Point Epithetical Books Les Chants de Maldoror
| Title | : | Les Chants de Maldoror |
| Author | : | Comte de Lautréamont |
| Book Format | : | Paperback |
| Book Edition | : | Special Edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 342 pages |
| Published | : | January 17th 1965 by New Directions (first published 1869) |
| Categories | : | Poetry. Fiction. Cultural. France. Literature |
Comte de Lautréamont
Paperback | Pages: 342 pages Rating: 4.18 | 3165 Users | 187 Reviews
Commentary Supposing Books Les Chants de Maldoror
The macabre but beautiful work, Les Chants de Maldoror, has achieved a considerable reputation as one of the earliest and most extraordinary examples of Surrealist writing. It is a long narrative prose poem which celebrates the principle of Evil in an elaborate style and with a passion akin to religious fanaticism. The French poet-critic Georges Hugnet has written of Lautréamont: "He terrifies, stupefies, strikes dumb. He could look squarely at that which others had merely given a passing glance." Little is known of the author of Maldoror, Isidore Ducasse, self-styled Comte de Lautréamont, except that he was born in Montevideo, Uruguay in 1846 and died in Paris at the age of twenty-four. When first published in 1868-9, Maldoror went almost unnoticed. But in the nineties the book was rediscovered and hailed as a work of genius by such eminent writers as Huysmans, Léon Bloy, Maeterlinck, and Rémy de Gourmont. Later still, Lautréamont was to be canonized as one of their principal "ancestors" by the Paris Surrealists. This edition, translated by Guy Wernham, includes also a long introduction to a never-written, or now lost, volume of poetry. Thus, except for a few letters, it gives all the surviving literary work of Lautréamont.
Be Specific About Books In Favor Of Les Chants de Maldoror
| Original Title: | Les Chants de Maldoror |
| ISBN: | 0811200825 (ISBN13: 9780811200820) |
| Edition Language: | English |
Rating Epithetical Books Les Chants de Maldoror
Ratings: 4.18 From 3165 Users | 187 ReviewsJudge Epithetical Books Les Chants de Maldoror
Isidore-Lucien Ducasse, the author's real name, lived during a time, the mid-19th century, without an Internet, television, movies or cable (without even the Syfi Channel, home of the 'Sharknado' http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2724064/ and '30 Days of Night' http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0389722/ movies.I have a point in including these two movies - Ducasse writes a famous shark scene, and there is a scene of a spider sucking blood from a dreamer's neck.Today, 'The Songs of Maldorer', this historicthis book is only impossible to put down because the reader hopes for the defeat of the protagonist, a vile sociopath that speaks of committing such cruel and devilish and self-aggrandizing acts against humanity in a casual, off-the-cuff manner. a classic examination of human ego and french surrealism at its best.
What a fucking book. Never read a damn thing like it.I couldnt muster a guess as to what book besides this would write about fucking a shark and teach you a dozen SAT words in the process. Ducasse clearly had a penchant for botany and ethology, as he can hardly go a page without dropping a Latin term for plant or animal. Maldoror, the eponymous anti-hero of this work is such an interesting character. Evil, yet sympathetic. Despicable in deed, yet steadfast in principle. Im stoked to read
This is almost unreadable, though I made it to the end. In fact, the last canto was the least bad. Some of it made me laugh, though I'm not sure if it was meant to. There are amusing parts elsewhere, too, such as the description of having sex with a shark. I have never been sexually attracted to marine creatures, although I recall reading about an Irishman who was given a prison sentence for sexually assaulting a dolphin a few years ago. The prosecution witness was a snorkeller who claimed to
Historically important and lyrically brilliant, Maldoror is nonetheless a tedious read for those who have accepted a godless universe and survived their tumultuous twenties (to say nothing of the immense chasm opened by the twentieth century). If you did not know Lautreamont died at 24, you would still know that the text in hand is that of an impetuous and visionary young man. Daring works are always necessary, but seldom does posterity preserve the heat of the moment from which a work drops
Entirely unknown in its time, this work was eventually rediscovered by the surrealists who hailed it as one of the two masterpieces that informed their movement, especially the line: "The chance encounter on a dissecting table of a sewing machine and an umbrella." "The Songs of Maldoror" is a long imagistic prose poem about a relentless and possibly demonic anti-hero who has renounced God, mankind, and ultimately himself. Camus was also fascinated about this work and there are shadows of
Definitely not my cup of tea: 3 stars as an average of 2 (for my enjoyment or lack thereof) and 4 (its literary significance.) A great deal of the book is designed to shock, of course, but what was shocking 150 years ago doesn't seem all that amazing now--so it can begin to seem quite juvenile. Sort of like how Faust is given enormous power by Mephistopheles and he uses it to play dumb tricks.
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.