An Archive of Human Nonsense

Along the taverns back wall he found a small writing desk around which the floor was stained ink-black and littered with loose scraps of paper. Atop the desk he found a small stack of handwritten newsletters entitled The Archive of Human Nonsense. He picked one up. It was dated 17 April 1817--eight months previous--and had been hand-penned in German running script. From front to back the small newsletter was eight pages long. It opened with a list of names twenty-two in all and closed with a watercolour picture of a giant red rooster . . .Thus begins an existential journey through Viennas streets and one mans guilt-laden memories. From mountebanks puppet showmen and trainers of performing monkeys to the strange Mechanical Theatre of Sebastian von Schwenenfeld the journey becomes a quest not to find meaning but to define it.