An Archive of Human Nonsense
“Along the tavern’s back wall he found a small writing desk, around which the floor was stained ink-black and littered with loose scraps of paper. Atop the desk he found a small stack of handwritten newsletters entitled The Archive of Human Nonsense. He picked one up. It was dated 17 April, 1817 — eight months previous — and had been hand-penned in German running script. From front to back the small newsletter was eight pages long. It opened with a list of names, twenty-two in all, and closed with a watercolour picture of a giant red rooster...”
Thus begins an existential journey through Vienna’s streets and one man’s guilt-laden memories. From mountebanks, puppet showmen, and trainers of performing monkeys, to the strange Mechanical Theatre of Sebastian von Schwenenfeld, the journey becomes a quest not to find meaning but to define it.
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Jason E. Rolfe
Jason Rolfe writes fiction that is both darkly comic and comically absurd. He often uses humour to shed light on things he considers philosophically absurd. His recent publications include the novella, An Archive of Human Nonsense (Snuggly Books, 2017), and the brief collection, An Inconvenient Corpse (Black Scat Books Absurdist Texts & Documents #30, 2014). Jason regularly contributes to The Black Scat Review and Black Scat Books’ online journal, Le Scat Noir. In his spare time, he works full time for a large multi-national corporation. He (likes to think he) plays blues guitar. He also enjoys silent comedies, writing about himself in the third person and collecting old books.
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