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Palafox
“Mix together one pinch of surrealism, one pinch of ‘situationalism,’ stir in a large measure of poetry, quite a bit of talent and you will get a glittering novel of intelligence and humor.”—Révolution
Eric Chevillard’s third novel of 11, Palafox explores the ecosystem of an unclassifiable yet enchanting protean creature. A team of “experts” armed with degrees of higher lea...more
Eric Chevillard’s third novel of 11, Palafox explores the ecosystem of an unclassifiable yet enchanting protean creature. A team of “experts” armed with degrees of higher lea...more
Paperback, 136 pages
Published
June 1st 2004
by Archipelago Books
(first published 1990)
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Okay, picture a nonspecific animal that is part insect, part bird, part lizard, part pachydern, and you have the Palafox. The book by Eric Chevillard is something of a bagatelle, and probably not for animal lovers. The first half of Palafox is mostly taken up by a chase when the beast gets loose. In the second half, the creature's human caregivers try to figure out what to do with it: put it in the circus, cook it, kill it ... whatever. It's rather difficult to sympathize with the Palafox, becau...more
It's exceptionally hard to describe Palafox in any way that does justice to the book, or gives a true sense of the experience reading it. In a nutshell—better, in this case: in an eggshell—it's about a strange creature appearing on a family's breakfast table and taking over their lives and their story. But the plot's not the point here. The animal, Palafox, sometimes seems like a bird and at others a jellyfish and still others a dragon or dog. Sometimes he's huge and sometimes he's tiny, growing...more
I am putting this one on hold. Now that I’m a graduate, the university has retracted my library privileges (woe!) and this book must return to the stacks. I very much admire Chevillard’s writing style, the finesse with which he describes Palafox, an unclassifiable beast who shares distinct, previously unparagoned characteristics with many other beasts. Palafox is an escape artist, a shape shifter, a cuddle monster with a cold streak. He wends through sewers and households like a pro under the ey...more
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Somersaults of language in the cosmos of palafox- a furry enigmatic animal.
Amusant au début, mais ennuyeux après cinquante pages car le procédé qui consiste à prendre les expressions au pied de la lettre, même s'il produit souvent du comique, s'use très vite...
J'ai abandonné la lecture.
J'ai abandonné la lecture.
I am currently unable to say much about this book. Few texts succeed in really transporting you to another dimension (?)/ plane (?)/ place (?). Until I can better reconcile the dimension / plane / place of this novel with the one I inhabit I will say no more. Except to say that if you like Kafka, Borges and Cortazar, you'll probably dig this novel (?). I am digging it.
An unlikely and almost simple farce, breathless, overfed on indulgences, and spun out of thin air. Written so tight that it can barely be read more than a paragraph at a time.
... And the typesetting, paper stock, and overall design? Quiet, quiet, quiet, and proper. A cool blue wrapper shoring up a gooey rainbow of clashing ideas.
... And the typesetting, paper stock, and overall design? Quiet, quiet, quiet, and proper. A cool blue wrapper shoring up a gooey rainbow of clashing ideas.
this is perhaps my favorite book. it reads like the best kind of fever dream. while i read it i was eating wasabi peas and pet-sitting in this weird, damp house that was mostly packed up into boxes.
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Éric Chevillard is a French novelist. He has won awards for several novels including La nébuleuse du crabe in 1993, which won the Fénéon Prize for Literature.
His work often plays with the codes of narration sometimes to the degree that it is even difficult to understand which story is related in his books, and has consequently been classified as postmodern literature. He has been noted for his ass...more
More about Eric Chevillard...
His work often plays with the codes of narration sometimes to the degree that it is even difficult to understand which story is related in his books, and has consequently been classified as postmodern literature. He has been noted for his ass...more
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