One of The Millions Most Anticipated Books for Spring !

Set in the uncanny valley between Bugs Bunny and Franz Kafka, Cartoons is an explosive series of outrageous, absurdist tales.

"The true surrealist is unblinking, convulsive, and cheerfully open to the mysterious flow, into their texts, of mythic and archetypal elements operating beyond their conscious control. In Cartoons, Kit Schluter vaults into the zone of Julio Cortazar, Richard Brautigan, and late Giorgio di Chirico, where the reader breaths the air of pure freedom attained rattling inside the chains of self."-Jonathan Lethem, author of Motherless Brooklyn

More than simply a book, Cartoons proposes itself as a genre of imaginary writing in opposition to the realism of most contemporary U.S. fiction, aligning itself with the French symbolism and Latin American fabulism its author is known to translate. A giant cricket with a tiny Kit Schluter in a jar, The Girl Who Is a Piece of Paper, an umbrella who confuses the words porpoise and purpose in its quest for self-fulfillment, these are just a few denizens of its pages, suffused with a fairy tale-like animism. A pair of slugs go on a bender. A microwave oven decries microaggressions. A beer bottle is filled with regret. An escalator mechanic's shoe conceals a terrible secret.

As befits its title, Cartoons defies the laws of physics and fiction alike, eschewing tonal consistency in favor of a simultaneity of joy and horror, ecstasy and disgust, wrapped in an extravagant layer of black humor. The stories blur the boundary between microfiction and poet's prose, featuring impossible transformations and surrealistic events, even as they wrestle with urgent psychic and moral dilemmas. Heightening the atmosphere of pervasive unreality are a number of drawings by the author, which don't so much illustrate as parallel the tales with their own fantastic scenarios.

About the Author
Kit Schluter's recent work has appeared in Boston Review, BOMB, and Brooklyn Rail. He is author of the poetry collection Pierrot's Fingernails (Canarium Books). He has translated widely from the French and Spanish, including works by Rafael Bernal (New Directions), Copi (Inpatient Press, New Directions), bruno dario (Ugly Duckling Press(e)), Mario Levrero (& Other Stories), Marcel Schwob (Wakefield Press), and Olivia Tapiero (Nightboat Books). He recently illustrated Sebastian Castillo's novel SALMON. Kit coordinates production and design for Nightboat Books and lives in Mexico City.

Reviews

Praise for Cartoons:

"In terms of a vibe, imagine if Borges, Richard Brautigan, and Aimee Bender went on a tequila binge and, in the process, rewrote and updated Aesop's fables; then you might get an idea of what Schluter is up to in these thirty-odd stories accompanied by fourteen equally compelling illustrations that could be described as Raymond Pettibon-esque."-Ryan Ridge, Southwest Review

"A fantastic assortment of tall tales that look for little miracles in the mundane."-Kirkus Reviews

"Kit Schluter's translations have already established him as a major intellect . . . His fictions, which are unlike anything by another living American writer, are sure to establish him as a unique and exciting new talent, for fans of Japanese folktales, Max Porter, Marcel Schwob, and The Simpsons."-Catherine Lacey, author of Biography of X: A Novel

"Bursting with Kafkaesque absurdism and a hearty dab of abstraction, Schluter's Cartoons is an animated vignette of life's minutae. From the ravings of an existential microwave to a pencil that is afraid of paper, Schluter's episodic outre oozes with animism and uncanniness. A grand addition to City Lights' repertoire, it will serve as a zany reminder of the lengths to which great fiction can stretch."-The Millions

"Hilarious and extravagant, Kit Schluter's Cartoons had me laughing out loud within moments. A fantastical collection."-Rikki Ducornet, author of The Plotinus

"Each story in this boldly playful collection pulls open a portal into an eerie miniature dreamworld-full of insects, animals, and inanimate objects sprung to life. Schluter serves as an ideal tour guide through these whimsical visions, his curiosity and offbeat sense of humor providing a shock of light to perfectly balance the psychological depth and darkness that underscores many of these tales. Consistently strange and oddly affecting, it's one of the most transporting and flat-out fun reads of the year."-Bryan Seitz, Literati Bookstore, Ann Arbor, MI

"I read Cartoons with an excitement I've found impossible to muster for most contemporary fiction. Here, at last, a long-promised new thing!"-Stephen Sparks, Point Reyes Books, Pt Reyes, CA

"Cartoons is hardly a literary book-as Kit Schluter himself notes in his preface-and yet it's also supremely literary, as if 'literature' here were more of a unique power than simply a mode of writing: the power to do whatever you want-whatever you truly require-free of shame. And the result is liberatory and riveting."-Pablo Katchadjian, author of Thanks

"One of the best story collections of this young century."-Sebastian Castillo, author of SALMON

"As if the world were a great Glass Snowball, Billy the Kit transforms reality with a single flick of the wrist. With a simple Shake, he brings objects to life and calls up voices from the void, chronicling their impossible adventures that lead us to the absurdity we'll have to confront if we want to be able to stomach our lives."-Mario Bellatin, author of Beauty Salon

"Kit Schluter's Cartoons broadcast body horror with the precociousness of a child. It's like he recruited Aesop, Glen Baxter, David Cronenberg, and Tintin to guest star on The Simpsons. Whether through fable or illustration, archetypes are shaped from our collective dreamlife and waking mundanity into a hateful microwave, lovesick parrot, girl of paper, numerous sentient household objects, even the perfect translator, the latter of which suggests this book has more to confess about its author than you'd guess. We wake and grow up watching Cartoons."-Evan Kennedy, author of Metamorphoses

"Cartoons is just so charming; it's somehow already a classic. Like Wycliffe's Bible, which gave us the words 'crime' and 'frying pan'and 'birthday,' here is a language clear and fresh enough to give a fairy tale the eerie force of law. Like Shklovsky's Zoo, or Letters Not About Love, these erudite and lucid reveries weave zigzag webs of silly string around a wound we don't quite dare look in the eye. Kit Schluter is the sort of magician who makes children go very still. We're too busy having our belly buttons tickled to notice he's touching our heart."-Yasmine Seale, poet and translator of The Thousand and One Nights

"I haven't been so excited about a piece of prose since falling in love with Boris Vian a long time ago."-Klara Kofen, Bookartbookshop, London

"This story collection oscillates between near madness and true cutting insights of the human condition. One part absurdism-one part stream of consciousness-and one part sincere and vulnerable thought-this collection is something you can read in an evening and will make you go: 'Wait, what just happened?' as well as go over a poetic line again and again. Jon recommends for fans of Vonnegut, Saunders, and Keret!"-Jon, Unabridged Books, Chicago

"These short stories, like warped funhouse mirrors, reflect familiar feelings of sadness, angst and joy with new shape and peculiarity. It's Anamaniacs meets The Twilight Zone, a perfect companion to anyone who enjoys the colorful oddities of Kafka and Brautigan. Are you craving a book with an irreplicable verve? Look no further than Schluter's Cartoons."-Zach, Elliott Bay Booksellers, Seattle

Book Information
ISBN 9780872869288
Author Kit Schluter
Format Paperback
Page Count 136
Imprint City Lights Books
Publisher City Lights Books