An Anecdoted Topography of Chance (Atlas Arkhive) (Paperback)

~ Robert Filliou (Author), Dieter Roth (Author), (Editor), Topor (Illustrator), Emmett Williams (Translator)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

An Anecdoted Topography of Chance is arguably the most important and entertaining "Artist’s Book" of the post-war period. This edition is the definitive appearance to date of a unique collaborative work by four artists associated with the FLUXUS and Noveau Réalisme movements, and is substantially larger than the three previous versions published in France, the USA and Germany.

What is the Topography? Hard to explain an idea so simple yet so brilliantly executed. Following a rambling conversation with his dear friend Robert Filliou, Daniel Spoerri one day mapped the objects lying at random on the table of his room, adding a rigorously scientific decription of each. These objects subsequently evoked associations, memories, anecdotes; not only from the original author, but from his friends as well: a beguiling creation was born. Many of the principal participants of FLUXUS make an appearance (and texts by Higgins, Jouffroy, Kaprow, Restany, and Tinguely are included, among others). It is a novel of digressions in the manner of Tristram Shandy or Robbe-Grillet; it’s a game, a poem, an encyclopaedia, a cabinet of wonders: a celebration of friendship and creativity.

The Topography personifies (and pre-dates) the whole FLUXUS spirit and constitutes one of the strangest and most compelling insights into the artist’s life. From out of the banal detritus of the everyday a virtual autobiography emerges: of four perceptive, witty and eloquent members of the human species.

The map of the table-top has been reproduced as a fold-out at the back of the book.

Language Notes

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: French

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Serpent's Tail; Revised edition (August 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0947757880
• ISBN-13: 978-0947757885
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 8.2 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #388,149 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Why has no one reviewed this?, December 8, 2005

By	D. B. Visel (Queens, NY) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This is a supremely lovely book, an accumulation of comments made over time, space, and multiple languages. Here is roughly what happens. Daniel Spoerri had a very messy table. He wrote down the name of everything that was on his table and described it anecdotally. His friend Robert Filliou added some comments which he added as footnotes. Emmett Williams translated the book into English and added his own anecdotes; Dieter Roth translated it into German and added more. Roland Topor added illustrations at some point, and I think there are a couple of footnotes by Alastair Brotchie, the editor of this edition, the Atlas Press edition of 1996 (not sure why it lists Serpent's Tail as the publisher here). I believe there are more recent German and Italian versions which, presumably, add more comments. This sounds like a mess, and it is a mess, but it provides an unmatchable portrait of the lives of a number of important figures in the European avant-garde from the early 1960s.