Palafox

Set in a world where language and thought are played with as freely as the characters themselves, this novel by the French writer Eric Chevillard is often compared with the work of Samuel Beckett, Henri Michaux and Robert Pinget, though its imaginative landscape belongs entirely to its author. Originally published by Éditions de Minuit in 1990, it is the third of Chevillard's eleven novels.

At its center is Palafox, a shapeless, shifting creature that resists every attempt to define it. A group of specialists, all holding advanced academic credentials, sets out to classify it, train it, give it a name and bring it fully into understanding. Their efforts form the story, but Palafox, silent and effortless, escapes each of their schemes.

The book examines the ecosystem that grows around this elusive being, turning the scientific impulse to categorize into a comic and philosophical puzzle. It will suit readers who enjoy experimental fiction, wordplay and literature that questions how we name and control the unknown.