Absurdist Fiction

In the final year of the nineteenth century, Peter Winceworth is toiling away at the letter S for Swansby’s multivolume Encyclopaedic Dictionary. But his disaffection with his colleagues compels him to assert some individual purpose and artistic freedom, and he begins inserting unauthorized, fictitious entries.

In a forgotten corner of western Kentucky lies a haunted forest referred to locally as "The Deadening", where vampire cults roam wild and time is immaterial. Our protagonist and his accomplice - the one and only Carver Canute - set out down the Old Spur Line in search of the legendary Kudzu House, where an old couple is purported to have been swallowed whole by a hungry vine.

Zebra is the last in a line of anarchists, atheists, and autodidacts. When war came, her family didn't fight; they took refuge in books. Now alone and in exile, Zebra leaves New York for Barcelona, retracing the journey she and her father made from Iran to the United States years ago. Books are Zebra's only companions - until she meets Ludo. Their connection is magnetic; their time together fraught. Zebra overwhelms him with her complex literary theories, her concern with death, and her obsession with history. He thinks she's unhinged; she thinks he's pedantic.

La novela comienza con el arresto de Joseph K., un joven empleado de un banco, que se despierta en la pensión donde reside con la extraña visita de unos hombres que le informan que está detenido. Acusado por alguien de un crimen del que sabe poco y nada, K., aún en libertad, se adentra en una auténtica y enigmática pesadilla. Así comienza un proceso laberíntico en el que se ve inmerso y lo lleva a tomar conciencia de sí mismo y reflexionar sobre su propia existencia, sobre la pérdida de la inocencia y la aparición de la muerte.

An anthropologist and his daughter travel to Kermunkachunk, the capitol of Chalazia, to conduct research for an ethnography on the Chalazian Mafia Faction (a splinter group of the Chalazian Children's Theater). The book takes place over the course of a night at the Bar Pulpo, Kermunkachunk's #1 spoken-word karaoke bar, where conversations are actually being read from multiple karaoke screens arrayed around the barroom. Moreover, it's Thursday, "Father/Daughter Nite", when the bar is frequented by actual fathers and daughters as well as couples cosplaying fathers and daughters.

Metamorphosis is a novella written by Franz Kafka, first published in 1915. One of Kafka's best-known works, Metamorphosis tells the story of salesman Gregor Samsa, who wakes one morning to find himself inexplicably transformed into a huge insect and subsequently struggles to adjust to this new condition. In popular culture and adaptations of the novella, the insect is commonly depicted as a cockroach.

A woman metamorphoses into a giant slug; another quite literally eats her heart out; a wasp falls in love with an orchid; and hair starts sprouting from the walls. These stories slip and slide between genres - from video games to fan fiction, body horror to choose-your-own-adventure - as characters cycle through giddying changes in gender, physiology, species, and identity. Collapsing boundaries between bodies and forms, these fictions interrogate the visceral, gross, and absurd.

Tutto può accadere nel bar sotto il mare. Un bar in cui tutti vorremmo capitare, una notte, per ascoltare i racconti del barista, dell'uomo col cappello, dell'uomo con la gardenia, della sirena, del marinaio, dell'uomo invisibile, della vamp e degli altri misteriosi avventori. Sompazzo, il paese più bugiardo del mondo - Gaspard Ouralphe, il più grande cuoco di Francia - Il verme mangiaparole e l'incredibile storia del capitano Charlemont - La disfida di Salsiccia - Il dittatore pentito - Kraputnyk, il marziano innamorato - Priscilla Mapple e il delitto della II C.

At the turn of the 20th century, as he composes a treatise on melancholy, Jacov Reinhardt sets off from his small Croatian village in search of his hero and unwitting mentor, Emiliano Gomez Carrasquilla, who is rumored to have disappeared into the South American jungle - "not lost, mind you, but retired." Jacov's narcissistic preoccupation with melancholy consumes him, and as he desperately recounts the myth of his journey to his trusted but ailing scribe, hope for an encounter with the lost philosopher who holds the key to Jacov's obsession seems increasingly unlikely.

Tilda et Elida Svensson, 79 et 72 ans, célibataires, mènent une vie à la routine paisible. Elles font des confitures, vont à l'église et se couchent chaque soir exactement à la même heure. Pas de commodités à l'intérieur de leur maison vétuste : les toilettes sont au fond du jardin, l'eau est à tirer au puits. Tout change à l'arrivée d'un nouveau voisin, Alvar Klemens, ou plutôt de son chat : le félin est pris de frénésie sexuelle en mangeant une des plantes d'Alvar, que celui-ci entretient avec un engrais curieux.

In a dystopian world with no men, women are “rehabilitated” at an erotic amusement park. Climate change has caused massive flooding and warming in the Balkans, where one programmer builds a time machine. And a devious reimagining of The Sorrows of Young Werther refocuses to center a sexually adventurous Charlotte.

In this bold and brilliant short work of experimental fiction by the author of Grief Is the Thing with Feathers and Lanny, Max Porter inhabits Francis Bacon in his final moments, translating into seven extraordinary written pictures the explosive final workings of the artist's mind. Writing as painting rather than about painting, Porter lets the images he conjures speak for themselves as they take their revenge on the subject who wielded them in life.

Великий роман главного литературного мистика и одно из самых проникновенных философских произведений ХХ века. Некий К. прибывает в Деревню, чтобы занять должность землемера. Вот только в Замок его не пускают, в Деревне не принимают, и домой он вернуться тоже не может. Мир вокруг превращается в лабиринт абсурда: дороги испаряются, люди ведут себя странно, время будто бы замедляет свой ход. Чтобы двери Замка наконец-то открылись, К. должен разобраться в местной бюрократии и пройти все необходимые инстанции. Есть нюанс — все в деревне знают, что просто так в Замок попасть невозможно, но никто не знает, откуда нужно начать.

De Belleville à Marne-la-Vallée, une bande d'enfants part en croisade pour mettre le feu à Eurodisney. Bienvenue aux avants-postes de la Révolution, menée par la lecture engagée, poétique et militante d'Aloïse Sauvage. Elle est née à l'Orée du bois, une cité réduite à néant par les bulldozers des médias et de la finance. Hantée par les ruines de son Eden foiré, elle a rejoint la commune solidaire à Belleville, où l'on s'organise et lutte en marge du système répressif. Elle, c'est Fi. Quarante piges à tenter de trouver de la beauté dans ce monde fatal : Fi est un chaos de fils et d'aiguilles, de coutures impossibles.

Sheckley's satirical humor shines through as Edward Moran Archer previews the different levels of hell, from the mundane to the outrageous. Each punishment is tailored to fit the individual's sins, and Archer quickly realizes the gravity of his choices. As he reflects on his life and the impact of his actions, Archer must come to terms with his own beliefs and face the consequences of his decisions. As time passes, he is forced to confront the reality of his existence and the choices that led him to this moment.

Колонії, вілли... Миколи Хвильового — гротесково-сатирична новела, в якій викривається сите безтурботне життя «обраних» людей. Герої твору — мешканці вілл, щасливці нового часу, яким вдалося зайняти зручне крісло і які тепер насолоджуються життям.українська література, класична література, українська література XX століття, гротесково-сатирична новела, людські емоції, психологія людини, життєві обставини, моральні конфлікти, сенс життя, розстріляне відродження, українська

Caught in a redundant housewife existence, Ann never leaves her beige suburban home, her schlubby do-nothing son Brian is directionless after graduating high-school, and it looks like nothing will ever change. But when Brian is swallowed by a whale and Ann receives a garbled phone call from him, she is determined to find that monstrous beast and rescue her son. Experts, her ex, the press—everyone thinks she’s crazy—but she’s committed to her worthy quest.

Have you ever wondered what Big foot does on his day off? Or were hippies really about peace and love? Why are there really so many junked cars in the south? Well sit down and find out about this and more. This is a collection of stories that take place in the world of Harold Hatch cryptid liaison. From magical mishaps to aliens abducting hobos.

Tutto comincia con una domanda: Ma tu sei felice? È l'inizio di un dialogo all'apparenza ordinario, quello tra Vincenzo e Saverio, due amici seduti al tavolino di un bar per il classico aperitivo. Vincenzo ha un problema che riguarda suo figlio: un incidente con un compagno di classe, una maestra indelicata, un colloquio imbarazzante. Saverio ha un dilemma più immediato: la sua dieta iperproteica funzionerà davvero? Entrambi sono presi dall'epica di una quotidianità le cui tappe obbligate prevedono di prendersi cura della famiglia, sopravvivere al lavoro, arrivare a fine mese, oltre naturalmente a mentire, tradire, imbrogliare.

The Novices of Lerna introduces the enigmatic fictions of Ángel Bonomini to English listeners for the first time. Shot through with wry humor and tender absurdity, these meditations on identity, surveillance, and isolation remain eerily prescient. The collection's central novella follows Ramon Beltra, an unambitious scholar who receives a mysterious invitation to a lucrative six-month fellowship at the University of Lerna in Switzerland.