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I think Uncle Toby is my favorite character in this book. That or Corporal Trim. Really, though, they are, in many ways, one character.

Introductions are over. Now we are descending into the dreamlands. This has become dangerous, intriguing . . . and fun!

So far, a tangled web of connections and disconnections between surrealist and dada artists (of various media). It's aimless and reactionary, much like dada itself, without meaning, or intentionally deconstructing meaning. We'll see if it coheres, only to be dissolved, down the way. I expect as much, but dadaists were known to destroy expectations. That was their whole reason for being.

Surrealist art and Lovecraftian/Dunsaneyan dreamlands. What's not to love?

I am reading this much more quickly than I expected.

Yes, I'm already reading five books at once (most of them very slowly), but I just couldn't hold off on cracking the cover of this one. After reading the foreword, I'm very, very glad I did. This could be a treat.

This was written for a highly-educated audience. Or, perhaps, an uneducated audience who wants an education in everything from history to literature to philosophy. On review, I'm surprised I never read this until after college, though I was a humanities major as an undergrad. Then again, it would have had to have waited until my last semester, when I knew more than my younger, less-educated self.

Latin tears don't fall, they "slide". I find that verb far more appropriate.

I like some of the essays better than others, if I'm being honest. But, let's face it, I'm not here (mostly) for the essays. I'm here for the art and stories. And, so far, they impress!

Finally! A comprehensive history of the twisted journey of Metal Hurlant (and Heavy Metal) that is deeper and more insightful than the tangled mess of Wikipedia articles that have mutated over the years. I feel much more . . . grounded . . . after this short history.

Alas, poor Yorick!

I thought I had it hard in school. This is The Smiths boarding house level of student abuse.

Okay, if you read this and don't like it, I don't know if we can be friends anymore.

Man, I love the digressions.

And we end the collection with, guess what? Yes! Another story about a strange community, "The Column Dwellers in our Town". I rather liked this slightly-surreal take on a town where some inhabitants choose to live a solitary life atop a high rock or cement column (not to exceed 140', per code). It does cause one to think hard about asceticism and social pressure in new ways. I quite liked this strange "story".

Millhauser's experimental piece, "He Takes, She Takes" jockeys back and forth using the simple phrase: "He takes the (insert thing here, she takes the (insert other thing here)". It is tediously repetitive, but between this iterative bouncing back-and-forth, a story actually seems to emerge, though it is up to the reader whether this is a story of two individuals or the story of all couples.

A disruption of a far more disturbing kind takes place in "The Change," a modern re-telling of the myth of Daphne, the nymph who turns into a tree to avoid the unwanted sexual advances of Apollo. But this is no myth, it's a frankly horrifying story of what it means to be a young woman in a world of hypercharged sexuality and the rule of testosterone that mirrors the rule of the jungle. This needs a trigger warning!

Steven embraces outright surrealism in his story "A Common Predicament," which is anything but common. The narrator's strange relationship with a woman whom he loves (and who loves him) never faces him. Ever. The speculations as to why she exhibits this behavior haunt him, but he accommodates this strange quirk for the sake of their love. Definitely a story worthy of the label "disruption".

Proof that your adult kid loves you: He buys you a copy of Metal Hurlant for Father's Day. I raised that kid right.