His way with words and way to highlight to absurdity of situations is first class.

My favorite is the Celestial Emporium of Benevolent Knowledge. It's a critique of the classification used by the Institute of Bibliography which he considered nonsensical. He claims to have found the list in an ancient Chinese encyclopaedia:

- those belonging to the Emperor

- embalmed ones

- trained ones

- suckling pigs

- mermaids

- fabled ones

- stray dogs

- those included in this classification

- those that tremble as if they were mad

- innumerable ones

- those drawn with a very fine camel hair brush

- et cetera

- those that have just broken the vase

- those that from afar look like flies

His stories are such a strange read. The plot, the characters, the mentions, all feel almost secondary to the feeling they evoke.

https://sites.evergreen.edu/politicalshakespeares/wp-content...

Does this ring a bell to anyone?

Steven Wright

Though it's not as funny without his delivery