ABSTRACT
Open Félix Fénéon’s Novels in Three Lines at random, to page 141 for example: “Curtet is dying in a hospital in Versailles, hit on the head with a pan by the chestnut vendor Vaissette.” Now turn to the more macabre incident evoked on page 32: “At the station in Mâcon, Mouroux had his legs severed by an engine. ‘Look at my feet on the tracks!’ he cried, then fainted.” Up for another appalling novel in three lines? Try this one on page 24: “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.” And so on, until you become dizzy with amusement or, rather, horror: nearly all these artfully understated anecdotes are gruesome.
