by one of France's most intriguing authors, translated with apt fervor by Jacob Siefring.
Most recently in translation, Senges published Geometry in the Dust with Inside the Castle, also translated by Jacob Siefring, and with illustrations by Killoffer. Other notable translations include The Major Refutation: English version of Refutatio major, attributed to Antonio de Guevara (1480—1545) (2016, tr. Jacob Siefring) and Fragments of Lichtenberg (2017, tr. Gregory Flanders). He is the author of fifteen books and more than seventy plays for radio.
In addition to the previously mentioned book-length translations, Jacob Siefring’ s short translations have been featured in BOMB Magazine, Gorse Journal, The White Review, Hotel, and Music & Literature.
- GenresFrance
36 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2012
82 people want to read
About the author
Pierre Senges
37 books24 followersPierre Senges (born 1968, Romans-sur-Isère) is a French writer. His work includes fifteen books, often collaborations with illustrators, and over twenty-five plays for radio.
His books are sometimes noted for having a baroque style. They frequently combine erudition and invention Fragments of Lichtenberg or play with the relation between the true and untrue Veuves au maquillage and La réfutation majeure.
Senges' radio plays (fictions radiophoniques) have been produced by France Culture and France Inter. His many prizes include the Prix Wepler, the Prix SACD Nouveau Talent Radio in 2007, the Grand prix de la fiction radiophonique de la SGDL in 2008, the Prix du deuxième roman, the Prix Rhône-Alpes, and the Prix meilleure page 111.
His books are sometimes noted for having a baroque style. They frequently combine erudition and invention Fragments of Lichtenberg or play with the relation between the true and untrue Veuves au maquillage and La réfutation majeure.
Senges' radio plays (fictions radiophoniques) have been produced by France Culture and France Inter. His many prizes include the Prix Wepler, the Prix SACD Nouveau Talent Radio in 2007, the Grand prix de la fiction radiophonique de la SGDL in 2008, the Prix du deuxième roman, the Prix Rhône-Alpes, and the Prix meilleure page 111.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
Read
December 3, 2021Shortest smallest book of the year. Next stop on Senges street, Ahab.
Read
March 11, 2022Talking about
Fragments of Lichtenberg
,
Falstaff: Apotheosis
,
Studies of Silhouettes
, and
Rabelais's Doughnuts
in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zaNrC...
January 7, 2020
I would dock this stars in a fit of pique that the only new Senges in translation in roughly a year is 17 pages long (16 if you deduct the empty space on the first and last page) but the joke might get buried, and it’s really not that funny.
This, on the other hand, like all Senges I’ve read so far - is this only the fourth thing? I think it might be five as I believe I read a piece in some collection i bought specifically for the Senges translation - is in fact quite funny. As the translator notes, much of Senges’ work is intertextual (even if at times the space it fits itself into is between imagined works of literature) annotative - this operates in the same space, focusing on Falstaff’s “death” and resurrection in Henry IV - but also demonstrating a deep and playful erudition that is always a pleasure to read.
A side note, I liked the reference to Szentkuthy in the translator’s afterword as they do operate in much the same literary space, and I don’t think I’d strictly tied them together in my head (and, hey, Prae Vol 2 might actually come out this year or next); also the references to some other (currently untranslated) Senges works in the afterword only makes me immediately desirous for more. Hopefully some is forthcoming, would be a shame if not.
This, on the other hand, like all Senges I’ve read so far - is this only the fourth thing? I think it might be five as I believe I read a piece in some collection i bought specifically for the Senges translation - is in fact quite funny. As the translator notes, much of Senges’ work is intertextual (even if at times the space it fits itself into is between imagined works of literature) annotative - this operates in the same space, focusing on Falstaff’s “death” and resurrection in Henry IV - but also demonstrating a deep and playful erudition that is always a pleasure to read.
A side note, I liked the reference to Szentkuthy in the translator’s afterword as they do operate in much the same literary space, and I don’t think I’d strictly tied them together in my head (and, hey, Prae Vol 2 might actually come out this year or next); also the references to some other (currently untranslated) Senges works in the afterword only makes me immediately desirous for more. Hopefully some is forthcoming, would be a shame if not.
January 9, 2020
A wonderful, bite-sized taste of the magic that is Pierre Senges. Taking Shakespeare's Falstaff and his death, faked in Henry IV, part 1 as a starting point to riff on the art of not dying with dramatic flare and what that tells us about Falstaff's character—and our own. Told with a dry, sarcastic humour if you cannot (or will not) read it that way you will miss the joke and, of course, the point.
A joint review of this and Senges' Geometry in the Dust can be found here: https://roughghosts.com/2020/01/09/th...
A joint review of this and Senges' Geometry in the Dust can be found here: https://roughghosts.com/2020/01/09/th...
December 20, 2020
A tongue-in-cheek meditation on the significance of Falstaff’s feigned death in Henry IV, Part 1: “Acting as a dead man between two merciless duel scenes . . . provides an occasion for John Falstaff to restore the oft-maligned nap to its former glory: as such, the nap won’t be the overeater’s ignoble cowardice, it will be rife with meaning, it will be heroic. Nap will become stratagem, victory deferred, mockery and diversion, non-violent wisdom, watercolorist’s restraint, dandyish nonchalance, composure of the stoic sage, unmoving harmony with the surrounding landscape, composition and performance combined, silent role bursting through the screen, Eleusinian mystery and Orphic ritual, death’s approach, a motionless danse macbre, a trick played on death itself by adopting all its outward attributes in a parodic mode, but with the highest solemnity—and the mind-boggling marriage of clowncraft and the macabre.”
No, enjoying Falstaff does not require having read any part of Shakespeare’s Henry IV. What should be enjoyed is Senges’ ability to combine the laudatory with the bathetic to applaud cowardice as moral achievement, simultaneously meaning it and not meaning it. Translator Jacob Siefring has done well at what amounts to alternating a long wink with an arched eyebrow.
No, enjoying Falstaff does not require having read any part of Shakespeare’s Henry IV. What should be enjoyed is Senges’ ability to combine the laudatory with the bathetic to applaud cowardice as moral achievement, simultaneously meaning it and not meaning it. Translator Jacob Siefring has done well at what amounts to alternating a long wink with an arched eyebrow.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews