SchrummSchrumm, or The Sunday Quicksands Excursion
By Fernand Combet. Introduction by Éric Dussert. Translation by K.E. Gormley.
In translation at last, a delightfully delirious novel in which absurdity gives way to nightmare
This novel by French writer Fernand Combet is at long last available in English. A unique work whose surrealism is one of horror rather than the marvelous, the book represents a dark prelude to the revolutionary spirit of May 1968 in France, a piercingly sinister flipside to the premise of one's desires being taken for reality. One morning, the Sunday Quicksands Excursion Company bus stops outside the professional excursionist SchrummSchrumm's building. His registration application having been accepted, SchrummSchrumm lets himself be stripped down, smeared with catechumenal balm for hallucination protection, manacled to armrests and blindfolded for the journey to the distant walled city of Misunderstanding. It is there that SchrummSchrumm will undergo a series of increasingly absurd ritualistic initiations under the supreme rule of Abocketaback as he prepares for the incessantly forestalled excursion to the Quicksands on the city's outskirts. Fernand Combet (1936–2003) wrote five books over 20 years. Though his first book was celebrated when released in 1966, Combet's lack of interest in a literary career, his thirst for travel and his pursuit of isolation led him to die largely forgotten.
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Thursday, October 30, at 7 PM, please join Wakefield Press at Aeon Bookstore to celebrate Wakefield's 100th title, SchrummSchrumm, or The Sunday Quicksands Excursion by Fernand Combet. Publisher Marc Lowenthal will be joined by translators Erik Butler, Margaret Carson, Kit Schluter and Doug Skinner. Readings and a discussion will be accompanied by t-shirts and champagne. continue to blog
FORMAT: Pbk, 5.5 x 8 in. / 320 pgs. LIST PRICE: U.S. $19.95 LIST PRICE: CANADA $27.95 GBP £14.99 ISBN: 9781962728072 PUBLISHER: Wakefield Press AVAILABLE: 10/21/2025 DISTRIBUTION: D.A.P. RETAILER DISC: TRADE PUBLISHING STATUS: Active AVAILABILITY: In stock TERRITORY: WORLD
SchrummSchrumm, or The Sunday Quicksands Excursion
Published by Wakefield Press. By Fernand Combet. Introduction by Éric Dussert. Translation by K.E. Gormley.
In translation at last, a delightfully delirious novel in which absurdity gives way to nightmare
This novel by French writer Fernand Combet is at long last available in English. A unique work whose surrealism is one of horror rather than the marvelous, the book represents a dark prelude to the revolutionary spirit of May 1968 in France, a piercingly sinister flipside to the premise of one's desires being taken for reality. One morning, the Sunday Quicksands Excursion Company bus stops outside the professional excursionist SchrummSchrumm's building. His registration application having been accepted, SchrummSchrumm lets himself be stripped down, smeared with catechumenal balm for hallucination protection, manacled to armrests and blindfolded for the journey to the distant walled city of Misunderstanding. It is there that SchrummSchrumm will undergo a series of increasingly absurd ritualistic initiations under the supreme rule of Abocketaback as he prepares for the incessantly forestalled excursion to the Quicksands on the city's outskirts.
Fernand Combet (1936–2003) wrote five books over 20 years. Though his first book was celebrated when released in 1966, Combet's lack of interest in a literary career, his thirst for travel and his pursuit of isolation led him to die largely forgotten.
