My Rent Is Due!

This first English translation of Allais's Pour cause de fin de bail has been exquisitely prepared and introduced (with notes on the text) by master translator Doug Skinner.

This wickedly amusing collection contains fifty-three absurdist tales — packed with phantom limbs, floating brothels, tapeworms, ostrich shoes, and other remarkable things. It makes a jolly beach read, or to browse in your hammock whilst sipping a cool glass of lemonade — or better yet, a jug of absinthe.

Allais’s collected stories were published in twelve volumes, which he called his “Anthumous Works,” between 1892 and 1902. Black Scat has issued eleven of them — all first English translations — and will publish the remaining one (Le bec en l'air) at the end of 2024. Then, with great fanfare, trumpets, strumpets, floats and clowns, we'll announce that the Alphonse Allais Collection is complete!