"On the bowling lawn a stroke leveled M. André, 75, of Levallois. While his ball was still rolling he was no more."

Damon W. Root | August 13, 2008

Via the publishing blog Galley Cat, I just learned that one intrepid Twitter user is slowly releasing the magnificent mini-journalism of Félix Fénéon (1861-1944), a French anarchist and literary dandy who spent part of 1906 writing thousands of anonymous three line news reports for the mass-circulation daily Le Matin. As Luc Sante notes in his introduction to Novels in Three Lines, the collection of Fénéon miniatures he recently translated (and which the Twitter account is using), "They cover the same subjects as the rest of the paper—crime, politics, ceremony, catastrophe—but their individual narratives are compressed into a single frame, like photographs." A few samples to enjoy from Sante's translation:

A dishwasher from Nancy, Vital Frérotte, who had just come back from Lourdes cured forever of tuberculosis, died Sunday by mistake.

There was a gas explosion at the home of Larrieux, in Bordeaux. He was injured. His mother-in-law's hair caught on fire. The ceiling caved in.

Mme Fournier, M. Vouin, M. Septeuil, of Sucy, Tripleval, Septeuil, hanged themselves: neurasthenia, cancer, unemployment.

Arrested in Saint-Germain for petty theft, Joël Guilbert drank sublimate. He was detoxified, but died yesterday of delirium tremens.

At five o'clock in the morning, M.P. Bouget was accosted by two men on Rue Fondary. One put out his right eye, the other his left. In Necker.

Twitter here.

Comments

|8.13.08 @ 5:50PM|#

Not giving a flying fuck, Jamie Kelly moved on to the next post. It was substantive. Reason editors are sometimes dumbasses.

Naga Sadow|8.13.08 @ 5:52PM|#

Poetic Jamie. Poetic.

|8.13.08 @ 5:54PM|#

Because he appreciated the article, J sub D posted a comment. Nobody cared. Reason commenters are mostly jackasses.

|8.13.08 @ 5:56PM|#

I hope I die of delerium tremens.
Or ennui.

|8.13.08 @ 5:58PM|#

There once was an homme from Nantucket...

squarooticus|8.13.08 @ 6:02PM|#

Kyle Rose released from federal custody. Imprisoned for four years for illegal pamphleteering against occupation of the second Vermont Republic. Went straight to NYC to distribute flyers. Dies of a paper cut wound to the neck.

|8.13.08 @ 6:23PM|#

The Winter Soldier read this thread, knowing he would not get these moments back. He logged out sadly, ruing his lack of selectivity.

|8.13.08 @ 6:30PM|#

Andy Craig commented on this blog post, hoping for another amusingly inane argument about anarchy and libertarianism. He was disappointed by the poor imitations of a dead French guy's writing.

The Bearded Hobbit|8.13.08 @ 6:58PM|#

.. meanwhile, part-time commenter The Bearded Hobbit . . .

.. aw, f*ck it ..

.. Hobbit

Paul|8.13.08 @ 7:09PM|#

delirium tremens.

I had some o'them after eating some mean enchiladas.

Kolohe|8.13.08 @ 7:31PM|#

I moved onto to next post. Meghan McCain is cute, blond, and rich. And blogs like Edward Bulwer-Lytton.

|8.14.08 @ 2:52AM|#

here lies les moore
4 slugs from a .44
no less, no more.

VM|8.14.08 @ 8:22AM|#

Dinah drove her Chevrolet
into the San Francisco Bay