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Used - Good: All pages and cover are intact (including the dust cover, if applicable). Spine may show signs of wear. Pages may include limited notes and highlighting. May have been a former library book. May include library labels, notes, stamps, card pockets and markings. Shrink wrap, dust covers, or boxed set case may be missing. Item may be missing bundled media (CD's or DVD's ect). Used - Good: All pages and cover are intact (including the dust cover, if applicable). Spine may show signs of wear. Pages may include limited notes and highlighting. May have been a former library book. May include library labels, notes, stamps, card pockets and markings. Shrink wrap, dust covers, or boxed set case may be missing. Item may be missing bundled media (CD's or DVD's ect). See less
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Impressions of Africa (French Literature) Paperback – June 29, 2011

by Raymond Roussel (Author), Mark Polizzotti (Translator)
4.5 out of 5 stars 16 ratings
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The long-awaited new translation of the most dazzling and unclassifiable work of fiction in any language.

 In a mythical African land, some shipwrecked and uniquely talented passengers stage a grand gala to entertain themselves and their captor, the great chieftain Talou. In performance after bizarre performance—starring, among others, a zither-playing worm, a marksman who can peel an egg at fifty yards, a railway car that rolls on calves' lungs, and fabulous machines that paint, weave, and compose music—Raymond Roussel demonstrates why it is that André Breton termed him "the greatest mesmerizer of modern times." But even more remarkable than the mindbending events Roussel details—as well as their outlandish, touching, or tawdry backstories—is the principle behind the novel's genesis, a complex system of puns and double-entendres that anticipated (and helped inspire) such movements as Surrealism and Oulipo. Newly translated and with an introduction by Mark Polizzotti, this edition of Impressions of Africa vividly restores the humor, linguistic legerdemain, and conceptual wonder of Raymond Roussel's magnum opus.

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  1. Print length
    279 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Dalkey Archive Press
  4. Publication date
    June 29, 2011
  5. Dimensions
    5.54 x 0.87 x 7.97 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    1564786242
  7. ISBN-13
    978-1564786241
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"Polizzotti’s remarkable achievement is a welcome addition to this small but growing body of work on Roussel and serves as a reminder of an author and a novel too often neglected, and far too brilliant to be missed." ― Words Without Borders

About the Author

Raymond Roussel, ne a Paris, le 20 janvier 1877 et mort a Palerme, en Italie, le 14 juillet 1933, est un ecrivain, dramaturge et poete francais.

Mark Polizzotti is the translator of more than thirty books from the French. His articles and reviews have appeared in The Wall Street Journal and The Nation. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Dalkey Archive Press (June 29, 2011)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 279 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1564786242
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1564786241
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 13.1 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.54 x 0.87 x 7.97 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.5 out of 5 stars 16 ratings

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  1. Mark Polizzotti

    Mark Polizzotti

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    Mark Polizzotti is an author, translator, and publisher living in New York. His books include Revolution of the Mind: The Life of André Breton, Highway 61 Revisited, Sympathy for the Traitor: A Translation Manifesto, and Why Surrealism Matters. His essays and reviews have appeared in The New York Times, The New Republic, The Wall Street Journal, Apollo, ARTnews, The Nation, Parnassus, Bookforum, and elsewhere. His translations of works by Gustave Flaubert, Arthur Rimbaud, Scholastique Mukasonga, Patrick Modiano, Marguerite Duras, André Breton, Eric Vuillard, among others, have won the English PEN Award and been shortlisted for the National Book Award, the International Booker Prize, the NBCC/Gregg Barrios Prize, and the French-American Foundation Translation Prize. He is a Chevalier of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres and the recipient of an American Academy of Arts and Letters Award for Literature.

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  2. Raymond Roussel

    Raymond Roussel

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4.5 out of 5 stars
16 global ratings

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Top reviews from the United States

  • Amazon Customer
    5.0 out of 5 stars Sublime
    Reviewed in the United States on November 13, 2024
    Verified Purchase
    Sublime. Roussel is the Willy wonka of dreams and literature
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  • maxson
    5.0 out of 5 stars Think of cilantro
    Reviewed in the United States on August 4, 2022
    Verified Purchase
    Roussel is like cilantro. You dig him or you don't. You read the first half of this book and get not a clue about what is going on. Tableau after tableau, enactments, performances, experiments. Halfway through, a gear shifts, and he retells the scenes, this time with infill and contexts and explanations. Even when his writing gets a little creaky--the word "certain" is like a mantra--it stays compelling. You'll never read anything like it ever again. Unless you go on to Locus Solus, his other novel. Which I urge because I do indeed like me some cilantro.
    One person found this helpful
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  • ZM
    5.0 out of 5 stars Most would admit Roussel's masterfully crafted wordplay is somewhat lost ...
    Reviewed in the United States on December 21, 2014
    Verified Purchase
    Most would admit Roussel's masterfully crafted wordplay is somewhat lost in translation, however his imagery is bolder than many Surrealists who championed his work, and his verse, even in English is overpoweringly, fantastically, hypnotic.
    3 people found this helpful
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  • rasa
    5.0 out of 5 stars inspiring
    Reviewed in the United States on March 6, 2013
    Verified Purchase
    Its an amazing piece, total mystery, created by the person, who have never been in Africa. Its not a documentary, but only based on the imagination. And its great.
    One person found this helpful
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  • AmazonUser
    5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
    Reviewed in the United States on September 30, 2017
    Highly recommended.
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  • BiblioMagico
    5.0 out of 5 stars Ecstatic Rhythm
    Reviewed in the United States on January 13, 2012
    A divine lyrical kingdom of waking life impressionism. An ecstatic slingshot that flails us forward into an exotic world entranced by mythical imagination; plump with dimensional words that unfurl before us like pop-up labyrinths of surrealist exaltation. An equation of mesmeric pulse; a compound tablet of organic splendor. One of the most stimulating blasts of imaginative lyricism in print. An enlightened W.S. Burroughs with the heart of Roald Dahl.
    11 people found this helpful
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  • Robert Texier
    5.0 out of 5 stars Une relecture interessante
    Reviewed in France on April 27, 2013
    Verified Purchase
    Je voulais savoir comment traduire Roussel. C'est maintenant chose faîte et je ne regrette pas mon achat. Bien sût, certains jeux de mots disparaissent à la traduction, mais toute la fascination que ce roman procure reste intacte.
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