A NEW YORK REVIEW BOOKS ORIGINAL
"Novels in Three Lines" collects more than a thousand items that appeared anonymously in the French newspaper Le Matin in 1906--true stories of murder, mayhem, and everyday life presented with a ruthless economy that provokes laughter even as it shocks. This extraordinary trove, undiscovered until the 1940s and here translated for the first time into English, is the work of the mysterious Felix Feneon. Dandy, anarchist, and critic of genius, the discoverer of Georges Seurat and the first French publisher of James Joyce, Feneon carefully maintained his own anonymity, toiling for years as an obscure clerk in the French War Department. "Novels in Three Lines" is his secret chef-d'oeuvre, a work of strange and singular art that brings back the long-ago year of 1906 with the haunting immediacy of a photograph while looking forward to such disparate works as Walter Benjamin's Arcades Project and the Death and Disaster series of Andy Warhol.

This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923. This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ++++ The below data was compiled from various identification fields in the bibliographic record of this title. This data is provided as an additional tool in helping to ensure edition identification: ++++ Revue Independante De Litterature Et D'art Jean Ajalbert, Felix Feneon, Gustave Kahn Albert Savin, Editeur, 1887 Literary Criticism; European; French; Literary Criticism / European / French

Entrusted in 1906 by the newspaper "Le Matin "with the "faits-divers" column, Felix Feneon, dandy and model civil servant by day, started reporting on the accidents, fights, riots, arsons, and murders from around the provinces. Given only three lines to detail each incident, Feneon turned the practice into an art, loading the pieces with sarcasm and black humor until each small capsule of life was an explosive read. The result is this collection of more than 1,200 short texts that still have the freshness and nerve to surprise even the modern reader. "Asignado la columna de "faits-divers" en 1906 por el periodico "Le Matin," Felix Feneon, dandy y, de dia, funcionario ejemplar, comenzo a informar sobre los accidentes, las peleas, los tumultos, los incendios y los asesinatos en las provincias. Con solo tres lineas para detallar cada incidente, Feneon convirtio la practica en un arte, cargando los articulos con sarcasmo y humor negro hasta que cada pequena capsula de vida se convirtiera en una lectura explosiva. El resultado es este conjunto de mas de 1.200 textos breves que todavia tienen la frescura y el descaro para lograr sorprender al lector moderno."