City of Rats

Welcome to the gutters of 1970s Paris – and the transgressive, darkly comic world of "City of Rats."

When pet rat Gouri finds himself locked out of his owner's apartment, he has no choice but to strike out alone onto the pavements of Paris. But what begins as a strange and marvellous bedtime story – Gouri and his new friend Raka selling flour-coated worms to pigeons for spare change – soon spirals into an exhilarating whirlwind of murder, sex, unionised hamsters, courtroom drama, and, finally, Armageddon.

Told through a series of letters from Gouri to Argentinian playwright Copi, "City of Rats" channels Copi's lifelong fascination with society's outcasts – queer people, immigrants, the homeless – into a fiercely imaginative, unflinchingly provocative tale of a world hurtling into madness.

"The greatest miniaturist of our age. Copi was a man of the Baroque, a Shakespeare, magically reincarnated in gay Paris." – Cesar Aira

"Decadent, poised, unpredictable, violent, galling, and marvellous." – Charlie Hebdo

Translated by Kit Schluter; with an introduction by Cesar Aira