Balladeer’s Blog resumes its examination of the macabre 1868 French language work The Songs of Maldoror.
I SALUTE YOU, ANCIENT OCEAN
The supernatural figure Maldoror reflects on his fascination with the ocean. He reminds readers that he is a monster and that his hideous face doesn’t come close to matching the ugliness of his soul. His demented reflections on the nature of the ocean follow, along with the oft-repeated line “I salute you, ancient ocean”. (“Je te salue, vieil ocean”)
Per his perverse nature Maldoror’s attempt to sing the praises of the ocean can’t help but be couched in eerie and disturbing imagery. He longs to lie beside the ocean in the tentacles of an affectionate octopus as the two kindred spirits admire the waves and the watery vastness.
Our narrator blissfully compares the ocean’s color to the bluish marks he used to beat into the backs of cabin boys in his seagoing days of old. He considers the ocean a vast bruise inflicted on the body of the Earth. Maldoror’s love/hate relationship with what is left of his own humanity surfaces again as he morosely muses on how human beings alone of the animal kingdom feel guilt over their monstrous natures.
He bitterly refers to the dawning of intelligence and Free Will in humanity as “the crude origins of man when first he made the acquaintance of the sorrow that has never deserted him.” (One of my favorite lines in the whole lengthy work.) Maldoror also expresses his admiration for the way the ocean makes mankind work for any of the gifts from its depths and the way the threat of death always lingers around fishermen, sailors, whalers, etc.
Our narrator in turn compares the ocean to the ponderous complexities of higher math, to the gall dispensed by critics of the fine arts when they coldly scoff at a man of genius and to a microcosm of the cruel world which the ocean mirrors in its “fish eat fish” food chain. He even wonders which is more impenetrable – the ocean’s lowest depths or the human heart. Or more prone to unpredictable and violent changes – the ocean’s waves or human beings.
Mostly, he adores the ocean for the way it instills fear in humanity, a fear even greater than what he himself inspires, with the way it can casually destroy man’s mightiest vessels and resist man’s attempts to penetrate to the ocean floor. Maldoror considers the countless waves that form and die every day to be of more significance than the waves of countless human beings who have lived and died since the dawn of time.
With typical inconsistency just when Maldoror’s passion for the ocean seems to be reaching its crescendo he instead reflects that “I cannot love you. I detest you.” He wonders for the thousandth time why he torments himself over and over again by visiting the ocean and wallowing in his ineffectiveness compared to it. The ocean has claimed far more lives than he can ever hope to.
Maldoror closes with the fervent hope that Satan dwells in the ocean’s depths and that it is his breath that animates the waves. It would warm and comfort him to know that Hell is that near to the human race that he (Maldoror) loathes so much.
Next time around it’s back to the more characteristically gruesome material after this somewhat introspective departure from the norm.
I WILL RESUME THIS LOOK AT THE SONGS OF MALDOROR SOON. CHECK BACK ONCE OR TWICE A WEEK FOR NEW INSTALLMENTS.
FOR PART ONE CLICK HERE: https://glitternight.com/2015/02/28/maldoror-a-neglected-masterpiece-of-surreal-horror/
© Edward Wozniak and Balladeer’s Blog, 2015. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Edward Wozniak and Balladeer’s Blog with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
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I hate poetry so I’d much rather just read your descriptions of what goes on in the book.
I figured a lot of people probably stayed away from the book because they didn’t like poetry. Thanks for saying you like my takes on these.
Octopus what? This guy was one sick puppy.
Even more bizarre elements lay ahead.
Perfectly creepy even when he’s trying to be philosophical.
You could even say ESPECIALLY when he’s trying to be philosophical.
This one was pretty mild compared to when he kills people.
I agree.
Are we suuposed to take it that Maldoro and the octopus were having sex?
I doubt it. When Ducasse wants the reader to know that Maldoror is having sex with animals he comes right out and says so in great detail.
Maldoror needs a movie made about him.
It’s tough to picture a movie capturing the complexity of the book, but I agree Maldoror deserves a higher profile.
It was a trial to get though this one. I usually like your Maldoror stuff.
Maybe you’ll like the next one more.
Not as bloody this time.
Ha! No it wasn’t!
Who cares about this stupid old book?
If you don’t then don’t bother reading these posts.
Enjoyed this!
Thanks!
Who could kill as many people as the ocean does?
Mame … It had to be heeerrrrrrr.
Boring.
Thanks for the feedback!
What’s up to every , as I am really keen of reading this blog’s post to be updated on a regular basis.
It includes good data.
Interesting image of a chained Lucifer’s breathing causing the tides.
I certainly agree!
The dude who wrote this was all kinds of messed up.
I know how you feel.
Maldoror has serious mental issues.
To say the least.
Really weird book.
To say the least.