Street Cop

by Robert Coover, Art Spiegelman (illustrator)

Robert Coover's detective novelette, STREET COP, is set in a dystopian world of infectious 'living dead,' murderous robo-cops, aging street walkers, and walking streets. With drawings by Art Spiegelman, this short tale scrutinizes the arc of the American myth, exploring the working of memory in a digital world, police violence and the future of urban life. STREET COP is provocative and prophetic, asking us to interrogate the line between a condemnable system and a sympathetic individual.

Genres: Fiction, Comics, Graphic Novels, The United States Of America

102 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2021

About the author

Robert Lowell Coover was an American novelist, short story writer, and T. B. Stowell Professor Emeritus in Literary Arts at Brown University. He is generally considered a writer of fabulation and metafiction. He became a proponent of electronic literature and was a founder of the Electronic Literature Organization.

Reviews

[Chris Via]

Video review: https://youtu.be/A32pwcC43ys

[Marc · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's possible this book came out at the wrong time. You're not going to find a lot of sympathy for police officers in the present, nevermind a fictitious one in the future caught up in a system well beyond his control. If David Lynch directed a comic strip mashup set in the near future between Nancy and R. Crumb, you might get something like this.

Rumor has it that Robert Coover and Art Spiegelman collaborated on this via Zoom during the pandemic. It's pretty familiar territory for Coover as he takes a trope---the street cop in this instance---and unravels it through technology/social changes unmooring the subject's sense of autonomy/meaning/volition. I thought it was going to be more like a graphic novel, but it's a short story combined with a few illustrations by Spiegelman. Those new to Coover, might find more to celebrate here. Longtime fans will probably find this interestingly bordering on insipid. isolarii's chosen small format (playing-card-sized books) doesn't lend itself to well to artwork.

--------------------------------------------
6/2/21: The foreword for this is a conversation between Coover and Spiegelman that is quite engaging and available online free as a PDF here: https://www.isolarii.com/media/pages/home/22811e95c9-1622452879/interview-coover-spiegelman.pdf

[Francesco Iorianni · Rating 3 out of 5]

A dystopian short story about an old-fashioned street cop wandering through the streets of New York. Flying cars, robotic police officers, drones and wandering houses are part of his daily lifestyle in the streets and with the help of an artificial intelligence he has fallen a little in love with, he sets out to find an alleged corpse. I wish the book had more drawings of Art Spiegelman to elevate the story in his visuals a little more.

[Guillermo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Coover es un genio, y esto, la enésima muestra de ello. Las ilustraciones de Spiegelman encajan a la perfección en el relato. Una pequeña obra maestra.

[Felipe Arango Betancourt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pensemos en algo similar a un videojuego o una realidad virtual, así es la ciudad donde vive el policía de a pie. Una ciudad que cambia y muta constantemente, a velocidad de vértigo, reconfigurándose constantemente: donde había un parque en donde jugaban los niños ahora hay un barrio peligroso, donde había un barrio residencial ahora hay una colmena de edificios….no hay nada seguro, fijo: pasado, presente y futuro mezclados (tan parecido a nuestra realidad).
El policía de a pie (intrascendente y sin ninguna importancia como policía) fue antes un vagabundo y un delincuente de poca monta, ahora persigue delincuentes y asesinos, y sirve al Ayuntamiento, una especie de Gran Hermano: todo lo vigila, todo lo controla.

Es difícil pensar por fuera de la imagen prestablecida que nos da Art Spiegelman al policía de a pie. Es la construcción perfecta del personaje de Robert Coover.

[nathan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Yucky in Bukowskian sentiments. It's a bite-sized noir flourished with Spiegelman's art. Funny and gross with Boomerish satirization when it comes to Siri.

Like, does anyone really have anything against Siri? She's just there to help you, Coover. Get a grip my dude.

[E. C. Koch · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a weird little novelette immersed in, and emanating, nowness—a book about autonomous technology, a perpetually changing physical and affective landscape, the twin poles of relativism and amorality, and cops. The story here (don’t be fooled by the page count, this is about as long as a short story) follows a former drug dealer turned street cop who happens upon a dead body and is tasked with making an arrest regardless of the guilt of the arrestee. Over the span of Street Cop’s shift, he moves about a cityscape in constant flux (three-d printers rebuild and rearrange the city in real time) while continually running up against his own technological illiteracy (everything from his boots to his hat is run by computers and he doesn’t really know how to handle it) in order to find a possible suspect. The motivation to find the killer wanes after he gets a call telling him to look into a different victim, this one said to have been “chewed up.” This leads to the disclosure that zombie creatures are being sold as pets, allowing the city to sell the bodies of murder victims to pet stores as food for the zombies (they only eat human flesh, after all). Following a mishap where Street Cop beheads a couple of robot cops after their autonomous van smashes into his own zombie creature, Electra, he’s chased through the city by drones until he finally gets away. The whole thing ends with him naked in a bar having a beer crying over Electra who, he imagines, told him it loved him, the first time he heard those words since the death of his grandmother. If you think that this synopsis sounds strange, trust me, the book is stranger. The plot’s repeated course-changes, technosphere setting, and sinister atmosphere all contribute to a text that very obviously means to comment on the moment’s simulated, online reality. The fact that so much of our cultural life is now lived online means that outrage over the latest scandal is now instantly registered and is also almost as quick to fade, and it means that our view of what the world looks like also constantly shifts, though we sense that the whole apparatus is subtended by ill-defined malignant forces. Street Cop tries to condense all of that into a pretty short narrative by literalizing metaphor and satirizing social behavior. For me, the condensation is too strong; I would have liked a bit more narrative development and a more of a consistent plot. But, then again, this crazy, confused book reflects the crazy, confusing world we now live in.

[Rick Ray · Rating 3 out of 5]

A short story that unites novelist Robert Coover with cartoonist Art Spiegelman. Coover, having been known for some satirical work in the past (A Political Fable, The Public Burning) renders a dystopian vision of a world where a crook-turned-cop navigates a time where most cops are now murderous robots. It takes the tropes of cop fiction and unmoors it into a setting through which to explore societal changes that perhaps may yet prove prescient. It's equal parts campy and insightful, though the story doesn't quite navigate its way into a meaningful climax. Art Spiegelman provides a small handful of illustrations - all of which suit the tone and style of the story - but are a few and far between the chunks of text to really feel all that impactful. Still, a worthwhile time just to see two masterful creatives work together on something so off-the-wall.

[Steve · Rating 5 out of 5]

Street Cop is a crazy dystopian novella with illustrations by famed Art Spiegelman. It tells the extremely fast-paced noir story of a “street cop” who was a low level crook who was hired for the job on the spot when he was trying to turn himself in for some petty crime he did. His colleagues include robot cops, a conscious Siri-like electronic assistant, a 1930s-style car that drives itself and talks to him and a city that is constantly remaking itself with streets and buildings appearing and disappearing without rhyme or reason. Try not to think too hard about all this but just enjoy this light-hearted roller-coaster ride with something to say about the law, society and technology of our time as well.

[Sabine Ibing · Rating 3 out of 5]

Zum 75. Geburtstag von Art Spiegelman, dem Schöpfer von «Maus», wurde dieser Novelle herausgegeben. 2020 hatte Robert Coover eine Future-Geschichte um den letzten New Yorker Streifenpolizisten geschrieben, bat Art Spiegelman, sie zu illustrieren. So entstand inmitten der Pandemie ein Buch über die Zukunft - und eine Liebeserklärung an den Comic von einem seiner größten Künstler. In dieser Dystopie wird die Welt von Robotern beherrscht: Robocops, Drohnen, die Waren ausliefern, fliegende Autos ... Und mittendrin zieht ein altmodischer menschlicher Streifenpolizist durch New York, der seine moderne Technik nur schwerlich bedienen kann. Unter Begleitung einer KI aus dem iPhone, in deren Stimme er sich bisschen verliebt hat, und einer seltsamen Untoten, macht sich auf die Suche nach der Leiche eines Mordopfers, die verschwunden ist.

Per 3D-Drucker wird die Stadt täglich umgebaut. Um durchzufinden, muss man jeden Tag den Stadtplan updaten. Unser Streifenpolizist hat Probleme mit der neuen Technik, auch mit GPS; kommt mit den Geräten nicht klar. Bereits das Cover ist vieldeutig. Wir finden dort ein Corona-Virus und einen Krankenwagen, der statt des roten Kreuzes ein Hakenkreuz trägt. Die modernen Robocops suchen in dieser Stadt nach Schwarzen, die sie sofort exekutieren. Science-Fiction, eine City, die ständig in Bewegung ist, ein alter Cop, der versucht, einen Weg durch eine faschistisch- digitalisierte Welt zu finden. Er war selbst mal Drogendealer - wollte sich stellen, und man dachte im Präsidium, er käme zu einem Bewerbungsgespräch – eingestellt. Eine KI mit samtener Frauenstimme, eine App namens Elektra, leitet ihn durch die Stadt. Dummerweise hat er seinen Plan nicht upgedatet und kann auch mir GPS-Daten nicht umgehen. Eine Untote gabelt er in einem Laden für Hauszombies auf, die man wie Haustiere hält. Gruselig die Schürze der Untoten, auf der «Dead Lives matter too» gedruckt ist.

Schöne neue Welt ... Diese kleine Novelle, von Art Spiegelman illustriert, ist eine durchgeknallte Groteske, abstruse und beunruhigende Erzählung in naher Zukunft. Man benötigt einen ziemlich schrägen Humor, um die Geschichte zu mögen. Mensch und Technik, wie passt das zusammen, diese Frage stellt sich der Autor, wobei er gleich dystopisch die Demokratie verschwinden lässt.

Art Spiegelman, 1948 in Stockholm geboren, ist einer der größten Comic-Autoren der USA. In seiner frühen Kindheit emigrierte er mit seinen Eltern, beide Überlebende der Shoah, in die Vereinigten Staaten von Amerika. Sein berühmter Band «Maus» hielt die Erinnerungen seines Vaters an den Holocaust fest und gewann den Pulitzer-Preis. In «Im Schatten keiner Türme» beschreibt Art Spiegelman die Traumata der Anschläge vom 11. September 2001 in New York. Art Spiegelman arbeitet, neben seiner Tätigkeit als Comic-Zeichner, als Illustrator für diverse Magazine, gab von 1980 bis 1991 zusammen mit seiner Frau Françoise Mouly das avantgardistische Comic-Magazin «Raw» heraus, lehrte an der New York School of Visual Arts und war als künstlerischer Berater mehrerer Firmen tätig. Für sein Lebenswerk wurde er 2022 mit der «Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters» der National Book Foundation USA ausgezeichnet. Art Spiegelman lebt mit seiner Frau in New York.

Robert Coover wurde 1932 im amerikanischen Bundesstaat Iowa geboren und lebt heute mit seiner Frau als Hochschullehrer in Providence, Rhode Island. Für seine Werke wurde er unter anderem mit dem Faulkner-Preis für Literatur ausgezeichnet.

[Geraldine · Rating 3 out of 5]

I bought this book because Art Spiegelman illustrated it, but it's not a graphic novel as I thought. At first I wasn't entirely sure what was going on. I initially thought that when it spoke of apartments moving into parks and neighbourhoods moving around it was referring to development of green spaces, and the gentrification of poor areas while formerly affluent areas fell into poverty. But no, it literally meant that buildings were moving, apparently in an attempt to foil "terrorists", a term used for many types of criminal (or people in the wrong place at the wrong time). I soon got my head around the crazy dystopian world though and enjoyed the ride. I'm sure it was trying to make parallels with aspects of today's society, but they rather went over my head and I just enjoyed it on face value.

[Tom · Rating 4 out of 5]

A little gem by two masters of fiction (Coover) and drawing (Spiegelman) covering the shift of a cop on his beat. The time is past present and future, but when it comes to crime, motivations and social positions result in similar fashion, and thus it makes sense that Spiegelman uses Sluggo as his archetype—rough’n’tough with a heart of gold, a heart now placed in a middle-aged body that has expanded by 2 pounds each year since adulthood. (Nancy appears even worse for wear.) It’s a noir tale that plays with genre conventions—and yes, there’s even a kiss from a femme fatale (he said misleadingly) the street cop will never forget.

[Charlie Kruse · Rating 3 out of 5]

perfect morning read. I really love what isolarii is doing with their press, making real tiny books by fantastic authors. Might just have to nab them all.

I haven't read a lot of Coover. Kind of gets jumbled up for me with other writers. But I enjoyed this little novella about futuristic street cops, captures the feeling of being swept in urban renewal, projects that have never had the layperson in mind. Kind of Blade Runner meets Road Runner, and the Art Spiegelman illustrations are cute. There's one great layout of a nudist bar where a dude's face is straight up dick and balls. great stuff.

[Seth Austin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bold choice publishing a law-enforcement sympathetic story in 2021. Hard to resist the charm of its dystopian zaniness combined with Spielgelman's instantly recognisable illustrations. I suspect Coover was shooting for a sort of... universality by way of the noir form, but I think his readers will struggle to align their empathy with it, given the cultural moment. Likely a case of "wrong message, wrong time". Give it a half-decade, maybe it'll find its audience.

Good for a handful of quick chuckles regardless, and it's not exactly asking for a hefty time investment. Pick it up if you find it in the wild, for ephemeral purposes alone.

[StormofCuteness · Rating 4 out of 5]

I got this because I saw it on a list of the year's best, and I love Art Spiegelman. His work in this is excellent. It also helps if you are familiar with comic strip history as quite a few visual references are made throughout.

The world within is discomforting and alienating. At once familiar and difficult to understand. I suspect my basic visceral response is only the surface of what this little book is attempting. It helped also to be a fan of film noir and its motifs.

[Gabby Grinaway · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a fun read. I was gifted it and am in love with the presentation of the book. It’s pocket-sized and has some cool illustrations. It’s strange, to say the least. Conceptually it’s neat, but I’m not sure our current society is the right audience for this book. It’s very much sympathetic to cops, which is not something I can relate to personally. However, the futuristic universe and the setting was enough to keep me reading. Well written, I’m just not sure on the story itself.

[Peter Landau · Rating 5 out of 5]

A publisher who has a big idea package in small books that come out bimonthly. This edition features a postmodern take on noir crime fiction illustrated by newspaper comics aged out and struggling to make it in this brash new world. If all the volumes are this good we might be in a literary revolution.

[Kristine · Rating 2 out of 5]

Tiny book (2" x 3"). Odd. Somewhat lackadaisical human street cop in a dystopian techno world. I came to it by way of Michael Silverblatt 2021 favorite books. I like this conversation between Art Spiegelman and Robert Coover: https://www.isolarii.com/media/pages/...

[David Macpherson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really am a sucker for Art Spiegelman art and I loved the work he did for this little book. Coover wrote a kooky satiric story about cops and zombies and it was a lot of fun. Nice little book that you can hold in your palm.

[Bruce · Rating 5 out of 5]

This neat little novella of surrealistic noir by Coover illustrated with appropriately grotesque illustrations by Spiegelman is an entertaining piece of fiction with a subtext of cultural criticism. It’s an expertly executed tale of law and disorder.

[Blair · Rating 5 out of 5]

I tiny book from a nice imprint called Isolarii, Spiegelman did the illustrations without ever meeting Coover in person, apparently, when they were in lockdown. It's a brilliant match of sensibilities. Coover is stilll doing a great job of breaking down reality.

[Robert Morgan Fisher · Rating 4 out of 5]

Too short and/or I wish it were more of a graphic novel.

[Evan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Didn't realize when I ordered it that this book would end up being about 2 by 3 inches in size, but it was a pleasant surprise. Like reading William S. Burroughs through a chillum.

[Markku Kesti]

Tämä oli kyllä niin absurdi, etten ole ihan varma mitä tästä sanoisi. Tuli mieleen Flann O'Brienin Kolmas konstaapeli. Ehkä tämä oli hyvä. Luultavasti ainakin kiinnostava. Ainakin erilainen.

[giuliano · Rating 5 out of 5]

A peek into the future, where dizzying technological and social change folds into itself, over and over again, creating an American hell-scape. Illustrations by Art Spiegelman are impeccable.

[Katie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Weird but interesting futuristic noir. I would have liked more Spiegelman illustrations.

[Giuseppe · Rating 3 out of 5]

**** al disegnatore

[Dan Turkel · Rating 3 out of 5]

idk man

[Maurane Pieters · Rating 3 out of 5]

'People got shot and died like they always did, but not always in that order.'