Albert Cossery’s The Jokers begins on a comically lurid note, with a slow-witted street cop looking to roust an elderly beggar from his pallet on the sidewalk. When the beggar proves unresponsive, the lawman tries to lift him. The old man’s head comes off in his hands. It soon turns out that the “beggar” is a mannequin, placed there as a trap for the forces of order—and sure enough, the dumbfounded policeman’s predicament earns the mockery of passers-by. The scene encapsulates as well as any the blend of frankness and surrealism, cruel humor and deadpan reportage, characteristic of Cossery’s small body of work.
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