When an unknown black poodle inexplicably explodes in philosophy professor Timothy Chesterton-Brown's back yard--paralyzing the professor and killing his guest--the "mystery of the sardine" begins. Its solution will involve such unwitting detectives as a twelve-year-old mathematician, his mother, his beloved, a palmist named Miss Prentice, and a bureaucrat dubbed the Minister of Imponderabilia. The clues they unearth--drawing on logic, the occult, intuition, and everything in between--lead them far away from the tiny seaside town where they begin. We follow them to Majorca, Rome, Warsaw, and London, but in the end, the solution lies beyond even the furthest and most magical reaches of reason.

About the Author
Stefan Themerson (1910-1988) was born in Poland, moved to Russia during the Revolution, studied physics and architecture in Warsaw, and lived in Paris before settling in London. Aside from his writings--which include novels such as Tom Harris, The Mystery of the Sardine, and Professor Mmaa's Lecture, children's stories, philosophical essays, and poems--Themerson also composed music and made a number of films with his wife Franciszka.

Reviews
"This man Stefan Themerson should be better known than I suspect he is. The Mystery of the Sardine... is a fascinating piece of work, written with the elegance of haute couture." - The Times "Themerson's neo-surrealist style enables him felicitously to interweave incongruities, lucid exercises, shrewd observations, jokes, lightly worn learning, cris de coeur and parables." - Times Literary Supplement"



Book Information
ISBN 9781564784551
Author Stefan Themerson
Format Paperback
Page Count 194
Imprint Dalkey Archive Press
Publisher Dalkey Archive Press
Weight(grams) 281g