LE CAT STRIKES BACK
www.geluck.com/en www.facebook.com/lecatofgeluck ISBN 978-2-930540-14-6 © Geluck 2014 There is a ‘Le Chat’ app for iPhone/iPad and Android
WHO’S LE CAT ? Apparently there are readers around the world who don’t know who I am, or who draws me, or the name of my agent. This I find hard to believe. But I have been inundated with a flood of emails - (What…?) my agent informs me that this is a pleonasm, whatever that is (they think they’re so clever, agents) - asking for more information about me. Well I say to you: “Stop asking me things which were clearly explained in the Introduction to my previous album, entitled ‘Le Cat’ - with, I thought, a minimalist clarity and true sense of the focused signifier !” So I suggest you go back to that album and read the Introduction on pages 3 and 4. And if you
don’t have the album, then go and buy it ! (What…?) My agent informs me that it is never a good idea to piss off your readers or potential publishers in the Introduction by being arrogant and bad-tempered because they will either a) read no further in the bookshop and hence not buy the book or b) decide not to buy the rights for Papua-New Guinea, Swaziland, or wherever, thereby severely limiting the amount of commission he (the agent) will make from me. So, reluctantly, I shall resort to the system used the world over by people wishing to know everything from luggage weight limits to the symptoms of sexually transmitted diseases … FAQs !
Who is Le Cat and what is his life history ? See album ‘Le Cat’ pages 3 & 4. Who is the author and illustrator ? Philippe Geluck, an amazingly intelligent, creative, warm, sensitive hunk of a man whose imagination knows no limits and whose contribution to world humour will be remembered for time immemorial (for more about this wonderful man see my album ‘Le Cat’ pages 3 & 4). How can I publish Le Cat in Swaziland ? See my agent. Is it true that Le Cat is sexist, ageist, homophobic, and politically incorrect ? See my lawyer. Is it true that Le Cat is liberal, fluffy, and politically committed to ridding the world of all reductive “-isms” (except Revolutionary Humourism, of which he is a devoted follower) ? See my lawyer. (What…?) My agent says to shut up and let the people read the book. Enjoy your meal !
PHILIPPE GELUCK
LE CAT STRIKES BACK
Translated and adapted from the French by Alan Ward
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A deceptively simple and deadpan commentator, Le Cat reveals life’s underlying surrealism and absurdity with magnificently understated humour - ranging from silly puns, wacko non-sequiturs and sight gags to sublime reflections on time, space, man and the universe.
Philippe Geluck is an illustrator, artist, writer, actor, comic, man of stage,TV and radio, and the French-speaking world’s most popular and successful cartoonist. He is best known for Le Cat (“Le Chat” on his birth certificate), born 1983 in Belgium’s leading French-language daily ‘Le Soir’.
ISBN 978-2-930540-14-6
For over 30 years the feline appeared more than 12,000 times in the paper and was syndicated in other countries. But his fame really began in 1986 when Geluck started collecting these Cat cartoons and other wacko illustrations into albums. To date 19 have been published, and over 11 million sold. And yet ... although a household name in Francophonia, Le Cat is practically unknown elsewhere. But this is about to change. A true megalomaniac, the feline recently launched his “Cat Goes Global” campaign, and the album you are holding is its third product. So read, laugh, chuckle, weep, grimace, giggle, pass the word … and enjoy your meal !
ALBUMS IN ENGLISH BY PHILIPPE GELUCK published by The Bible according to the Cat • • Le Cat (Cartoons vol. 1) • • Le Cat strikes back (Cartoons vol. 2) • •