The Modern Raconteur, only 120 years ago.
In 1906, Félix Fénéon wrote 1,220 anonymous news items, each compressed into three lines.
Murders, accidents, runaway animals, political unrest, unfortunate plumbing—every story true, every sentence polished into a miniature work of wit, absurdity, and immaculate timing.
When someone suggested collecting his work, he replied: “I aspire only to silence.”
They were only a small part of his life. He also championed Seurat, published Joyce in French, and moved through the cultural world with the unnerving efficiency of a man who had no interest in explaining himself.
Nor are the Daily Brief and Serendipity Dispatch the whole of The Modern Raconteur.
But the family resemblance is difficult to ignore.
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