ーー First paperback edition. ーー In a series of comic vignettes and letters, Mordechai Schamz sets out to investigate himself, his world, and the language which makes them both intelligible. Dumbfounded at every turn and undiscouraged by -- perhaps even unaware of -- his failures, he confidently gets lost in the labyrinth of his investigations. Reminiscent of Flaubert's Bouvard and Pecuchet, Calvino's Palomar, and Beckett's Watt, Mordechai Schamz ponders the mysteries of life through cliches and solipsisms, making himself the master of the illogical and the clown of the absurd. ーー Marc Cholodenko is a prolific poet and novelist who has received numerous awards including the Prix Medicis, one of France's highest literary honors. This is his first work to be translated into English. ーー First U.S. edition by Dalkey Archive ('88).