Idiocy, Ltd. gathers the very best from three decades of Eric Mader's work in the short prose form pioneered by Max Jacob, Daniil Kharms, and Russell Edson. ... Two parts Kafka, one part Monty Python. Available while there are still books. "Whether its smoking giraffes, Florida-style political rehabilitation, or the oddities of a whole cast of characters in Taipei, Eric Mader shows a sure hand in balancing satire, spoof, and twilight-zone weird, revealing hints of Kafka, Borges, and other worthies, but with a spirit all his own. With its riotous absurdity, its jarring changes of register, and its underlying critical but humane tone, Idiocy, Ltd. will make you laugh and, more important, make you think." --Duncan Chesney, Professor of Comparative Literature, NTU, author of Silence Nowhen: Late Modernism, Minimalism and Silence in the Work of Samuel Beckett" In Idiocy, Ltd.] we are playfully and seriously moved to open our eyes wider and our ears to hear the delight of words." --John Poch, author of Dolls, Fix Quiet and winner of the 2014 New Criterion Poetry Prize"Unpredictability is Mader's stock in trade . . . an endlessly fascinating eccentric . . . everything he puts his hand to is very well worth reading." --Bradley Winterton
A disgruntled young academic arrives in Taiwan to begin a new teaching job. Before settling in, he lets himself get seduced by a woman in line at a bank, who turns out to have nefarious designs on such newcomers. Back at her apartment, she changes him into a Scotch terrier mutt, adding him to her kennel of former conquests, all now dogs.A madcap satire of expat life in Asia. This is a substantially re-edited 2017 edition of the original novel.]An engrossing read . . . A remarkable and high-spirited performance. It's the sort of book that could overnight easily become a local cult item. -Taipei TimesRecreates the streets of a vibrant, tawdry and little-known Asian city. Future critics will consecrate Mader as the Defoe of Dogdom. -Ryu Makoto, author of The Hospitality of Circumstance and Caught in the ActMader is . . . an endlessly fascinating eccentric, and absolutely everything he puts his hand to is very well worth reading. -Bradley Winterton, author of Gladovia
Essays on expat life in Taiwan, short tales, much ado about a glowing crow, and more make up this new collection from expat Eric Mader. Readers who were tickled or infuriated by his last collection Idiocy, Ltd. will be tickled or infuriated again. With submissions by Paul Wylie, Ryan Tsai, M.K. Getgood, 黃聖翔, Max Yawney, Ullrich Langer, Mr. Who Dat Blues, 范姜詠欣, Kristin Mader, 汪時泉, 莊崴翔 and Josh.Mader is ... an endlessly fascinating eccentric, and absolutely everything he puts his hand to is very well worth reading. --Bradley Winterton, Taipei TimesOn Idiocy, Ltd. Eric Mader shows a sure hand in balancing satire, spoof, and twilight-zone weird, revealing hints of Kafka, Borges, and other worthies.--Duncan Chesney, Prof. of Comparative Literature, National Taiwan UniversityEntertaining and stimulating, demanding and rewarding ... Each text is a linguistic, or literary, or cultural event, something performed or enacted in one or multiple domains of discourse. --Hugh Hochman, Prof. of French at Reed College, Oregon
