Shaggy Dog and other Surrealist Fables
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Authors
Waller, John
Issue Date
1953
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Type
Book, Whole
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Abstract
I count about sixty-two fables on 67 pages, with five pages afterwards of notes and comments. The illustrations are humorous journalistic cartoons. Waller writes in the Preface that these stories bear comparison with the enigmatic art of Klee, the bizarre landscapes of Dali, or the haunted forests of Max Ernst. In fact, his first two paragraphs are a fine description of a surrealist fable. My impression from reading more than half of the stories is that they are more jokes than surrealist fables. A number are funny. I am not yet convinced that they work the way Klee, Dali, and Ernst do. Among the best for me are The Two Farmers (19) and The Madman Who Was Cured (36). The Original Shaggy Dog Story is excellent (28). Is it perhaps part of the book's tongue-in-cheek that there really is no original shaggy dog story? It strikes me that one generation's shaggy dog is the next generation's old hat. Many of these jokes might have been very strong the first time that a particular category was violated; successive category fractures are less humorous or revealing, I think. This copy is inscribed by Waller, and its first page has an original drawing by Waller.
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Publisher
Gerald Duckworth & Co. LTD,
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Identifier
5121 (Access ID)