Thursday 29 July 2010

A New Universal History of Infamy

A New Universal History of Infamy (2004)
Night Shade Books

The book serves as a parody and homage to Jorge Luis Borges' collection A Universal History of Infamy... It was published in Portuguese translation as Uma nova história universal da infâmia in April 2006. Greek and Spanish editions appeared in 2007. The contents that follow are for the original American edition only and include the names of the authors who are parodied in the relevant sections.


Contents:

Preface to the Unpublished Edition
Preface to an Imaginary Edition

A NEW UNIVERSAL HISTORY OF INFAMY
* The Brutal Buddha, Baron von Ungern-Sternberg
* The Honest Liar, Denis Zachaire
* Chewer of Hearts, François l'Olonnais
* Trader of Doom, Basil Zaharoff
* The Worm Supreme, Francisco Solano Lopez
* The Worst Hero, Dick Turpin
* The Maddest King, Henry Christophe

STREETCORNER MOUSE
* Streetcorner Mouse

ET AL
* City of Blinks (Herbert Quain)
* The Landscape Player (Fergus Hall)
* The Spanish Cyclops (Felipe Alfau)
* The Unsubtle Cages (Thomas Ligotti)
* Celia the Impaler (Michel Leiris)
* Alone with a Longwinded Soul (D.F. Lewis)
* Monkeybreath (J. MeerKat & M. Rabbits - from Thackery T. Lambshead)
* Of Exactitude in Theology (Jaromir Hladik)

SURPLUS PARODIES
* Finding the Book of Sand (Jorge Luis Borges)
* The Hyperacusis of Chumbly Mucker (John Sladek)
* Ictus Purr (parody of Hughes in the style of the reader)

UNWISE APPENDIX
* Life and the Plumbline (only included in the limited edition)