Back to Balladeer’s Blog’s chapter guide to my examination of Isidore Ducasse’s 1868 work of surreal horror The Songs of Maldoror.
FIFTH CANTO
Fifth Canto, Stanza 1: BETWEEN YOUR LITERATURE AND MINE – Maldoror goes meta, addressing the reader directly for daring to condemn him while still continuing to read about his nightmarish activities. He recommends a recipe for preparing the flesh of one’s mother after killing her, and otherwise seems to presage many modern-day serial killers. CLICK HERE
Fifth Canto, Stanza 2: FOUR SOULS ERASED FROM THE BOOK OF LIFE – Our vile main character interacts with a sorceress, the two brothers she seduced then transformed into monsters and the hybrid children she had with those brothers. CLICK HERE
Fifth Canto, Stanza 3: INTERMITTENT ANNIHILATION OF HUMAN FACULTIES – Maldoror warns against the dangers of sleep, claiming it is the time when his archrival God tortures us with nightmares, whispers foul instructions to humanity and rifles through our thoughts and memories. CLICK HERE
Fifth Canto, Stanza 4: A PEDESTAL OF IDEAL PERVERSITY – In the jungles of South America Maldoror once again does battle with Lucifer. Again our protagonist defeats Lucifer and, in the heat of the moment, reveals more secrets of his own. CLICK HERE
Fifth Canto, Stanza 5: PERFIDIOUS SNARE – Maldoror rhapsodizes about how sexually attractive he is to gay men. He plans to use his gay relationships with various world leaders to manipulate them into starting a global war. CLICK HERE
Fifth Canto, Stanza 6: FUNERAL FOR THE LIVING – While gloating at the funeral for a child our main character ponders the mysteries of Death, since he seems destined to never experience it. CLICK HERE
Fifth Canto, Stanza 7: BLACK TARANTULA – Night after night Maldoror is attacked by a gigantic black tarantula, a monster with ties to two of the young men Maldoror seduced and abandoned. CLICK HERE
FIVE CANTOS DOWN AND JUST ONE MORE TO GO.
FOR MY REVIEW OF an 1812 Gothic Horror story featuring a Mandragore, an undead servitor called a Barenhauter and a She-Golem Click HERE
FOR MORE HALLOWEEN ITEMS CLICK HERE: https://glitternight.com/category/halloween-season/
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